- Movement
- Manual winding
- Size
- 42 mm
Overview
The vertical tourbillon
The F.P. Journe Tourbillon Souverain, reference TV, in 18K 6N gold on a leather strap. Manually wound calibre 1519 in 18K rose gold with a vertical tourbillon, remontoir d'égalité and deadbeat seconds; the rose gold bridges form the dial, with a Grand Feu enamel hour dial at 3 o'clock. 42 mm, 13.6 mm high.
F.P. Journe places the Tourbillon Souverain in its Boutique collection. The execution shown here has an 18K 6N gold case at 42 mm with the rose gold bridge dial and blued steel hands on calibre 1519.
The Tourbillon Souverain was the first model of the F.P. Journe collection. Journe made his first tourbillon wristwatch in 1991; the Tourbillon Souverain of 1999, sold by subscription in twenty examples, was by his account the first wristwatch to carry a remontoir d'égalité. A new construction in 2003 added a natural deadbeat second, and it was then that he moved his movements to 18K rose gold. The watch here is the current generation, developed for the model's twentieth anniversary, and differs from both earlier constructions in the orientation of its cage.
A tourbillon rotates the escapement to average out the rate errors that gravity causes in each position. A conventional cage lies in the plane of the dial and does that work only when the watch stands on edge. Journe turned the cage through 90° so that, in his words, the tourbillon's functions remain constant whether the watch lies flat or on its side, and amplitude is the same on a folding clasp resting on its side as on a pin buckle lying flat. The cage, at 9 o'clock, turns once every 30 seconds rather than once a minute. A remontoir at 7 o'clock feeds the escapement; the seconds at 6 advance once a second; the reserve of 80 hours is read at 12.
For collectors
Three things separate this generation from the constructions of 1999 and 2003, and they are what to check on any piece described as a Tourbillon Souverain: the vertical cage, the 30-second rotation, and the enamel hour dial at 3 o'clock, which the model had not carried before. The remontoir and the deadbeat seconds are inherited from the earlier constructions and are not what is new here. The 1999 series is also the origin of the 'souscription' pieces collectors refer to: twenty examples, sold by subscription before delivery.
Key details
Design and engineering
- Vertical cageSet at 90° to the dial, so that the cage's action is the same when the watch lies flat as when it stands on edge, which is the brand's stated reason for the orientation. A cone-shaped mirror-polished ring on the dial side and a second reflector behind light the cage from both faces.
- Remontoir d'égalitéA small secondary spring, rearmed by the mainspring at a fixed interval, drives the escapement, which therefore never sees the mainspring's declining torque. Journe first fitted one to a wristwatch in 1999 and has kept it through every generation of this model.
- Deadbeat secondsThe seconds hand advances in one-second steps rather than sweeping, the natural dead second the model has carried since 2003.
- Bridge dialThe 18K rose gold bridges of the movement form the dial, engraved and hand-painted, with clous de Paris guilloché. The hour dial at 3 o'clock is Grand Feu enamel on 18K white gold, a first for the model.
- BalanceFlat Anachron balance spring with Phillips overcoil, 21,600 vibrations an hour.
Calibre 1519
- Manual winding, Geneva made
- 18K rose gold; bridges guilloché clous de Paris, circular Geneva waves on the base plate
- Vertical tourbillon, one revolution in 30 seconds
- Remontoir d'égalité and natural deadbeat seconds
- 21,600 vibrations per hour, 32 jewels
- Power reserve 80 ± 2 hours
- 34.60 mm overall diameter, 10.00 mm high, 230 components
The reference
Technical specifications
| Reference | TV |
|---|---|
| Collection | Boutique |
| Calibre | Calibre 1519 |
| Movement | Manual winding |
| Functions | Hours and minutes at 3h, Small second at 6h, Power reserve at 12h, Vertical Tourbillon at 9h |
| Case dimensions | 42 mm |
| Case thickness | 13.6 mm |
| Case material | 18K 6N Gold |
| Notes | Dial formed by the blackened 18K rose Gold movement bridges with “Clou de Paris” guilloché, engraved and hand-painted inscriptions, Grand Feu enamel hour dial at 3 o’clock on white Gold |
| Hands | 5N gilt Steel |
| Strap | Leather strap |
| Jewels | 32 |
| Power reserve | 80 ± 2 hours |
| Frequency | 21'600 VPH, 3 Hz |
Buying with HYPA
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