Generations: F.P. Journe

F.P. Journe’s craftsmanship appears once only every few generations. Each timepiece produced becomes more than a watch, it becomes a ticking treasure.

When François-Paul (F.P.) Journe uses gold in his watches, it registers as nothing more than a line on the spec sheet. Given the quality, exclusivity and the price point of the brand’s production – only 800 pieces are made per year – the addition of gold seems routine.

Few creations launched by F.P. Journe over the years have garnered more attention than the Chronomètre à Résonance. It’s quite well known that François-Paul has always had an interest in the early works of Abraham-Louis Breguet, recognized as the “Godfather” of modern watchmaking. In the early 1800s, Breguet experimented with the concept of resonance in a watch movement, crafting three pocket watches with a pair of movements/gear trains in a single housing, affixed to the same mainplate.

Due to resonance, even a weak vibration in one object could drive another object to oscillate with greater amplitude. An example occurs in a car: the engine causes vibration in another component, but the frequency of the vibrations is equal to one another, resulting in resonance. This resonance creates a smooth, quiet car ride. In watchmaking, only few attempted to take advantage of this phenomenon to improve accuracy, precision and rate stability of a timepiece.

In 2000, after more than 20 years of research and development, François-Paul became the first watchmaker to scale this principle down into a wristwatch, cementing himself into the watch industry record books one of many times through his illustrious and ongoing career. Since the turn of the millennia, the Chronomètre à Résonance has seen a delicate evolution through to its present-day state, as well as a handful of special variations for some of the different F.P. Journe boutiques around the globe.

Explore the history of the Chronomètre à Résonance with Jet Linx Elevated Lifestyle partner WatchBox.