Tourbillon Souverain Remontoir d'Égalité

Francois-Paul Journe built his first tourbillon as a pocket watch in 1983, alone, over five years. The Tourbillon Souverain that followed became the founding reference of the manufacture and the first serially produced wristwatch to combine a tourbillon with a constant-force remontoir.

The remontoir is the detail that separates this from every other tourbillon. A small secondary spring rewinds itself every second, delivering identical torque to the escapement regardless of how much power remains in the barrel. The visible consequence is the dead-beat second, ticking cleanly rather than sweeping.

The dial is solid gold, guilloche-finished, carrying the off-centre white enamel hours, a dead seconds register and the power reserve arc. The Invenit et Fecit inscription means what it says: he invented it and he made it.

In platinum with the rose gold movement behind it, this is the configuration that dominates auction discussion. Journe production has always been capped and the earliest series are effectively unobtainable.

A collector buys other watches for what they do. A Journe is bought for how it was reasoned.