A Collector’s Perspective on F.P. Journe

Not too long ago, Alex Jin – our Sydney boutique manager, caught up with an Australian collector and one of the worlds foremost connoisseurs on F.P. Journe. What follows is a fascinating conversation on all matters of F.P. Journe, covering such topics as the evolution of the brand, how should one begin their F.P. Journe collecting journey and the legacy of François-Paul Journe himself.

How did you begin your watch collecting journey?

It began 25 years when I was in school. What happened was that I needed a watch as I had just got my first part time job working in a department store. The first watch I bought was a quartz Seiko and I absolutely loved it. Then during high school in the late 90s I went on a trip to Japan with my school because I was learning Japanese and there were two things I was dying to buy. One of them was a Sony mini disc player, the second thing that I wanted to buy was a Seiko kinetic watch. The power-reserve indicators on them were really colourful. I managed to buy both in Tokyo and am fortunate to have my early Seiko’s as part of my collection today. They’re important as they are part of my beginnings as a collector.

Early on, I was a fan of the Formula 1 and really began lusting after the TAG Heuer Professional Link series watches. My ultimate grail was a TAG Heuer Calibre 36 (Reference CT511A).

I know it, that’s the Zenith movement yeah?

Exactly!

That’s the Grand Carrera?

The first one I had was released before the Grand Carrera. It was released in 2002, Reference CT 511A,  it was a black dial chronograph, had a sapphire crystal display case back and still to this day I love that classic 3,6,9 chronograph subdial layout. It was my grail in the early 2000s.

I didn’t know the significance of it at the time but as you said the Calibre 36 was based on the Zenith El Primero movement which was of course the same movement that Rolex used. Now, the TAG Calibre 36 was my grail at that time, but the only problem was I had to figure out how to earn and then justify spending, I think from memory about $8,000 Australian dollars. Which I know is very expensive for a TAG. But then again it had a great Zenith movement in it.

At that time I remember that TAG watches typically cost around $3,000?

Lucky for me, I managed to save some extra pennies from some additional jobs. While doing my undergraduate degree in university I managed to buy it, and to be honest with you, at this point I thought my watch collecting journey was done. I had achieved my grail and my watch journey was over, or at least I thought at the time.

Does collecting watches run in your family?

My father actually played a significant role in my interest in horology. During the late 1990s, my father actually built his own grandfather clock. It’s an amazing piece that he made out of wood, it stands at about 7 feet tall and has this lovely moonphase on the dial. This clock still sits in the entrance of his home today in Australia today. My father also collects pocket watches. I would often see him enjoy pulling out his pocket watches and placing them on the kitchen table and open their case backs to enjoy their movements. My father always encouraged me to buy a nice pocket watch, which I hope to do one day but I have not come across the right option. If I did it would probably be a Patek Philippe minute repeater perpetual calendar, that’s what I would love in a pocketwatch.

I see. You like complicated pocket watches?

Yeah, I love perpetual calendars.

François-Paul Journe

Okay so, that’s the beginning but how did you come across F.P. Journe? Because I believe you began very early on. At that time that brand literally didn’t have any presence in Australia or New Zealand.

Well unfortunately, I wasn’t there at the start though in 1999, and believe me I wish I was. At that time I was still into my TAG Heuers.

I actually stopped focusing on watches for a few years and my collecting focus moved elseware; I developed a rapid appreciation for bench clocks. Mostly mantle and wall clocks. I’ve always appreciated antiques and now own one of the oldest homes in Australia, so I’ve got a nice place to enjoy antique furniture and clocks. Interestingly, I’m drawn to French clocks, moreso than English and German clocks. I  really appreciate the artistry and use of trades such as marquetry – which is the use of a lathe on materials such as wood. I also love gold-gilded bronze clocks – done with the use of mercury – which is a practice no longer employed due to the associated health risks. So these formed the basis of my clock collection and these are the pieces that I still enjoy winding today, even if keeping track of all the keys is a challenge! They’re all wound by key and each clock has a slightly different key, so keeping track of them is an ongoing challenge.

