 THE
AIGUILLE D´OR, the highest prize awarded in the Geneva Watchmaking Grand Prix, was awarded in 2004 to F.P. Journe´s Tourbillon Souverain. A few months
later in Japan, the World Photo Press (WPP) awarded the same watch the Grand Prix: Men´s Model Watch of the Year 2004.
As
everyone appears to making tourbillons these days, it is worth looking a little closer at just what makes this watch so special. Why did François-Paul Journe
make a tourbillon? What is a remontoir d´égalité? And just what does dead-beat seconds (seconde morte) actually do?
Historically,
watchmakers looked at the making of a tourbillon as the pinnacle of their craft: something to be attempted after many long years gaining experience at the bench.
This is not because making a tourbillon is particularly difficult for a skilled watchmaker, but because it is so hard to make and adjust a tourbillon that works
well.
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Precisely
poising and regulating a balance and escapement in a simple movement is hard enough; however, modern balance designs, materials and production techniques have largely
taken the watchmakers art, if not craft, out of the equation. To balance and tune the whole balance and escapement assembly– all inside a light rotating cage-and
to get it to perform as well and ideally better than a movement without a tourbillon, takes an extremely high level of both skill and experience.
Beginning with a Tourbillon
For François-Paul Journe, the making of a tourbillon was just the beginning-quite literally. The first watch he ever made was a tourbillon pocket watch,
which he completed in 1982, while still in his early 20s. He had to make it himself since he could not afford to buy one.
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