FP Journe

F.P. Journe Octa UTC Watch

When Francois-Paul Journe makes a watch complication, he makes that watch complication right. Never sacrificing function over perceived value, the greatest example of this what when he made the world's most expensive steel watch. Steel was chosen over a precious metal for a minute repeater watch because steel was the ideal choice for a chiming watch to make it sound best. Now F.P. Journe offers a sophisticated GMT watch that takes into consideration timezone differences by those countries that use Daylight saving time.

The watch comes in a 38 or 40mm wide case in 18k red gold or platinum. You can simply choose which size you like. F.P. Journe doesn't like large watches, so 40mm wide is a max for most of his timepieces. The new movement inside is the FPJ 1300-3, done itself in 18 rose gold, and it is an automatic. The movement has the time (shown with the blue hands), and a GMT hand (in gold). You also have a subsidiary seconds dial, 120 hour power reserve indicator, jumping big date indicator, and a UTC (GMT) indicator shown as a globe. The colors on the turning globe help indicate whether a place in the map is in "winter or summer" time. Keeping true to his design ethos, this new Octa UTC watch will certainly be of value to his clients looking for a simple UTC (GMT) function without the clutter of a dedicated world time function.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch reviews site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: FP Journe, octa, UTC, watch

F.P. Journe Sonnerie Souveraine $650,000 Watch Hands-On

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

F.P. Journe watches have a very strong following among serious watch lovers. Including those people who can choose just about anything - and often opt for one of Francois-Paul's timepieces. I met with him and he showed me a few pieces including this Sonnerie Souveraine. I last wrote about this piece here when reporting that a pre-owned one went for $400,000 at auction. The retail price of a new one is 650,000 Swiss Francs (close to $650,000). The watch is one of a few evolutions of chiming watches from F.P. Journe, and is likely his most complicated yet. It took years of research and has about 10 patents in it.

The watch is a "Grand Strike clock and minute repeater-" aka, a "Grand Sonnerie." This means that on the one hand, it is a minute repeater (which allows you to activate a mechanism that "repeats" the time back to you in a audio code form), and features and a striking complication (sonnerie). A striking complication is what most people think about when they "hear" clock in their head. It is a function that performs various chimes at regular intervals. This watch "strikes" each quarter hour. During this strike, the sound again is an audio code that when read tells you the time It has two modes to do this "grande" and "petite." This is for a "full" sound with a bit more information (hour and quarter hour), and a "smaller" sound (with just the quarter hour indicated). The watch also has a silent mode if you do not wish to hear chimes each 15 minutes. You can see the mode selection dial on the bottom of the dial that says "G, S, P." The dial also features a power reserve indicator near the top of the dial. Time is displayed via an off-centered watch faces (with subsidiary seconds), and the dial also features a view of the hammers (the two of them are stacked) for the chiming mechanism.

Tags: FP Journe, grande sonnerie, hands-on, review, souveraine, watch

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F.P. Journe Special Edition "China 2010 Tourbillon Souverain" Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

As a reminder to its Chinese customers, of how much F.P. Journe appreciates their business, the high-end luxury watch brand has released five of these limited edition "China 2010 Tourbillon Souverain" watches. This coincides with the brand's opening of its Beijing boutique store. More and more high-end brands are opening up shops in China's wealthier regions. One of the reasons seems to be that Chinese customers take brands with their own stores more serious, as opposed to brands which are only placed in third-party stores. The China 2010 Tourbillon Souverain watch will be housed in a platinum case with a special dial that resembles the Chinese flag. Stars are placed along the power reserve indicator. Aside from the tourbillon on the dial, the watch features the time in an offset dial, as well as a subsidiary seconds dial. Pretty much the ultimate Swiss watch for the proud Chinese industrialist. Not sure about price of availability, like I said, there are only to be five of these models.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch reviews site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: 2010, china, fp journe, souverain, tourbillon, watch

F.P. Journe Chronometre Blue Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

This is a lovely watch that should probably considered a "starter timepiece" to the F.P. Journe brand. I saw this given the basic classic look of the watch and the brand's reputation for typically complex watches. Though perhaps that is a misconception on my behalf as there are plenty of existing fans that would enjoy the unique qualities this 39mm wide watch has. Aside from the gorgeous metallic blue dial, the watch is made in tantalum, a rarely used exotic metal sometimes used in the aerospace industry. One reason it is paired with the blue dial is because the metal alloy shines blue in the right light.

