In 1999 Francois-Paul Journe launched his brand with the introduction of the Tourbillon Souverain featuring a world premiere remontoire system. In 2004 he decided to push his research one step further by creating a new generation tourbillon that not only maintained the remontoire (serving as a constant force device, resulted in greater accuracy and amplitude for the tourbillon-equipped escapement) but also adding a "seconde morte", or deadbeat seconds.

The mesmerizing complication was first implemented in the mid-seventeenth century, but not used in wristwatches until the mid-twentieth century. The seconds hand of a dead beat seconds watch will completely stop as the escapement continues to beat, not moving until one second has elapsed - at which point it will advance to indicate the next second.

This seems like a simple feature, but requires a complex and precise mechanism to reliably stop and restart the seconds hand so that it does not move at the same rate as the vibration of the balance wheel.
It was also with this second generation tourbillon that Journe increased the case size of his watches from 38mm to 40mm and introduced his pink gold movements, as he wanted the movements that were the heart and the most important element of the watch to be made in precious metal.

Part of the ultra rare and elusive Black Label collection, the present model was available to pre-existing Journe owners. Each F.P. Journe boutique receiving one Black Label watch per month and only one or two of each model.

Since its discontinuation in 2019 the Tourbillon Souverain has become an avidly sought after piece.