F.P.JOURNE RÉPÉTITION SOUVERAINE
The F.P.Journe Répétition Souveraine is a minute repeater, one of the most technically challenging complications to make. However, consistent with François-Paul Journe’s reputation, this watch is very different from its counterparts. Measuring 40mm in diameter and just 8.6mm in height, the watch is modestly proportioned despite containing 312 movement parts. Angus Davies explores how Monsieur Journe has ‘invented and made’ such a remarkable timepiece.
As any tourist will attest, a suitcase has a maximum capacity. While you can squash your prized designer clothes into a rectangular case employing brute force, perhaps even sitting on your trusty Samsonite when necessary, there is ultimately a limit as to what it will hold. Likewise, in the world of horology, complexity is often linked to case size. Put simply, the greater the number of movement components, the larger the case required.
However, while the aforementioned wisdom applies to most brands, it doesn’t seem to pertain to the watch firm, F.P.Journe. In 2008, the ultra-refined Maison from Geneva unveiled the Répétition Souveraine, a minute repeater with all of the complexity this implies yet housed within a case measuring 40.0mm in diameter and just 8.60mm in height. The housing of the watch plays host to 312 movement parts and yet it’s smaller than many simple two-hand watches. The inevitable question is how can such complexity be accommodated within such a small space? Well, before I answer this question, it may be worth starting with a brief explanation of the minute repeater.
The minute repeater, handcrafted by watchmaking’s elite
There is often a hierarchy in the world of watchmaking. After completing their studies, a watchmaker will begin their professional life working on the simplest of mechanisms. For example, a watch displaying hours and minutes sans complications would be a logical start. As a watchmaker ascends the career ladder, they begin working on increasingly complex movements. With career advancement, a gifted watchmaker will note they will have fewer colleagues in their department. Eventually, the most technical watches, the so-called ‘high complications’ are worked upon by the most gifted few, sometimes sat in solitude.
After the Grand Sonnerie, the minute repeater is technically the most challenging complication to make. Indeed, while tourbillons, perpetual calendars and rattrapantes are notably intricate complications, their complexity pales by comparison with the minute repeater.
The origins of the minute repeater
Wealthy Romans used lamps containing vegetable oil to illuminate the front of their homes to discourage intruders. In the 15th century, the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Henry Barton, decreed that lanterns should illuminate the exteriors of homes during winter months. Later, in the 19th century, coal and gas would provide a suitable means of nocturnal illumination. Paris is said to have been the first place in the world to install electric street lighting (1878), a convenience we now take for granted.
However, while some places were early adopters of street lighting, in various forms, the notion of communal illumination remained rare for many years hence, the minute repeater provided the solution for determining the time in the dark. By actuating a chiming sequence using some form of lever, a pocket watch would aurally convey the time, chiming the hours (low note), quarters (low and high notes) and minutes (high notes).
The origins of the minute repeater can be traced to the early part of the 18th century, when Benedikt Fürstenfelder of Friedberg (circa 1710) created the first example of the complication. This latter town is located in the district of Aichach-Friedberg, Bavaria. Interestingly, it is alleged that several watches made in this town were falsely marked with ‘London’ or engraved with other forms of misleading information. This may have led some commentators to believe that the first minute repeaters were made in London.
The ‘regular’ minute repeater
As stated earlier, in order to actuate the chiming sequence a lever or slide, usually positioned on the caseband, is pulled in one clean step. Not only does this start the chiming sequence, it also winds a dedicated mainspring serving the strike train. As the chiming sequence consumes much energy, it is not usually powered by the mainspring serving the gear train as this would cause the amplitude of the balance to drop, impairing precision.
A centrifugal governor, equipped with two arms, slows the rotational speed of the minute repeater’s mainspring, influencing the period of the chiming sequence. This reduction of the rotational speed is achieved by using two weighted arms which extend outwards as the dedicated mainspring unwinds. The extended arms create resistance, reducing the rotational speed of the repeater’s mainspring, thereby ensuring the tempo of the chiming sequence is not too fast nor too slow.
Traditionally, an anchor governor was used to control the tempo of the chiming sequence, however, these proved noisy, marring the sweet tone of the hammers striking the gongs. Increasingly, modern-day watches employ a centrifugal governor, selected for its silent operation.
A series of ‘snails’ are connected to the motion works which in turn reads the time. Once the minute repeater is activated, ‘racks’ pivot against the snails. There are three racks, one for hours, one for quarters and, finally, one for the minutes. The snails have ‘steps’. The hour snail has 12 steps, the quarter snail has 4 and, lastly, the minute snail has 14. The steps cause the rack to stop at the correct place. The rack springs to life when the strike train is running and continues to move until it engages with the corresponding snail. The racks have ‘beaks’ that match the maximum number of potential hammer strikes. The beaks trip the hammers as they pass causing them to strike the gongs.