Inside the watch is a F.P. Journe caliber 1304 manually wound movement that is in-house made and has 56 hours of power reserve. The movement is made in 18k rose gold. The "Chronometre" part of the watch name refers to the fact that F.P. Journe has made this mechanical movement accurate within chronometer ranges.

The dial design is purely F.P. Journe with emphasis on signature brand characteristic such as numeral font and hand design. No word on price for the F.P. Journe Chronometre Blue watch yet, but I suspect it will be higher than I would predict.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: blue, chronometre, FP journe, FpJourne, tantalum, watch, watch of the day, WatchOfTheDay

F.P. Journe Octa Perpetual Titanium Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

Someone mentioned to me a while ago that F.P. Journe watches were all starting to look the same. I tacitly agreed and then began to give the idea some thought. A watch company (especially one that does not release many models) has a tough task of keeping a brand identity secure, while at the same time delivering innovation in terms of design and function. F.P Journe watches each have a distinct character to them, which is important to preserve in each new watch. Though I do agree that many of the their models were starting to look the same with just the subdials doing new things. This new Octa Perpetual Titanium is a different matter because I sincerely get the feeling that this is a brand new model, but still characteristically a F.P. Journe timepiece.

The dial here features an off-center watch face and emphasis on the perpetual calendar with the retrograde date display taking up most of the dial. There are also windows for the day and month an an almost hidden leap year indicator located inside of the month window. Notice in the image the lower window that reads "BFE." The "B" is actually on a separate disc and is the leap year indicator. "B" stands for "bissextile," which indicators the 4th, and thus leap year (other years simply read "1, 2, or 3"). The time is easy to read in the functional watch dial that is applied over the face and features some light, but tasteful decoration. I further like how the subsidiary seconds dial is built into the design.

Titanium is the metal of choice for the 40mm wide case of the Octa Perpetual Titanium watch, a metal I am not sure that F.P. Journe has used before for cases. Inside the watch is an automatic OCTA Calibre FPJ 1300-3 movement made from 18k rose gold (nice). Having an all gold movement is rather sexy, and you are able to view it through he caseback window. I think that having a heavy gold movement rather defeats the purpose of having a light titanium case, but I am sure that F.P. Journe had their reasons. The watch is also quite thin at about 10mm thick. Overall a very classic looking timepiece that is undeniably F.P. Journe in character with a lot of luxury appointments. It does of course include its quirks, which makes for a well-natured luxury watch.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: fp journe, FpJourne, octa, perpetual, timepiece, titanium, watch

F.P. Journe's First Pen Collection

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Writing Instruments

Watchmaker François-Paul Journe has created his first line of writing instruments. The F.P. Journe pens are made in platinum PT 950 and 18K gold, the same metals used in his watch creations. His fountain pen uses an original retractable system, registered with patent Number EP 07 405119.4. The bottom of the pen has six flaps that open and close like flower petals to reveal the nib. The first collection of F.P.Journe first writing instruments, a fountain pen and a roller, will be available in December 2008 at the five F.P.Journe boutiques in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Geneva, Boca Raton and Paris. Each is a limited Edition of 500 with a hand guilloché barrel. The nib of the fountain pen is in 18K red gold and is engraved with the F.P.Journe logo. The platinum version is lacquered in blue while natural color lacquer is used for the gold version with 18K red gold inserts as shown above.

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Tags: fountain pen, fp journe, FpJourne, pens