F.P. Journe Interview Perpetual Passion

Thanks for sharing, Christian.

He also makes a point about luxury and industry which actually has come up on this forum today and another forum a few days back. The crux of that discussion is people don’t understand what luxury actually is, how much of Swiss watchmaking is less luxury and more industry (not necessarily a bad thing). And how with industry comes perhaps a greater emphasis on production process, costs and redundancies. The comment also reminds me of a discussion I had with Romain Gauthier and his admiration for

They can make certain movements that are of high durability/quality by spending serious cash $$$ (that close to all others cannot do, cost prohibitive or otherwise) and the fact that they produce over a million watches a year and can sell those pieces, helps them cover that durability/quality cost.

"What leaves me perplexed in the new generations is that almost all of them focus on creating three-hand watches, with or without tourbillons, finished with impeccable polishes, but then? What is the added value? It is a technical level of three out of ten. There is no real technical or conceptual progress, you understand? It does not go beyond that." Preach king.

I do think his idea of luxury though is pretty narrow and his lack of appreciation for simplicity and finishing puts him at the other end of the spectrum from dufour or smith. While I agree finishing isn't watchmaking and I can see his point as an inventor and innovator, I also think dismissing it entirely means he fundamentally misses other facets of luxury. A bespoke suit or shoes, a hand made table, the guy in jiro dreams of sushi making the perfect egg, there's complexity, depth, and challen

I think that this is the latest years' trend, great finishing and nothing more. The only watchmaker who's done something really be is Stephen McDonnell with his perpetual and "chrono", while Zenith and Frederique Constant have introduced oscillators.