Golden movements from F. P. Journe

Founder of Haute Horlogerie marque, François-Paul Journe, tell us about his golden movements and working with tantalum on the side lines of Dubai Watch Week

Why does F. P. Journe have such a cult following among its aficionados?
It enjoys a cult status because of the design, the technology, and because it is a great watch brand.

Why is that the essence and style of F. P. Journe has remained unchanged over the years, unlike other watch brands?
In the bigger brands, sometimes there is a change in the designer or the CEO – the person who actually influences the style and design elements. In F. P. Journe, right from the beginning till date, I am the person who decides these things, so the essence and style remains the same.

Why does F. P. Journe have all its movements made of gold? Why is F. P. Journe still the only watchmaker to do this?
I wanted to make movements out of gold for a long time, but was able to do this only in 2004. Till then, we had to get our movements from outside and our suppliers did not have the technical know-how to craft movements out of gold. Other brands have not done this as it is very expensive.

Tell us about the Elegante.
The Elegante came about because the wives of our watch collectors were always asking me when I would create a watch for them.  So I first created a watch especially for ladies, who may not be interested in spending an hour just to wind and maintain their watch. Then, our male customers started to ask me to make one for them, so then I made one that is unisex.

Why does the Elegante have two engines for its hands?
The first one is for the minute hand, while the second one is for the seconds. The two movements help in maintaining accuracy. When the watch restarts after being idle for some time, if there is only one movement, then that movement will set the minutes and the hour before working on the seconds. This means that the second indicator will not be accurate. Of the two movements in this timepiece, one sets the minutes and the hours while the other sets the seconds at the same time; this way, accuracy is maintained.

Also, if you had one movement that set the seconds first, then you can imagine how many turns are required to set the minutes and the hour correctly. This would really tax the batteries.

Why is there so much demand for the Chronomètre Bleu, which has become iconic even among the lay person?
The watch was launched in 2009 during the financial crisis; it had the right price and was made of tantalum. Though we do not make much money on that, it is a great watch. We now produce these timepieces as per demand; we are able to maintain the price at the entry level with a slight difficulty. People are aware of the watch – of its intrinsic value; this is the only watch now that has a case made of tantalum.

Our technical know-how of working with tantalum is really good; if other brands were to start working with tantalum now, their products would have to be priced two or three times more than ours due to the difficulty they would have in working with the metal. It is also very expensive to work with and so other brands may not work with it.