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Lot Essay
The present timepiece is one of the highly desirable and early series examples of F.P. Journe’s Chronomètre à Résonance. Launched commercially in 2000, such early specimens were, like the present watch, fitted with rhodium-plated brass movements. From 2004 onwards, F.P. Journe’s movements have famously been made from 18k gold. With a production period of only around 3 years, it is thought that less than 400 Chonomètre à Résonance were made with brass movements. With the tremendous and continually growing interest in Journe’s work, collectors have focused their attention on these early production and pre-production pieces. Consequently, the early Résonance watches which are an important part of F.P. Journe history have become extremely sought after and ever more difficult to obtain. The present watch gives collectors the increasingly scarce opportunity to obtain a sublime specimen of one of the early series of the Chronomètre à Résonance with rhodium-plated brass movement which so rarely appear on the open market today.
The Chronomètre à Résonance
Perhaps the watch that most clearly showcases the sheer genius contemporary watchmaker François-Paul Journe. It is the only wristwatch in the world with a movement based on ‘resonance’, a natural physical phenomenon said to have been first discovered by Christiaan Huygens in 1665. Huygens noticed that two pendulum clocks, when hung together on the same beam would beat together in perfect synchronicity. An idea that was further experimented with by the great French clockmaker Antide Janvier and the legendary watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet, both of whose work F.P. Journe greatly admires. François-Paul Journe’s resonance watches notably feature two balances that are naturally synchronized and oscillate in ‘resonance’ with each other. The negative effects of wrist and body movements are hence considerably reduced. Breguet had experimented with the theory of resonance in watches in the early 19th century and indeed constructed three pocket watches using the two-balance system. With the development and production of the Chronomètre à Résonance, François-Paul Journe became the first watchmaker to make a wristwatch constructed on the principle of resonance, an incredible achievement of modern horology.
The Chronomètre à Résonance
Perhaps the watch that most clearly showcases the sheer genius contemporary watchmaker François-Paul Journe. It is the only wristwatch in the world with a movement based on ‘resonance’, a natural physical phenomenon said to have been first discovered by Christiaan Huygens in 1665. Huygens noticed that two pendulum clocks, when hung together on the same beam would beat together in perfect synchronicity. An idea that was further experimented with by the great French clockmaker Antide Janvier and the legendary watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet, both of whose work F.P. Journe greatly admires. François-Paul Journe’s resonance watches notably feature two balances that are naturally synchronized and oscillate in ‘resonance’ with each other. The negative effects of wrist and body movements are hence considerably reduced. Breguet had experimented with the theory of resonance in watches in the early 19th century and indeed constructed three pocket watches using the two-balance system. With the development and production of the Chronomètre à Résonance, François-Paul Journe became the first watchmaker to make a wristwatch constructed on the principle of resonance, an incredible achievement of modern horology.