CHRONOMÈTRE À RÉSONANCE MODEL, CIRCA 2002

The present watch 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 500 Chonomètre à Résonance were made with rhodium-plated brass movements. With the tremendous and continually growing interest in Journe’s work, collectors have focused their attention on the early production and pre-production watches with brass movements. Consequently these watches which are an important part of F.P. Journe history have become extremely sought after and very difficult to obtain.

The Chronomètre à Résonance is perhaps the watch that is most associated with the genius contemporary watchmaker François-Paul Journe. It is the only wristwatch in the world with a movement based on ‘resonance’, a natural physical phenomenon. Notably, it features 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. The idea of resonance comes from the watches of the great French watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet whose work F.P. Journe greatly admires. Breguet had experimented with the theory of resonance in the early 19th century and indeed constructed three pocket watches using the 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.

The present watch gives collectors the rare opportunity to obtain a scarce platinum version 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.