F.P. Journe

I am seriously considering purchasing a Journe resonance and would very much like the opinion of Resonance owners on this forum. Based on browsing this site (and others) I get the impression that many have had problems with the sturdiness, robustness, essentially the reliability of the watch. Is this really the case? Have you owners experienced a greater than normal repair incidence with the Resonance or am I making an erroneous assumption? Also, is the winding of the watch really all that difficult? I have seen it in Carmel, CA and for the 30 seconds odd that I handled the winding mechanism, it seemed relatively easy though I do not know how it would feel over time.

I love the looks and quality of the watch. I also find that the two time zones would be a terrific feature for me as I travel extensively to India where they are on the half hour timezone which is not handled by most dual timezone watches. I would truly appreciate any feedback on the watch before I make my decision. This would be my second major watch acquisition in 3 years - the first was a PP 5059P which keeps extraordinary time and is unbelievably accurate for a mechanical watch. I am hoping the resonance will be just as accurate.

Thanks to all of you in advance for giving me your considered opinions.

I have been wearing it most of the time for almost a month and below is my personal experience of my piece:

Most of the reported problems I read is related to the Resonance phenomenon ie second hands running out of sync and failure to automatically re-sync. Some experienced this after running it for less than an hour, some days. I don't know how they kept watch on the hands but I believe they could only have spotted the problem when the hands were not running in sync like it should be, which is bad because this is the gist of this model. I didn't have time to look at mine but with all things mechanical, I'm surely they will run out of sync sometimes. The gist is they need to run back in sync automatically. Mine does after almost a month of wearing it.

Winding the watch was a 'pain', it became less painful after doing it for a couple of days. Honestly if I had a choice, I prefer Mr Journe reposition the crown to somewhere convenient for me. I guess I can live with this and I think I'm not complaining much about on it now. I've learnt to accept the placement is unique to this piece.

There're many variations of this model. Mine is a discontinued 38mm Plat running the brass movement. The size is perfect on my wrist. A 40mm would be a tad too big for me. The current models have the gold movement, nice, more expensive but I prefer the brass one which has a color blending nicely with the platinum case.

I stopped by an AD recently and checked on the the current models and price, I didn't know it has a RG ver. But what stunned me is the list price. For a 40mm Plat, it's approximately USD97k. The last time I remembered it was lower (much lower?) That would really put off many wannabes for sure since the discount is also marginal.

I hope my personal take on this watch would shed some light on your doubts. If you chance upon a perfectly working piece, like I did, you'll enjoy it to the fullest, my personal guarrantee.



Mech.

Thanks very much for taking the time to give me such a comprehensive response. It sounds like one has to continuously wear the watch to eventually get it to synch properly. I wonder of this would be an issue for me as I will likely trade off wearing it with my other piece. I guess I still have some more research to do but I sure as heck love the looks and functionality. Hope you continue to enjoy your watch and thanks again.

You're welcome linus, but I think you got me wrong, you don't have to wear the watch to have the hands running in sync, resonance takes care of these things . I think W72 probably did a clearer and better explanation than me

Hope you get one soon, you won't regret it.

Mech.

The timing reliability is in fact better than any most other complicated wristwatchs.  The sychronicity of the two second hands can at times start to deviate for only for a short moment when the watch is subjected to certain external forces that affect the escape balances.  The two escape balances are rotating in opposite direction and because of this, whatever forces that cause a escape balance to pick up a slight increase of pace will at the same time reduce the pace of the other escape balance.  This in effect helps to reduce the effect of the external forces on timing of the watch.  Therefore, it is not so important that the two second hands remained in sychronised display but to remain in sychronised pace.   

In my case, when I wear the resonance over a period of time the second hands will keep in sychronised display (i.e. displaying the same) when my daily activities are mild. On certain days when there are more "jerky" movements of my hand due to more physical activities the second hands would deviates by a few seconds apart but the rate remains constant.  This attests to the working of the resonance.  Having timed the watch over a period of two weeks, I found the rate is -3s per day (consistently) off from the official atomic clock time.  This is, IMO, a darn accurate mechanical timepiece and if needed can be calibrated to be even better.  This consistency is helped by winding the watch everyday to keep the power reserve up and not let it draws down too low. 

As regards to the sturdiness or physical robustness, I think it is just like any other wristwatches.  It is afterall a fine mechanical timepiece, a dress watch and not a sports watch and should be treated as such.  If you treat it as if it were PP 5059P, it will be fine. 

There is quite a bit said about the winding "awkwardness" of the resonance.  It took me some time to get use to it but practise makes perfect and after several years of ownership I am not particularly conscious about it.  My is also the 38mm brass movement resonance and it wears comfortably on my wrist despite my smallish wrist. 

All in all, it is a unique timepiece with its two escape balances that utilises the resonance principle.  I am not knowledgeable enough to say for certain it is the only wristwatch with this.  The other two escape balances watch I can think of is the Duality by Dufours but that is another watch altogether.  I hope my experience is of help in your decision. 

W72

My Resonance is 8 years old.

I'm not the first owner.

It have never been service before(checked with Journe).

It gain 6 second in 24 hours.

But be careful when you buy Resonance,

cause after buying Resonance.....

it in my mind for 86400sec everyday!!!!!!

Mr Journe,i hate YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MTF

Thanks very much for the response. I probably won't be too hard on the watch though I don't baby my wristwatches. I appreciate all the good data I'm getting here and am hoping to take the plunge soon.