I really encourage watch collectors out there to take a look at the world of clocks because they’re rather inexpensive in comparison to some of the watches that we are talking about, and the artistry within them is incredible. For the same reason, I believe we should all take a closer look into the incredible world of pocket watches. But I quickly ran into an issue with collecting clocks. What was happening was that, I was running out of space to put them on the walls, which is a problem you obviously don’t have with watches.

As my business continued to grow I began to get back into the world of watches. I purchased a few Rolex sports watches, and then made the giant leap on to Patek Philippe. At this point, I thought I couldn’t go any deeper in the world of watches, I actually purchased a Patek Celestial Ref. 5102. What I love about that watch in particular was its engraved case and what I consider a rather romantic blue dial. I still love this piece today. But what actually inspired me to dive even deeper into the world of independent – and although not an independent – I began obsessing over A. Lange & Söhne and really admired their movements. My favourite A. Lange & Söhne today is the Zeitwerk Striking Time.

While I still appreciate Patek Philippe and continue to add pieces to my collection, I became a little disappointed with the brand with their release of the Celestial 6102 in 2015. I felt the company was taking some short cuts. Essentially, I watched Patek Philippe remove the hand engraved case the 5102 had in place of a rather standard case without the engraving on the 6102. To me this was a short cut as it detracts from the otherwise incredible Celestial, as there are very few engraved case in the Patek Philippe’s catalogue both past and present. Shortcuts like this are rare in the world of independents.

I actually started buying F.P. Journe watches from Sotheby’s and Christie’s, because I wanted to focus on the earlier discontinued pieces – they’re mostly brass movements pieces (finished around 2004/2005) and are limited editions. I still buy pieces at auctions today and have purchased several through the Patrimoine Service, it’s a great way for collectors to add discontinued pieces to their collection. I highly recommend it.

It’s also obviously fantastic that F.P. Journe is now available in Australia at The Hour Glass in Sydney and I do hope Australian watch collectors continue to embrace the brand so that we can have François-Paul fly out to Australia one day.

Nine foot tall astronomical clock made by Constantin Louis Detouche, which won a gold medal in 1855 at the Exposition Universelle (International Exhibition) of Paris. On permanent display in F.P. Journe’s Geneva workshop exhibition space.

The momentum is growing for sure.

And that’s fantastic to hear because once you go down the rabbit hole of collecting F.P. Journe  and other independents, it’s hard to get youself out.

So what was your first F.P. Journe watch?

It was a piece I bought at an auction, it was a special edition Calendrier.

Was it the grey dial?

You mean Ruthenium? It wasn’t the Ruthenium Calendrier, but I do have one in the collection. I love the Ruthenium series and a lot of my focus has been on collecting the rare and limited edition pieces.

Ruthenium Chronometre à Résonance (Credit: Christie’s)

Since your collection spans both vintage and new pieces, what’s your thoughts on how the brand has developed over the years?

Well it’s an interesting question because no doubt there’s been a few changes over the years. In the beginning of Montres Journe SA, François-Paul announced two key timepieces which quickly became three. There was the original Tourbillon Souverain (produced between 1999 and 2004), then there was the Chronomètre à Résonance (two references, both manual wound) launched in 1999 at Baselworld. This was followed by the Réserve de Marche (launched in 2002 and discontinued in 2014). Now for me, these are the three core pieces which laid the foundation of the company, and are still considered quitessential F.P. Journe timepieces today.

