F.P. Journe

donizetti
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I think the statement is defensible ...

.... although I am SO biased. Anyway. As already stated there are clear parallels in a single individual creating a strong brand identity and aesthetics and staying true to himself and his vision through a period of long success. Designing the movements himself not by committee or outsourcing. Also a tendency to not rest on his laurels but keep developing the vision further, such as retiring the first commercial version of the tourbillon and replacing it by the current version with the seconde morte, or now with the Resonance.

Although I not really qualified I would be very surprised if Journe would really not be, by a judgement of experts, a creative inventor as well. His watches have regularly fetched numerous prizes as major achievements by juries of his peers (Grand Prix d'Horlogerie etc). Just as in most culture creation happens in the context of what went before the balance shifts from creation to (containing a component of) re-interpretation.

At least for the Resonance, which I have recently spent some time trying to understand and more fully appreciate, I believe this to be a major achievement in terms of invention and no just a re-creation. It is true that Huygens discovered Resonance in clocks and that Janvier and Breguet made Resonance clocks but to manage to do this in a production watch is a different thing, not just a recreation (in fact if our recent discussion is correct it may be a different physical principle in that air is the linking medium).

The most electrifying thing about the Journes for me, and that is entirely subjective but but very strong emotionally, is that they DO link back to Breguet and the 18th (and since they link back they are "less creative" than Breguet himself) but recreate some of the "spirit" of that time in a forward-looking way that I find merits the comparison.

Best

Andreas