Manufacturer: F.P. Journe Year: Circa 2013 Case No: 542-TN Model Name: Tourbillon Souverain Material: 18K pink gold Calibre: Manual, cal. 1403, 26 jewels Bracelet/Strap: Crocodile Clasp/Buckle: 18K pink gold F.P. Journe pin buckle Dimensions: 38mm diameter Signed: Case, dial, movement and buckle signed Accessories: Accompanied by undated F.P. Journe Certificate of Authenticity.
Catalogue Essay
Featuring a world premiere remontoire system, Francois-Paul Journe launched his Invenit et Fecit (invented and made) brand in 1999 with the introduction of the Tourbillon Souverain. In 2003, Francois-Paul Journe pushed the boundaries of his timekeeping masterpiece further in advancement, enter the TN Model (“Tourbillon Nouveau”), reference Tourbillon Souverain Remontoire d’Egalité avec Seconde Morte. “Seconde Morte”, the art of making time stand still, is the French term for “dead beat seconds”. This complication requires the utmost precision to reliably stop and restart the seconds hand as the escapement continues to beat—not moving until one second has elapsed, then jumps to the next second. Enriched with a deadbeat seconds complication, the timepiece with constant force mechanism results much higher accuracy on precise time reading. With the introduction of an 18K pink gold movement and cased predominantly in platinum as well as pink gold, it was in production until 2018. Known to the collecting community that the TN Models were produced in 40mm diameter for its vast majority of production, intriguingly however, according to our research, a small batch of 38mm diameter case can be found.
The present timepiece sold from 2013 is one of such rarity, a 38mm diameter pink gold case with a pink gold movement. To the best of our knowledge, as only about a hundred were ever produced for this generation of Tourbillon Souverain reference, the model has become an avidly sough-after piece by collectors.
In an extremely attractive condition, the present example is fitted with a white gold dial with smaller dials indicating the hours, the minutes and the seconds rendered in silver guilloché. Inside the dial's aperture, the one-minute tourbillon and the delicate perlage on the solid 18 karat pink gold movement can be admired. Phillips is honoured to present this scarce 38mm pink gold variant for the first time in our auction. Quintessence of the watchmaker’s maturity, this is truly a rare opportunity for connoisseurs to acquire such esteemed masterpiece.
Founded by watchmaker François-Paul Journe in 1999, the F.P. Journe brand is relatively young, but already is as highly regarded by collectors as many distinguished manufacturers with centuries-old heritage. In the minds of the world's savviest collectors, Journe is producing some of the finest wristwatches the market has ever seen. Mastering his craft from restoring historical timepieces, he was the first to create a wristwatch incorporating two escapements that benefit from the phenomenon of resonance — the Chronomètre à Résonance.
Key models include the Résonance, tourbillon wristwatches incorporating a remontoir and the limited edition Vagabondage series. Especially sought-after are his earliest "souscription" watches, made in 1999.
