- Movement
- Manual winding
- Size
- 44 mm
- Edition
- The brand states that only a very few pieces are produced each year.
Overview
Astronomical time on the wrist
The F.P. Journe Astronomic Souveraine, reference AST, in steel on a leather strap, 44 mm and 13.8 mm high, white gold and whitened guilloché silver dial with blued and 5N gilt steel hands. Manually wound calibre 1619 in 18K rose gold: tourbillon with remontoir d'égalité, minute repeater and, in all, 18 functions and complications.
The Astronomic Souveraine is F.P. Journe's grand complication: a tourbillon and minute repeater carrying an astronomical display, in a steel case of 44 mm. F.P. Journe presents it as the final version of a prototype sold at the Only Watch auction. Its origin, in the brand's telling, was a sketch by François-Paul Journe's son Charles of a curved aperture for the path of the sun; six years of research followed, and what began as a self-winding idea became a manually wound calibre so that more functions could be powered. The precedent the brand names is a pocket watch with planetarium it made in 1987 for a collector of scientific objects, a tourbillon showing mean and sidereal time, the equation of time, a full calendar and the reserve.
Calibre 1619 draws on two barrels, and a remontoir d'égalité feeds the tourbillon, so the escapement is driven by a small secondary spring rearmed at intervals rather than by the mainspring directly; the brand's stated purpose is isochronism. The front dial keeps two kinds of time. At 3 is mean, or civil, time, with a blue hand for a second time zone; at 9 is sidereal time, reckoned by the stars rather than the sun, which F.P. Journe presents as the dial for observing them. The minutes run from the centre, the mean-time seconds turn on a disc at 7, the reserve is at 6 and the moon, traced from a NASA photograph, at 5. At 12 a blue aperture shows sunrise and sunset, with metal shutters that lengthen and shorten the day as the year passes. The back carries the equation of time, the difference between mean time and the sun's, at its centre, an annual calendar at 10 ringed by the signs of the zodiac, and the tourbillon. The repeater strikes the hours, quarters and minutes, and every function is set from the crown.
For collectors
Two things define the watch as an owner meets it. The calendar side is the back: the equation of time, the annual calendar and the tourbillon are seen only with the watch turned over, and the front is given to the astronomical display. And the case is steel, at 44 mm and 13.80 mm, around a movement of 758 parts and 68 jewels that also strikes the hours, quarters and minutes; the brand says only a very few pieces are made each year.
Key details
Design and engineering
- Tourbillon with remontoir d'égalitéA constant-force device between the barrels and the escapement: a small spring, rearmed at intervals, drives the tourbillon so that the force reaching the balance does not follow the mainspring's decline. F.P. Journe gives isochronism as its purpose. The cage is visible from the back.
- Sunrise and sunsetA blue aperture at 12 shows the day's length. Metal shutters move across it to lengthen or shorten the daylight arc as the year progresses, the curved aperture that began the project.
- Mean and sidereal timeCivil time at 3 with a blue second-time-zone hand, its minutes read from the centre; sidereal hours and minutes, the time by which the stars are located, on their own dial at 9.
- Equation of time and annual calendarOn the back: the equation of time at the centre, the difference between clock time and the sun's, and an annual calendar at 10 surrounded by the signs of the zodiac.
- Minute repeater and dead-beat secondsThe watch strikes the hours, quarters and minutes. The seconds are shown on a disc at 7 and advance in one-second steps, a natural dead-beat second.
- Case and dialSteel, 44.00 mm and 13.80 mm high. 18K white gold dial with whitened guilloché silver, its sub-dials in clous de Paris; blued steel and 5N gilt steel hands.
Calibre 1619
- Manual winding, 34 turns of the crown
- 18K rose gold; two barrels
- Tourbillon with remontoir d'égalité, natural dead-beat second, minute repeater
- Free-sprung balance with four inertia weights, Breguet Anachron spring; 15-tooth escape wheel, 90° anchor fork
- 21,600 vibrations per hour (3 Hz), 68 jewels
- Power reserve 40 hours, over which the brand says the reserve remains optimal; amplitude above 260° dial up at 0 h and vertical at 24 h
- 37.00 mm overall diameter, 9.30 mm high, 758 parts without dial (817 cased on leather strap)
The reference
Technical specifications
| Reference | AST |
|---|---|
| Collection | Classique |
| Calibre | Calibre 1619 |
| Movement | Manual winding |
| Functions | Front: Hours and 2nd time zone at 3, Minutes in the centre, Sunrise and sunset at 12, Sidereal hours and minutes at 9, Power reserve at 6, Moon phases at 5, Second on disc at 7, Back: Equation of time in the center, Annual calendar at 10 |
| Case dimensions | 44 mm |
| Case thickness | 13.8 mm |
| Case material | Steel |
| Notes | Astronomical watch with 18 functions and complications. All settings by the crown. |
| Dial | white Gold and whitened guilloché Silver |
| Hands | blued Steel and 5N gilt Steel |
| Strap | Leather strap |
| Jewels | 68 |
| Power reserve | 40 hours |
| Frequency | 21,600 V/H, (3Hz) |
| Movement parts | 758 |
| Edition | The brand states that only a very few pieces are produced each year. |
Buying with HYPA
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