These early models formed the brand’s DNA. What I mean by that is that you have the sub dial with the time on the right hand side so you could read the time without needing to pull your dress shirt cuff back. I know that a lot has changed over the years, but back then (early 2000s) people wore dress shirts more often, and in order to read the time you didn’t need to slide the cuff back to read the time – it’s a fantastic design. And then the complications like the power reserve on the Réserve de Marche would be positioned on the left side of the dial. This dial layout is essentially what makes F.P. Journe watches instantly recognisable. And then on the for example on the Chronomètre Bleu or the Souveraine, which have full numeric dial layouts, then it’s the teardrop hands and the font used that provide the F.P. Journe DNA.

Over the years several models have come and gone, most of them in the classic dress watch collection. Some of the popular models that have since been discontinued include the Octa Calendrier, which was F.P. Journe’s first annual calendar and the Octa Chronographe which was F.P. Journe’s first chronograph – that’s my personal favourite chronograph actually. In addition to these standard pieces, F.P. Journe has released limited edition pieces over the years, such as the Ruthenium series. Other popular limited editions include titanium case models and the Vagabonded series as well.

Chronomètre Bleu

Don’t forget the T10 and the T30!

The T10 and T30 are very important. Unfortunately for the T10, there were a very limited number of those. For the T30 there were 99 pieces and that was based on the first pocket watch which François-Paul himself made in 1983. It was that that pretty much exactly like the pocket, but in a wristwatch. It even had a beautiful hunter caseback.

I think one of the most interesting facts of F.P. Journe himself was his approach towards limited editions. I find this approach very unique within this industry.

Absolutely, and it’s something that I’m keen to talk about. To me, this comes back to integrity. That’s something which François-Paul personally has a lot of.  When he says something is limited, it is limited. When he says we’ll release say 20 of these, quite often he would only make 20 or it would be less than that. But it would never be more than whatever he said. You’ll find the classic example is the titanium Octa Perpétuelle, now that was a unique movement, and it was just the 99 pieces. That was very similar to Calendrier but it was a perpetual calendar so a very similar layout. He made it because people were saying “Can’t you make a perpetual calendar?” So rather than make something new, he tweaked and turn an annual calendar into a perpetual calendar, which was a great example because there were only 99 pieces of those.

Titanium Octa Perpétuelle (Credit: Antiquorum)

So that story is true? The only reason why he made that watch was just so that he could silence the critics about the perpetual calendar.

Yeah and I think we will talk about that when talk about the Astronomic, because I think there is a bit of silencing the critics in that watch as well. I think one of the main changes we have seen is F.P. Journe moving from brass movements to solid gold movements. This occurred around 2004/2005, which was five years after the start of the Montres Journe SA. François-Paul had always wanted to make movements out of gold. He was of the opinion that for the price he’s asking for his watches he wants the collector to get  as much value as possible within an F.P. Journe watch. And that just ties in the integrity that we were just talking about. However in 1999 when he started the company, making movements out of gold was not an expense a new company could afford and this is why it took 5 years to eventuate (early pieces had brass movements).

Now, if we were to consider the collections today, I would say that there were 3 main collections. Firstly, there’s the Souverain or the classic collection and that was the most popular with both the manual wind and automatic movements. And then we have the Linesport range where more of the sporty models are found. All these pieces have bracelets with materials such as platinum, rose gold and titanium. Finally, there’s the Elegante collection, where you will find the quartz mechanical movement watches, all with the torneau case shape as the common feature.

Now the Elegante was first created with women in mind, (later expanded to large cases for men) because François-Paul realised that women generally didn’t really want a manual winding watch or even an automatically wounded watch. Women wanted something  which from the time you pick it up the watch it shows the correct time. What happens is that it has has a motion detection sensor on the watch, and when you pick it up the time instantly adjusts to the correct time. The battery didn’t last the usual two to three years like a standard quartz watch, it would last a lot longer. They’re talking up to about 15 to 18 years in sleep mode, which is incredible.

