Our remarks

F.P.JOURNE Tourbillon Souverain, Ref. 38181, 950 Platinum, 40mm, Folding Clasp, Box and Papers, Year 2009, Excellent, Very Rare

When François-Paul Journe launched his own brand in 1999, he did it with the single most demanding complication in watchmaking, a tourbillon, and built it with a constant force device that even today very few independent watchmakers dare to attempt. The Tourbillon Souverain remains the watch that defined the entire Souveraine collection.

The case is 950 platinum, a compact 40mm, worn here on a matching platinum bracelet secured with a platinum folding clasp rather than the more commonly seen leather strap. A transparent sapphire case back reveals the movement in full, exactly the kind of transparency Journe has built his reputation on rather than hiding the mechanism behind a solid back.

The dial follows Journe's signature identity, silver guilloché hour, minute and independent seconds subdials, each held in place by a patented steel frame screwed directly onto the face. A 42 hour power reserve indicator sits at twelve o'clock, deliberately counterbalancing the dead beat seconds display at six, a layout as considered as the movement working underneath it.

That movement is the tourbillon with remontoir d'égalité and dead beat seconds, a constant force device that regulates the energy reaching the escapement the way a dam regulates the flow of water to a turbine, smoothing out the natural variation in power a mainspring would otherwise deliver. The four armed balance beats at 21,600 vibrations per hour, and the entire mechanism is finished with circular stripes on the bridges and Geneva waves across the baseplate, with every screw head polished and beveled by hand.

Production of this Tourbillon Souverain configuration has always remained extremely limited, keeping genuine examples scarce even among F.P.Journe's already small overall output. This is why the last auction results reached unknown territory and showed, that his watches 

This example is offered as:

- Excellent condition

- Full set with box and warranty card - 2009

- Very rare, platinum bracelet configuration

- Extra 950 platinum folding clasp

"The tourbillon that launched an independent brand, still one of the most technically demanding watches any collector can own!