Our first live auctions of the fall 2023 season are here! The PHILLIPS Hong Kong Watch Auction: XVIII, takes place on May 24 and 25, 2024, at our West Kowloon headquarters, and the New York Watch Auction: X, takes place at on June 8 and 9, at our Park Avenue headquarters. The auctions include hundreds of the world's finest watches – and naturally, there are a number of extraordinary pieces from F.P. Journe, including examples from all three Vagabondage series (Vagabondage II and III available in Hong Kong, lots 956 and 820; Vagabondage I, II, and III available in New York, lots 83, 84, and 85.)
– By Logan Baker
The F.P. Journe Vagabondage collection dates to 2004 but was first experimented on by the French-Swiss watchmaker in the late 1990s.
In fact, its origin story dates to 1997, when Journe created a unique automatic watch for a close friend and patron that featured a wandering jump hour display around a central exposed balance wheel called the CARPEDIEM. Shortly thereafter, he decided to riff on the idea once more and reworked his blueprints for the case, movement, and dial to fit within one of Journe's signature Flat Tortue cases.
However, it would still take a few years after that until the Vagabondage was officially born. An auction house contacted Journe in 2003 to see if he would have any interest in creating a unique watch for an upcoming auction with all proceeds going benefiting the ICM Foundation, which supports neurological research.
The only problem? The auction house provided a timeline of just six months – so Journe naturally returned to the updated blueprints to create what would eventually become a three-piece series of early Vagabondage watches, with one watch each auctioned off in yellow gold, rose gold, and white gold, all featuring brass movements inside. Is it any surprise that all three watches sold for triple their estimates?
The Vagabondage is an incredibly distinctive watch that works the circle-in-square aesthetic better than most brands. Collectors with their ears on the ground quickly heard about the watches appearing at auction and began sending requests for Journe to create a broader production model, something the company eventually did one year later, in 2004, while still retaining extremely limited production. (FYI – Vagabondage in French is a reference to errance, or roaming/wanderlust – a very fitting name for a digital display.)
F.P. Journe has continued to experiment with the Vagabondage series ever since. And with each new release (always in batches of 68 or 69 pieces), the collectors who own the previous serial number were given the opportunity to purchase the matching example from the new collection.
The F.P. Journe Vagabondage I
The Vagabondage I was created in 2004 in a run of 69 watches featuring a combination of a platinum case and a rose gold manual-wind movement, the caliber 1504, all the while not including any branding on the dial (just like the examples that went to auction at Antiquorum). It displayed the time via digital jumping hours and a wandering minutes aperture that circles the dial.
The balance wheel and escapement are prominently visible in the center of the watch, and like the charity timepieces from 2003, and all subsequent Vagabondage models, the F.P. Journe brand name is not featured on the dial. The tortue-shaped case has a brushed finish on the bezel, which is offset by the polished, beveled edges and case sides.
The F.P. Journe Vagabondage II
The Vagabondage story continues in 2010, with the introduction of a second platinum example, limited to 69 watches, that evolved to include digital hours and minutes and the introduction of the manual-wind caliber 1509, a form movement made of pink gold. Journe produced an additional 68 Vagabondage watches in 6N gold from this secondary generation, as well as 10 pieces in platinum set with baguette diamonds.
The Vagabondage II is an innovative and captivating timepiece that showcases jumping hours and minutes through rotating discs positioned at the center of its symmetric dial layout. Notably, like its predecessor, the dial does not bear the brand name but there are numerous details that embody the unmistakable genetic codes of the FP Journe brand. The hours are indicated via a window on the top part of the dial, minutes are indicated via two discs and subseconds are classically placed at 6 o'clock. A power reserve indicator sits atop all the time telling indications.
On the reverse side , the observer is treated to the sight of the caliber 1509, luxuriously crafted in pink gold, seamlessly fitted into the case. The movement boasts exquisite finishing and incorporates a constant force device, ensuring equal energy distribution from the mainspring with each jump of the discs.
The F.P. Journe Vagabondage III
The Vagabondage III is the culmination of Mr. FP Journe's restless spirit of innovation and dedication to horological excellence. Released in 2017 in an exclusive limited edition of 68 pieces in rose gold and 69 in platinum, it was to be the final installation in the groundbreaking Vagabondage series. It was also the first ever mechanical wristwatch to incorporate a jumping digital seconds display.
True to form, Journe redesigned the movement entirely for the last iteration of the Vagabondage series. To power the digital jumping seconds display, which requires an immense amount of energy, he ingeniously incorporated his signature remontoir d'égalité mechanism to ensure a consistent amplitude in the balance wheel.
Two discs rotating by the second at 6 o'clock displays the mechanism in full view, allowing the wearer to appreciate every single jump of the second. Exposed as extensively as possible, the dial side features the most elaborate skeletonization in comparison to the previous two Vagabondage models.
Housed in a traditional tortue shaped case, the Vagabondage III is aesthetically modern thanks to its deceptively complex yet elegantly minimal pared-down dial. The smoked sapphire dial, also found on the Sonnerie Souverain, subtly reveals many elements of the 18 karat rose-gold movement within.
The F.P. Journe Vagabondage I 2022 Collection
Finally, in 2022, close to 18 years after the Vagabondage's original commercial launch, the design has returned once again in a close revival of the original Vagabondage I design from 2004, with digital jump hours and a wandering minutes orientation.
The movement is a slight evolution from the caliber 1504, the new 1504.2, retaining the same manual-wind format, but the watch utilizes an updated tonneau case profile that now measures a slightly enlarged 45.2 x 37.5 mm, exclusively available in 18k 6N gold. The movement is practically identical to the early 2000s introduction, save for slight improvements that the Journe team promises were intended to increase reliability.
Of course, just like the 2004 Vagabondage, the 2022 edition indicates the time utilizing a 12-hour central ring with the correct hour highlighted by a stainless-steel frame, while the wandering minutes indicated within the same plane via a peripheral railway-style minutes track and pointer on the frame for the hour indicator.
What I find the most remarkable about the Vagabondage series is that despite how different it is from any previous F.P. Journe timepiece (abandoning FPJ's characteristic sleek, round shape), it still feels immediately familiar. The case flanks of the 2022 series have a polished sloped perspective that really helps the wearing experience.
Although listed at 45.20mm × 37.50mm, the watch wears much closer to the latter side-to-side diameter than the former top-down measurement. And at just 7.6mm in height, the Vagabondage has an unexpected dress watch feel – something you wouldn't immediately associate with such an aggressive design language. Its MSRP at release was CHF 86,000.
You can learn more, place a bid, and view the entire Hong Kong Watch Auction: XVIII catalog here, and the New York Watch Auction: X catalog here.
About Phillips In Association With Bacs & Russo
The team of specialists at PHILLIPS Watches is dedicated to an uncompromised approach to quality, transparency, and client service. Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo holds the world record for the most successful watch auction, with its Geneva Watch Auction: XIV having realized $74.5 million in 2021. Over the course of 2021 and 2022, the company sold 100% of the watches offered, a first in the industry, resulting in the highest annual total in history across all the auction houses at $227 million.
About Logan Baker
Logan has spent the past decade reporting on every aspect of the watch business. He joined Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo at the start of 2023 as the department's Senior Editorial Manager. He splits his time between New York and Geneva.
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