Now in regards to my preference, it has always been the manual wound watches in the Souverain collection. One interesting fact is that F.P. Journe does not add a date to his manual wound pieces in his Souverain collection, so if you want a date on your watch you need to checkout the Octa range. For me, the classic  Souverain range is the quintessential F.P. Journe and for anyone wanting to look at the brand, I’d highly recommend the Chronomètre Souverain, or the CS for short. It is incredibly elegant and is a perfect first F.P. Journe watch.

Chronomètre Souverain

So a Souverain is your recommendation for those who would like to dive into the world of F.P. Journe?

Yes I would say the CS is for a variety of reasons. I asked François-Paul this question once and he said to me the CS would be what he recommends as well. Part of it would be because it’s one of the more entry-level priced pieces. One of the simplest as well, it’s a mechanical watch so you’ve got all the benefits there and it has a power-reserve. It’s incredibly elegant and is just a really good gateway into the brand. Which is obviously why the Chronomètre Bleu is so popular – but that one is particularly challenging to get at the moment.

You mentioned integrity. What other attributes do you respect about François-Paul and his creations?

I’ll talk about the man himself later, but if we talk about his watches, besides my enthousiasm for the overall aesthetics and the extreme quality which I believe F.P. Journe watches have,  F.P. Journe is rather unique in that they use many different materials. You have the usual suspects made with platinum and gold and then there’s rare examples made out of stainless steel, aluminium, titanium and polished tantalum which is incredibly difficult to do. On top of this, F.P. Journe can produce incredibly special dials, hand engraved dials, mother of pearls dials and those made out of precious stones like jade and rubies. Then you have movements made out of solid gold, made out of super light materials like aluminium on models such as the Centigraphe Sport.

Now it’s hardly surprising that the Chronomètre Bleu is popular, which is essentially the entry-level F.P. Journe mechanical piece, and has such high demand as it’s the only watch in the catalogue that has the incredibly challenging to make lacquer blue dial and polished tantalum case.

Centigraphe Sport with an aluminium alloy dial and titanium bracelet

I’d like your views on the discontinuation of the Chronometre Souverain Tourbillon, and subsequent introduction of the Vertical Tourbillon Souverain. It makes sense for a lot of watch geeks but for the general consumer, we hear some criticisms. I’d also like to hear your view on the Astronomic.

Before we start discussing specific pieces, I should start by saying that within the company there is definitely a trend towards larger case sizes. When F.P. Journe officially launched in 1999, there was only just one case size, and that was 38 mm. Then the company released the Ruthenium series which had 5 core pieces released in 40 mm. In fact the only way you could get a 40 mm initial tourbillon (reference T) was in the Ruthinium series. So the company then began offering watches in their current collections in both 38 mm and 40 mm. But then in 2015, F.P. Journe retired the 38 mm case size with a 5 piece collection set, with all cases made in 38 mm in stainless steel.

Since 2015, the company has offered 40 mm and 42 mm cases, the exception being the Chronomètre Bleu at 39 mm and the larger cases within the Linesport range (some being 44 mm) and the Elegante range. There has been a evolution in case sizes, they’ve dropped the 38 mm and introduced 40 mm and 42 mm. And then the Vertical Tourbillon and the Astronic have larger case sizes again, at 42 mm and 44 mm respectively. Not only are they larger in case width, we also see thicker timepieces and this is rather unusual for F.P. Journe watches. Thinness was one of their best traits. Now that said, I can completely understand why there is a need for them to be thicker than usual. Afterall, we have a tourbillon in the vertical position – so the watch inherently needs to be thicker to allow the tourbillon cage to rotate. In the original tourbillon, it was lying flat.

