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Geneva 2008 Report: F.P. Journe

By: bs22fly (registered) Sunday, April 27th, 2008

Geneva 2008 Report: F.P. Journe
Text & Pictures: Brad Schwartz

This year's FPJ Annual Exhibition was indeed a treat and certainly worth the trip from Hong Kong. As all of you know already, this year Francois Paul introduced his ultra slim minute repeater which features two mainspring barrels in parrallel, linear escapement with 15 tooth escape wheel, a balance wheel with 4x variable inertia weights and an anachron free-sprung flat balance spring. The movement height is only 4mm with a diameter of 31.6mm. The case size is 40mm and is in stainless steel. The sound from the watch was a treat but even FPJ admits it's not ready. Like a fine instrument it needs to be tuned. By the time production is ready this will be the case. Even the Grand Sonnerie took some time before the sound hit the sweet spot zone. Like any artist, FPJ is never satisfied and continues to adjust and improve. The minute repeater will be no different and I can't wait until my next opportunity to hear it. The Repetition Minutes Souveraine is the most complex and sophisticated of horological complications after the Grand Sonnerie or in the words of FPJ it's 4x less complicated.

The new minute repeater has two distinct technical developments. First is the flat gong that produces a "louder and clearer sound that traditional gongs," also seen in Journes Grand Sonnerie. The other is an innovative system of striking racks and strike selection mechanisms which takes up much less space than conventional strike mechanisms. "Unlike traditional minute repeaters, the hours and minutes of the Repetition Souveraine do share the same hammer: so a pause is automatically inserted between hour and minute chimes when there are no quarters. The quarters sound with classic double chimes. An inertial regulator controls the speed of the chimes, thus eliminating the background noise usually associated with traditional air regulators.

The exhibition began with an introduction by Brigitte Makhaniand the new Marketing Director and then a brief video tour of the factory by Mr. Journe. Journe is now producing 90% of all the components for the movement. The video takes you to each department. You can actually watch it on their newly designed website. Here are some photo's from the exhibition to enjoy.

Beautiful view of the water walking to the exhibition.