- Size
- 40 mm
Overview
Timing to the hundredth
The F.P. Journe Centigraphe Souverain, reference CT, in 18K 6N gold on the 6N gold bracelet, with the 5N gold dial and whitened guilloché silver counters. 40 mm and 10.1 mm high, manually wound on calibre 1506 in 18K rose gold, timing from a hundredth of a second to 10 minutes on three counters.
The Centigraphe Souverain is F.P. Journe's hand-wound chronograph for very short intervals, produced between 2008 and 2018. Journe discussed the ideal chronograph for motor racing with Jean Todt, whom he met through the ICM, the Paris institute for brain and spinal cord research; Todt agreed to be the Centigraphe's godfather, and Journe has committed 30% of the profits on each Centigraphe to the institute. The brand describes it as the first wristwatch whose single hand-wound movement times from a hundredth of a second to 10 minutes on three counters.
Hours and minutes are central. The counter at 10 o'clock makes one turn a second over a scale of hundredths, the counter at 2 o'clock turns once in 20 seconds, and the counter at 6 o'clock records 10 minutes. Each has a time scale in red and a tachometer scale in black, which converts the time taken over a kilometre into a speed between 6 km/h and 36,000 km/h. The hundredths hand is released by the escapement, while the counters take their drive from the barrel arbor through their own trains rather than through the going train, so that, in F.P. Journe's account, running the chronograph leaves the balance amplitude unchanged.
For collectors
The price of that separation is paid in reserve, not in rate: 80 hours with the chronograph stopped, 24 with it running, because the chronograph trains draw on the same mainspring. The hundredths hand can also be stopped between two divisions, its pinion lifted clear and braked on its pivot, which allows a reading finer than the printed scale.
Key details
Design and engineering
- Rocker controlA single rocker in the case band at 2 o'clock starts, stops and resets the chronograph, in place of pushers either side of the crown. F.P. Journe patented the arrangement.
- Separate chronograph trainsThe one-second and 20-second counters are driven by two trains either side of one intermediate wheel on the barrel arbor, a system first patented for the Sonnerie Souveraine; a further train drives the 10-minute hand. A second patent covers this isolation of the chronograph from the timekeeping.
- Hundredths handA wheel on the escape wheel releases the arbor carrying the hand, which makes one turn per second. Stopping lifts its pinion vertically out of engagement, and the pinion then acts as a brake on its pivot shank.
- Return to zeroHammers acting on snail cams reset the 20-second and 10-minute hands. The hundredths hand stops at zero when a beak on its pinion meets a lever that blocks the chronograph train.
- Maintaining powerA maintaining-power device in the barrel keeps the driving force from dropping while the watch is being wound.
- BalanceFree-sprung, with four adjustable inertia weights, an Anachron balance spring and mobile stud holders. Amplitude is 320° dial-up at full wind and 280° after 24 hours.
Calibre 1506
- Manual winding, three-position crown
- 18K rose gold, 50 jewels
- 21,600 vibrations per hour (3 Hz), in-line lever escapement with 15-tooth escape wheel
- Autonomy 80 ± 2 hours with the chronograph stopped, 24 ± 2 hours with it running
- 34.40 mm overall diameter, 5.60 mm high
- Circular stripes on the bridges, circular graining on the base plate, straight-grained steel work
- 284 parts without dial, 324 cased with strap
The reference
Technical specifications
| Reference | CT |
|---|---|
| Collection | Souveraine |
| Calibre | Calibre 1506 |
| Movement material | 18K rose gold |
| Functions | Central hours and minutes, One-second chronograph hand at 10 o'clock, 20-seconds chronograph hand at 2 o'clock, 10-minutes chronograph hand at 6 o'clock |
| Case dimensions | 40 mm |
| Case thickness | 10.1 mm |
| Case material | 18K 6N Gold |
| Dial | 5N Gold and whitened guilloché Silver |
| Hands | blued and red lacquered Steel |
| Bracelet | 18K 6N Gold |
| Jewels | 50 |
| Power reserve | 80 ± 2 hours with the chronograph stopped |
| Frequency | 21,600 v/h, (3Hz) |
| Movement parts | 284 |
| Status | No longer in the current collection |
Buying with HYPA
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