Vertical Tourbillon Souverain

Now with the Astronomic, we’ve got a very wearable watch, its only 44 mm despite the fact that it has 18 functions/complications. All of which are controlled by the crown. This in my mind, is just pure genius. If you look at F.P. Journe watches in his past catalogues, one thing he never used is pushers. With traditional pushers you need to have a pin (has a little hole on the side). He has used pushers in the past – we talked about the titanium perpetual calendar – now that had a pusher on the side, and then on his more recent perpatual calendar he’s built a pusher built into one of the the lugs, which is an absolutely amazing design. It’s phenomenal. You wouldn’t even know it’s a pusher. And that allows you to quick set the months. For François-Paul he always considers this when designing his pieces. The fact that he would create a grand complication with 18 functions (he prefers to call them functions as opposed to complications) that can be manipulated by a simple crown is just amazing. I was fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to handle both the vertical tourbillon and the Astronomic and I loved them both. They represent an evolution for sure and I believe they still carry the F.P. Journe DNA; I would instantly recognise them within the  F.P. Journe family.

I asked François-Paul about the Astronomic and how it would compare to the Sonnerie Souveraine. So the Sonnerie Souveraine was launched in 2006 and was his first true grand complication for Montres Journe. François-Paul views the Sonnerie Souveraine as being a revolutionary watch, essentially a masterpiece, and he designed his grande and petitie sonnerie such that an 8 year old child could operate it. The Astronomic however is an usual watch, and what I mean by this is that there’s many different complicaitons/functions within the one watch; a multi-complication watch is not normally what F.P. Journe releases. For me, the Astronomic is more of a watch that shows the world exactly what François-Paul is able to create and it certainly silences anyone who doubted his personal ability for making watches with multiple complications. And it ties back to that story of the perpetual calendar, and how he turned the Octa Perpetuelle into a perpetual version. And its very much how I view the Astronomic. Its just phenomenal.

Astronomic Souveraine

What do you admire about Mr Journe himself?

Well, I got a lot of thoughts about the man himself. Personally I view François-Paul as an artist, lets just say a watch dreamer. He’s more of an artist/watch dreamer than a watchmaker. There are many watchmakers out there but there are very few successful artists. What I mean by that is that, he’s someone who can dream up a concept, then design it and then spend the time and energy making that dream become a working reality.

Now we if exclude his talents in desiging and conceiving award winning watches time after time, I have to say what I admire most about the man is his integrity. I have heard many stories regarding François-Paul exhibiting integrity, and I believe it’s a incredibly important ingredient in building a successful business. Let along one that can thrive or die amongst passionate collectors. Now if you get it right like I believe François-Paul has,  these passionate collectors quickly became your best asset and brand ambassadors.

One of the early stories I heard about is what happened in Baselworld in 1990. Now, François-Paul was around 33 years old at that time. At the fair, François-Paul was supposed to have a sympathetic clock for an important client, John Asprey. So he was supposed to have this clock to show show John, for him to view and then purchase. Unfortunately, due to the French customs issues – his parts were made in Switzerland then had to go back to France (as he had his workshop in Paris at the time) – he had no clock with him so when Asprey stopped by, he was unable to fulfil his order.

George Daniels, John Asprey, and Francois-Paul Journe, at a 2010 dinner organised by Mr Journe to honour Daniels

During the fair, a competitor of Asprey came along to see François-Paul’s stand and he wanted to purchase the same clock, sight unseen. François-Paul refused. In his mind, he’d made it for Asprey and he wanted Asprey to have the proper opportunity see him through on his order in person and to then accept or decline the order. This is just one example of his integrity at such an early age. If you think about it, a 33 year old standing there and refusing to sell a piece, especially at a time like when funds could be very beneficial at the time. This to me speaks volumes.

Now, a more recent example which others have talked about is François-Paul putting his integrity ahead of business revenue. This was during the time when the Sonnerie Souveraine was around, so it was probably around 2006. A potential client tried to order this flagship grand complication and the client wanted a very specific custom dial and François-Paul told him that he would not create this dial. Quite frankly, he did not like it aesthetically. He told the client look, as it has got his name on the dial he simply wouldn’t allow such an unpleasing piece to exist. Which meant the company lost the sale and a significant sum of money and the potential loss of client worth a lot more in the future.

