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F.P. Journe Annual Exhibition 2006
The F.P. Journe press conference for 2006 was held this past April 4th at the Auditorium Arditi, the same place & time as last year's conference (which meant everyone had to get up super early, but as usual it was worth it).
After some opening comments by Natalia Signoroni and Fran?ois-Paul Journe, the President of the State Council of Geneva, Pierre-Fran?ois Unger, delivered a speech thanking M. Journe for his work in horology.
The president's speech was followed by a speech by Nicolas Mettra, the Consul General of France in Geneva.
"When, at the end of the last century (1999!), Fran?ois Paul Journe creates the company "FP Journe - invenit et fecit -" the very closed world of High Watchmakers is still under the shock wave from the biggest merger ever seen in the field....
It is so that two extremes, on the one hand, a multinational corporate producing "luxury watchdogs", by the tens of thousands and on the other hand a "child of Marseilles" creating by the unity or so, joined together and played in the same courtyard.
Today, nearly 7 (seven) years have passed, the child of Marseilles has grown, developed and surrounded himself with skills, and in a business where tradition is not an empty word, decided to make every piece himself.
But Fran?ois-Paul Journe had the calling, and a passion for watchmaking, this so humane way of mastering time, without which this activity would at best be only a handicraft or an industry. He had also acquired a solid training. Had he not learnt in the Parisian ancient watch restoration workshop of his uncle, so gaining a unique familiarity with discoveries and movements of great ancestors?
Enough to carve himself a seat in the courtyard of the Big Ones, but even more the ultimate impertinence! - to rise over this very Courtyard, in order to play in his own courtyard... Enough to proudly (and exclusively) flag on his creations, his own motto "invenit et fecit" guarantee, more than all stamps and labels, of quality and perfection!
As for me, I would like to stress that the progress of Fran?ois Paul Journe soothes somehow our French heart, regretful of our "passed glorious hours of watchmaking". It is worth noticing too, that Fran?ois-Paul Journe had chosen Geneva, became again the world center of watchmaking, to settle there his company.
The French Minister of Culture, Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres has wished to award this carreer of his: a telling quest for quality, defense of ancient techniques reinvented in the light of today technology: as many ingredients for an exemplary success story.
Fran?ois-Paul Journe, on behalf of the Minister and according to the powers to me imparted, I am proud to decorate a French citizen, also a Geneva citizen for more than 15years, who contributes to the art of this noble craftsmanship and reminds us that French know-how, savoir-faire is still alive!" (NB: unofficial translation)
Fran?ois-Paul Journe said some words after receiving the medal.
The festivities were far from over. The next part of the agenda was the presentation of a Tourbillon Souverain with dead seconds to the Mus?e de l'horologerie et de l'?maillerie. The museum suffered a terrible loss when its pieces were stolen. The museum was closed in November of 2002. Nevertheless it did not cease its activities and continued to abide by its mission:
- conservation (enrichment of the collections)
- management of the collections (loans of works, restoration)
- scientific documentation (publication of the catalogue of the stolen pieces, inventory, photographs, development of new catalogues)
- correspondence (requests for information formulated by researchers, public and private)
- didactic representation (conferences, articles and contributions to collective demonstrations...).
The collection, reduced by 174 pieces in 2002, is continually growing, with 50 pieces similar to the ones stolen (23 pieces acquired in 2003, 13 pieces acquired in 2004, 13 in 2005, 1 in 2006), supplemented by hundreds of generous gifts. As for the collection, it remains partly visible thanks to their presence in the exhibitions organized in Geneva, in Switzerland, and abroad.
The Tourbillon Souverain is a wonderful addition to the museum's collection. Fran?ois-Paul did not mean to lobby for his work, but pledged that if his Sonnerie Souveraine was awarded a grand prize, it too would be donated to the museum.
Following the donation, M. Journe began to officially launch his Sonnerie Souveraine in Geneva, following his launch in New York and in Asia at the end of last year. There was a very cool animation of the watch, zooming in and out of a rendering of the working movement, followed by an explanation of each of the ten patents unique to this watch. M. Journe said that production was well underway, with the first piece having been delivered to a Portuguese collector a few weeks ago, and the next piece scheduled to be delivered in the summer. So far things are going well with the watch.
When the presentation was over we headed back to the Atelier a few blocks away. We were greeted by the rendering of the Sonnerie, which would strike periodically.
As usual, the place was packed with the press and collectors! Old friends met and new ones were made.
Lots of Journes on the wrists.
