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Lot Essay
Christie’s is delighted to offer to our international clients and collectors, the fourth and most recent platinum version of F.P. Journe’s Chronomètre à Résonance – the ‘RQ’ or ‘Résonance Quatre’ which features the ingenious ‘double remontoir d’egalité’. One of the first examples to be presented at auction, it represents the perfect and very rare opportunity to obtain the new Chronomètre à Résonance without delay. Furthermore, this full-set watch is, as expected from the amazing Journe rarities of the Ultimate Collection, a highly exclusive example of the Résonance RQ, featuring a unique gold power reserve hand.
The present watch can be considered as one of the most important individual specimens of the Résonance RQ, not only featuring a unique gold power reserve hand, but it is also one of the über-exclusive F.P. Journe timepieces with its movement engraved personally with the name of the recipient. This is an honour reserved only for the greatest friends and clients of the brand. Indeed, in this respect, it places the owner of the Ultimate Collection on a par with other world-famous Journe watch owners including former F1 Champion Michael Schumacher and former Ferrari CEO Jean Todt who both received some of their most important Journe wristwatches with their movements engraved with personal inscriptions to celebrate significant anniversaries or events. In the same tradition, this watch was created as a ‘present’ for one of the owner’s milestone birthdays.
One of the first examples of the Résonance RQ to be presented at auction, it represents the perfect and very rare opportunity to obtain the new Chronomètre à Résonance without delay.
Launched in 2020 and made in celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the original Chronomètre à Résonance, the fourth series Résonance RQ is available in either platinum such as the present watch, or rose gold, with either a white gold or rose gold dial.
The Résonance RQ is particularly exciting because it represents the first complete overhaul of both the technical and design aspects of the model since its introduction. While the Résonance was powered by the same calibre 1499 for the first 20 years, the new caliber 1520 movement has been completely redesigned and updated with several technical innovations that concentrate on a constant and consistent power supply, most significantly with the use of a single barrel instead of the twin barrels of caliber 1499, the power from which is split into two equal portions by a differential which is visible through the dial cut-out, the two independent escapements therefore receive their own constant power supply which is distributed by a one-second remontoire d’égalité on each of the two gear trains. This consistent supply of power to both trains is a major innovation for the Résonance because although in the original Resonance, both balance wheels oscillate at an identical amplitude, the amplitude of both also changes and slows down together as the power reserve depletes. Importantly, the same 42-hour power reserve of the caliber 1499 is maintained for the new caliber 1520. Another additional and very practical advantage of the new gear train layout is that it allowed the winding crown to be relocated from its previous 12 o’clock position to 2 o’clock.
The dial of the new series Résoance RQ is contemporary yet very much continuing the Résonance’s historic design DNA. In place of the two separate dials with separate frames, the new ‘Series 4’ watches have one single dial plate and a single large frame encircling both dials. The left of the two dials retains the 24-hour function of the last caliber 1499 20th Anniversary watch model.
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. F.P. 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, F.P. Journe became the first watchmaker to make a wristwatch constructed on the principle of resonance, an incredible achievement of modern horology.
The present watch can be considered as one of the most important individual specimens of the Résonance RQ, not only featuring a unique gold power reserve hand, but it is also one of the über-exclusive F.P. Journe timepieces with its movement engraved personally with the name of the recipient. This is an honour reserved only for the greatest friends and clients of the brand. Indeed, in this respect, it places the owner of the Ultimate Collection on a par with other world-famous Journe watch owners including former F1 Champion Michael Schumacher and former Ferrari CEO Jean Todt who both received some of their most important Journe wristwatches with their movements engraved with personal inscriptions to celebrate significant anniversaries or events. In the same tradition, this watch was created as a ‘present’ for one of the owner’s milestone birthdays.
One of the first examples of the Résonance RQ to be presented at auction, it represents the perfect and very rare opportunity to obtain the new Chronomètre à Résonance without delay.
Launched in 2020 and made in celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the original Chronomètre à Résonance, the fourth series Résonance RQ is available in either platinum such as the present watch, or rose gold, with either a white gold or rose gold dial.
The Résonance RQ is particularly exciting because it represents the first complete overhaul of both the technical and design aspects of the model since its introduction. While the Résonance was powered by the same calibre 1499 for the first 20 years, the new caliber 1520 movement has been completely redesigned and updated with several technical innovations that concentrate on a constant and consistent power supply, most significantly with the use of a single barrel instead of the twin barrels of caliber 1499, the power from which is split into two equal portions by a differential which is visible through the dial cut-out, the two independent escapements therefore receive their own constant power supply which is distributed by a one-second remontoire d’égalité on each of the two gear trains. This consistent supply of power to both trains is a major innovation for the Résonance because although in the original Resonance, both balance wheels oscillate at an identical amplitude, the amplitude of both also changes and slows down together as the power reserve depletes. Importantly, the same 42-hour power reserve of the caliber 1499 is maintained for the new caliber 1520. Another additional and very practical advantage of the new gear train layout is that it allowed the winding crown to be relocated from its previous 12 o’clock position to 2 o’clock.
The dial of the new series Résoance RQ is contemporary yet very much continuing the Résonance’s historic design DNA. In place of the two separate dials with separate frames, the new ‘Series 4’ watches have one single dial plate and a single large frame encircling both dials. The left of the two dials retains the 24-hour function of the last caliber 1499 20th Anniversary watch model.
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. F.P. 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, F.P. Journe became the first watchmaker to make a wristwatch constructed on the principle of resonance, an incredible achievement of modern horology.