 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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