But for François-Paul, I truly get the sense that it is not about the money, it is more about the art. And as a collector, I really appreciate this. Let’s just say that François-Paul has declined several of my custom requests to date. Last year I reached out to the company to see if they would allow me to order a custom dial on of the 2019 Chronomètre à Résonance.

So along with my request, I actually sent a sketch of the dial that my wife had drawn for me as I have essentially no skills with a pencil [laughs]. After considerable dialogue, I finally received the good news from François-Paul liked the design and had agreed to produce it for me. I was fortunate enough to travel to Geneva in January before the lockdown. Prior to me seeing the watch, I was informed that as François-Paul had tweaked parts of the design to make it artistically perfect in his view, and that if I didn’t like the piece I could just decline it. Now, while I had no intention of declining delivery of this piece, the fact that he had made this offer to me was just another sign of François-Paul’s integrity. Afterall, he didn’t want me to purchase something that I was not entirely happy with. Of course, after I saw the piece on the watchmaker’s bench and I managed to meet the engraver of the dial, I was over the moon with the final result and this Résonance now forms a very personal piece of my collection. With F.P. Journe it’s not just a brand you’re buying,  you’re really investing in a man and his vision behind his creations.

One of the Pendule Sympathiques made by Francois-Paul Journe for Asprey, this one panelled in pink chalcedony

The great thing about François-Paul is that when he creates a new model, you know that it’s going to be around for a few years. It’s typically not a company that brings out a model and discontinues it two years later. So if you look at the last tourbillon, which was released around 2005, it was released then it was discontinued in 2018, because in 2019 he released the vertical tourbillon and that was the 20^th year anniversary so there was a period of potentially 14 years for the same piece being in production. I know that there have been slight changes over time but essentially it was the same watch for 14 years.

If you look at the Sonnerie Souveraine for example, one thing I do appreciate was that in January 2018 the company came out and said it will be discontinued at the end of the year and that they will be accepting and honering all orders up to, and including December 2018. So essentially they came out and gave the world 12 months notice. The final deliveries are now happening in 2020, as it potentially takes quite a while to create those watches. So again, there is his integrity. It’s giving people the time and confidence to plan ahead. Again when he released the new Résonance this year, you know it’ll be a around for probably close to 10 years. So you have time to save your pennies till hopefully one day you’ll be able to purchase one if this is something that you truly desire.

François-Paul is in his mid-sixties, do you think he’s taking more risks as he ages?

I don’t know if I would call them risks. My guess from the outside would be that François-Paul enjoys more freedom now. I can give you an example. Now, a friend of François-Paul had asked him what his perfect watch was – this was long before his company was launched, and he essentially described the Chronomètre Optimum. But, when François-Paul launched the company in 1999, he didn’t feel that a time only watch would be impressive enough so he shelved the concept and instead wowed the world of horology with two world’s firsts: a tourbillon wrist watch with a remontoir d’egalité (constant force mechanism) and then the Chronomètre à Résonance, showcasing the resonance phenomenon. The watch he had always wanted for himself was only released in 2012, 13 years after the company was founded.

Since the company is in a solid position now, I do now believe François-Paul can take more risks and can certainly focus on what he enjoys, which is really the art aspect of it, moreso than the business itself.

We can see this is another example, creating the quartz mechanical Elegante.Now that was a risk. But then again he had a lot of collectors coming along and saying that they would have a gathering and some of  the wives would question whether F.P. Journe will ever make a watch for women. Now that was a risk and took many many years create that mechanism.

Elegant with an 18K red gold case and set with diamonds

It’s a tough question, but do you have a favourite piece in your collection?

