F. P. Journe Watches

Francois-Paul Journe was born in Marseille on March 22, 1957. He entered the watch making school at 14, accepting his path and profession without ever wavering. Like the lives of many of the earliest Swiss watch making pioneers, Journe's artistic and technological calling came early. In 1976 he graduated from the Ecole d'Horlogerie de Paris with a watchmaker's diploma. His first project was initiating the creation of his own tourbillon pocket watch, the only way he could afford to have one. Journe learned a step-by-step process from books by the great contemporary watchmaker George Daniels, who displayed the direct link of horology to art rather than just function. Watchmaking and especially The Art of Breguet directed Journe on his own workbench. In 1977, Francois began his eight-year apprenticeship working in his uncle Michael Journe's antique watch restoration and conservation workshop in Paris, which ultimately led to a partnership. He learned his trade working on high-grade, nineteenth-century watches, and in 1979, at the age of 22, Francois-Paul was commissioned by the Ateliers P-G Brun in Paris, to design a planetarium mechanism for Asprey in London. It was made of white and yellow gold, rubies, and diamonds, with 12 lapis-lazuli sides ornamented with the signs of the zodiac. The planets of the solar system revolved around the sun on a synchronized pendulum that supported and powered a complex wheel train.

In 1992 Journe created his first wristwatch using the novel remontoir system he invented in 1982 for a pocket-watch. The remontoire is a second, small source of power from a weight or spring that runs the caliber mechanism, which is rewound by the mainspring. This became the prototype for his "Tourbillon Souverain," with the gear trains and movement components crafted out of 18K gold. The Musee de l'Homme et du Temps honored Journe with the Gaia Watchmaker of the Year award in 1994, and in Geneva in 1996, Journe formed TIM SA, an organization designed to develop unique calibers in what he called "Haute Horologie." To wind up the century and the millennium, in 1999 the Tourbillon Sourverain and a collection of chronometers – Invenit et Fecit (created and made) – were launched with the F.P. Journe label at the AHCI booth in the Basel Show, meeting tremendous success and acclaim. Invenit et Fecit became the official motto for Journe's company.

To celebrate the new millennium, Journe debuted the "Sonnerie Souveraine," to the marketplace at the Basel show in his own booth under the company name, Montres F.P. Journe in 2000. The Sonnerie was an innovative, complex design with a retrograde minute display and a section of the dial that revealed part of the mechanism. He also debuted the first resonance wristwatch that became the "Chronometre a Resonance." This allowed the balance wheel in the movement to vibrate at a much higher frequency. Also in 2000, the workshops of F.P. Journe were established in the center of Geneva's Plainpalais artist district. The little manufacture now hand built 3 to 4 watches per day, or about 900 per year. In 2001, Francois-Paul's son, Maxime, was born, as was the first automatic movement caliber from the Octa collection that guaranteed five days of precision timekeeping when unworn. The large, 120-hour power reserve promised to support new complications in the future. In addition, FP Journe began an association with Harry Winston Jewelers, designing eighteen exceptional, unique watches called the Opus One collection.

Once again at the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Geneve in 2004, Journe was honored with the ultimate, coveted award, "L'Aiguille d'Or," the Golden Hand, for his Tourbillon Souverain, which was also presented the Watch of the Year grand prize in Japan. At the 2005 Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Geneve, the Chronometer Souverain won the Favorite Men's Watch award. That same year, Montres Journe began producing all their movement components in house out of 18K red gold. In 2006, the French Minister of Culture bestowed upon Francois-Paul Journe the title of the "Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres." He also won his second "Aiguille d'Oro (Golden Hand) ultimate award for hisSonnerie Souveraine. The showroom boutique in the historical center of Hong Kong opened on October 3rd in the Princess Building. Moreover, in Tokyo the Watch of the Year award also went to the Sonnerie Souveraine. In 2007 the new showroom boutique opened on Place Longemalle in the center of Geneva on April 17th; on December 4thanother exquisite store opened in Boca Raton, Florida. The new Exhibition Space of the Manufacture held the Exhibition Steel Time from October 15th to December 21st.

The great, historical steel time exhibit was held at the Forbes Galleries in New York from April 15th to September 15th, 2012. This included F.P. Journe's collection of 250 burnished steel watches produced between 1850 and 1910. The all aluminum Octa Sport debuted, the second offering from the Linesport models. F.P. Journe entered a partnership with Jean Alesi and Lotus to compete in the Indianapolis 500 on May 27th, and in homage to the driver Alesi, brought out an Indy 500 edition of 99 examples. TheChronometre Optimum was presented in the international Journe boutiques. In 2013, at the annual exhibition in January, the new Quantieme Perpetuel was launched, and for popular culture exposure, an F.P. Journe watch appeared on the wrist of Academy Award winner Jean Dujardin in the new film Mobius.