M. Journe was swamped by reporters.
The Sonnerie was on display together with other pieces from the collection.
The new Chronom?tre Souverain in 38mm. More photos of this piece down below.
The Chonom?tre Souverain with a platinum bracelet.
It's good to be the king! - Fran?ois-Paul with his shiny new award.
The whole team was at the atelier to greet the press and guest collectors.
Natalia Signoroni
The lovely Nozomi Fujii, Director of the Tokyo boutique
Steve Luk
The ultra-smooth Masaki Saito, talking to a collector.
When the press gave him some time to breathe M. Journe also went around talking to collectors.
Guests were given a tour of the atelier while we waited for lunch. 90% of Journe watches are made in-house. The heavy machinery is in the basement.
We then went upstairs to the first floor where the watchmakers were. Each room is dedicated to a model or group of models.
A Resonance movement in progress.
The watchmakers will soon move to the second floor, with more space. The administrative offices located on the ground floor will move to the first floor where the watchmakers are located today. This will allow Montres Journe to increase their production. Some of the guests on the tour (me included) were worried that production would increase too much - after all part of the appeal of Montres Journe is the limited production of each watch - but Yacine, our tour guide, explained that they did not want to expand too much, just a little to meet the massive demand Montres Journe faces for their watches. This is no doubt a good idea, maybe this way we will be able to see the Chronom?tre Souverain at local dealers before they fly off the shelf!
M. Journe's desk a.k.a. the master control room. I tried to get close-ups of top secret projects on his desk but unfortunately the zoom on my camera was not so good. Next year I'll have to take a bigger lens.
The Montres Journe atelier is full of curiosities. After M. Journe's desk and watchmaker's bench we saw their vintage counterparts.
The Resonance wall clock made by Antide Janvier.
The drawings that started it all. M. Journe scribbled these on a paper tablecloth a long time ago. Can you recognize some of the pieces? I hope one day the one on the bottom right comes to fruition. It's the annual calendar, but this version has a moon on the main dial. Maybe we'll see a perpetual one day?
Of course, the atelier is riddled with the many awards F.P. Journe has received for their watches.
There was another novelty announced for this year, in collaboration with Roland Iten and The House of Eight. Below is the information from the press release:
As one of the industry's most respected independent inventor-watchmakers, Fran?ois-Paul Journe, who leads a team of over sixty collaborators, recognizes creativity and ingenuity when he encounters it.
Over the course of the last two years, Fran?ois-Paul has been increasingly fascinated by the inventiveness and originality of one Swiss creator of luxury accessories -- Roland Iten.
While their backgrounds are different, Fran?ois-Paul Journe and Roland Iten share a common passion - to create objects of unsurpassed luxury which are as beautiful as they are ingenious and functional.
They begin their collaboration with the representation at Montres Journe SA boutique in Tokyo of the first collection sign by Roland Iten, a high-precision mechanical "belt buckle": The Calibre 8 Mark 1 Collection. The collaboration proves successful and later in the same year, new collections of cufflinks and other mechanical accessories for gentlemen are added to the Montres Journe Tokyo store.
The new expandable watch closure designed by Roland Iten with F.P. Journe, is a natural evolution of their mutual respect for each other. Referring to the roundness and asymmetry of the face of a F.P. Journe watch, Roland created a round buckle with a rotation mechanism which allows the pin to rest in 8 different positions (1mm apart) on the way to the center of the closure, thus giving an expansion range of 8 mm, and can be adjusted effortlessly - within the blink of an eye!
The deployant is very cool, and we no longer have to suffer with straps that are a little too tight or a little too loose. Now they will be just right!
After the crowd got smaller we got to play with the watches, and the one everyone wanted to see was the 38mm Chronom?tre Souverain. After begging and pleading by many collectors, Fran?ois-Paul Journe finally made the watch, previously in 40mm, available in 38mm. If the 40mm version was a hot seller then I don't know what to call this one. I don't think it will ever see a dealer's display case, it will sell too fast. It's awesome!
Next to a 38mm Resonance.
The watch fits perfectly on the wrist, and the thinner bezel gives the watch a whole new look. The guests at the atelier all loved this new version.
Compared to a 40mm Chronom?tre Souverain.
The nice thing about being at the Journe atelier is that there is never a shortage of Journe watches, and soon they started multiplying. Here it was joined by a Titanium Chronom?tre Souverain, one of 20 pieces made for the Tokyo boutique anniversary.
Then joined by a Resonance.
And many more!
Once again the press conference and open house was a great event. We left dreaming about the new Journes and wondering what will come next year.