It’s a very difficult question. Almost impossible to answer. I’m fortunate to own quite a few pieces, and love them all. I own a few Chronomètre à Résonance watches, but the 2019 model for its personal meaning and the process I went through – involving meeting the watchmaker and the dialmaker, it really is unlike any dial I’ve seen before. So that’s a very special one. Some of the watches I’ve picked up over the years, I wasn’t the first owner of – so they don’t have that same special story attached to it. I also love some of the early tourbillon pieces from 1999. Conceptually, what we talked about François-Paul and his ideal watch, I love the Optimum, and it’s probably one of the most complex time only watches made by any watch company. Its got a special movement, and is just an amazing watch. And then when you see the movement on the back with the seconds, it’s just a really quirky thing to have. I’m fortunate enough to own a special jade dial Optimum that actually happens to be the watch that my wife likes the most in my collection. My wife actually owns an Elegante as well and she really loves that piece. Although she’s not into watches, she really appreciates that piece, like I said, it’s a quartz watch and you need not worry about setting the time.

François-Paul Journe’s first pocket watch with tourbillon (1983)

What’s missing in your collection?

The likelihood of me ever buying one of these is very slim, but any early F.P. Journe pocket watch, anything marked à Paris (made in Paris), which is where he originally worked with his uncle. This would be the dream.

It’s quite a fascinating story. Essentially at the age of 15, he enrolled in a vocational school and was then expelled, being told that despite being the best student in the class he’s never going to be a watchmaker. When his uncle essentially agreed to supervise him in Paris, he stopped his certificate training programme and continued his third and four years in Paris. While he was studying he was also properly employed as a watchmaker / restorer. Then after that, he graduated and worked for his uncle fulltime. After his uncle sold the workshop in the early 80s, François-Paul set up his own workshop in 1985 and shortly after began taking commissions. So any of those early pieces made in the 80s would be amazing. Another piece, would be his original 1991 tourbillon wrist watch, which had a gold base plate that was essentially the dial. There are a few of these around, and they’re all numbered.

On that note, François-Paul also worked on Breguet mantel clocks. He made around 20 mantel clocks, around 1990. So for me, an early François-Paul pocket watch, one of the 1991 tourbillon wristwatches and a Breguet mantle clock would be an example of dream pieces I’d like to add to my collection.

Firstly, I’d like your take on François-Paul’s legacy. Obviously George hugely influential and played an important role in François-Paul thinking beyond his lifetime. And secondly, with the Chanel family acquiring 20% stake of F.P. Journe, how do you think this would influence the brand in the future?

With regards to the Chanel acquisition, François-Paul came out to announce that his decision to sell 20% of the brand was made to ensure the brand’s longevity. As a collector, I personally believe that it was a very positive move. Amongst other collectors it’s viewed in quite a positive light. The fact that Chanel now owns part of F.P. Journe means that in the future, whatever happens, the company will continue. After investing your time, energy and significant financial resources into acquiring F.P. Journe timepieces, the collector can rest easy knowing that the company will be around in the future to continue service collectors.

Some people out there might say, you sold 20%, you are not entirely independent. What I would say to that is, Chanel is an independent brand. If there was any company in the world that should have bought into F.P. Journe, it would be Chanel. Chanel is a French brand that is owned by two brothers who fans of collectors of F.P. Journe themselves. So it is not just a random company buying in. Out of any company in the world, I feel that Chanel is the best partner for them. They also make timepieces themselves and own other brands, so this isn’t a first for them.

Now in regards to his legacy and so forth, I hope that he is remembered fondly. You mentioned George Daniels and there is an interesting relationship between George Daniels and François-Paul Journe. George was a huge influence and was someone François-Paul always looked up to. An interesting story was that in 2002, George Daniels went for a drive through Europe and he actually visited François-Paul in his manufacture, which is in downtown Geneva. When Geoerge saw the Chronomètre à Résonance, he said, “Well François-Paul, congratulations, you are a courageous man!”. What he meant was that his attempt to put two independent movements into a single case, and also the fact that F.P. Journe was going to put it into serial production. François-Paul is part of the same lineage as Daniels and obviously Breguet.