Minute repeaters normally feature two ‘gongs’ made of steel wire. The wire is subjected to several heat cycles, quenched in a liquid (often the composition of these liquids remain secret) and then formed into the desired circular shape. Thereafter, the gong is tuned by carefully filing the metal hoop in order to remove infinitesimal amounts of steel. One single gong can take one or two weeks to make, hence great care is needed when filing the steel.
The two gongs are held together with a ‘gong heel’, sometimes termed a ‘plot’. The gongs don’t touch one another, but they are only a few millimetres apart. The gong heel is fixed to the movement and positioned close to the internal walls of the case, thereby helping the sound to resonate. The interior design of the case is very important as it helps accentuate the sound. While noble metals, such as gold and platinum, are often used for minute repeaters, some watch aficionados believe that materials with a lower density such as steel or titanium deliver a superior sound.
Each gong is struck by a hammer that is optimally shaped. Typically, the hammer for the hours is larger than its counterpart, the minute hammer. When striking the quarters, both hammers strike their respective gongs but with a small gap in between heightening the beauty of the duet performance.
The aforementioned explanation is merely a synopsis. The intricacies of a minute repeater cannot be conveyed in a few hundred words.
With most minute repeaters there are two costly mistakes an owner can make.
Firstly, when the slide is pulled and the chiming sequence commences there are numerous parts in motion, each beautifully choreographed and designed to make the sweetest sound. If the slide is pulled again before the first chiming sequence has completed its cycle, parts can be fouled resulting in the choreographic sequence being ruined. This would invariably necessitate a full strip down of the mechanism and possibly the installation of replacement parts.
Secondly, if the watch is chiming, the crown should not be touched. If the hour and minute hands are adjusted while the chiming sequence is striking the gongs, it can foul the incredibly complex mechanism. As the snails are in conversation with the motion works, adjusting the indicated time would interrupt this dialogue, once again, causing distress to the mechanism.
However, treat a minute repeater with due reverence and it will serve you well, imparting a mellifluous indication of the hours, quarters and minutes.
F.P.Journe Répétition Souveraine – the secrets for a svelte torso
When François-Paul Journe conceived the idea for the Répétition Souveraine his objective was to produce a timepiece featuring a notoriously complex mechanism that proved no bigger than a simple time only watch. Indeed, as stated earlier, the F.P.Journe Répétition Souveraine measures just 40mm in diameter and, quite remarkably, it’s just 8.6mm in height.
Normally, a minute repeater is fitted with two circular gongs which encircle the movement. Monsieur Journe has also endowed his watch with two gongs, but they resemble flat blades. In fact, they look similar to a sickle in profile. The end of each gong features a triangular-shaped plate which fits to the movement on a corresponding mount. The gongs are positioned beneath the dial affording more space for the movement. Each hammer strikes the edge of the blade-type gong, producing a comparatively louder, clearer sound than traditional gongs.
Another difference with the F.P.Journe Répétition Souveraine is it benefits from ‘an innovative system of striking racks and strike selection mechanisms which take up much less space than conventional strike mechanisms.’
An endearing characteristic of Monsieur Journe is he doesn’t merely produce watches that replicate the work of others. Indeed, he is an innovator, hence the company’s motto, ‘Invenit et Fecit’, meaning ‘Invented and Made’. Normally, as I previously mentioned, the hours are represented with a low note, the quarters are signified with a combination of low and high notes and the minutes are announced with high notes. Interestingly, with the Répétition Souveraine, the hours and minutes are both chimed with a low note.
With all minute repeaters, when the time is at some point between 1 minute past the hour and 14 minutes past the hour, the quarters are not chimed. To ensure the wearer can distinguish between hours and minutes, F.P.Journe has engineered the chiming sequence to create a discernible pause between the hours and minutes.
As one would expect of the venerable Maison, the Répétition Souveraine is equipped with a centrifugal governor, conferring a chiming sequence, free of annoying background noise.
The dial of the Répétition Souveraine is made at the Maison’s own dial making facility. It is silver-toned and adorned with a guilloché motif (Clous de Paris). Unusually, the hour markers (Arabic numerals) are depicted in blue, a departure from Journe’s customary use of black numerals. The blued hour and minute hands uphold the Maison’s unique style. Both the hour track and nearby chemin de fer are executed in a satin finish.
A small seconds display is located between 7 and 8 o’clock, while a power-reserve indicator is positioned adjacent the crown. This latter indication shows the status of the two mainsprings on an arcing scale. Both the small seconds and power-reserve indicator feature a moiré finish.
However, without doubt, the pièce de resistance is the sight of the gongs in motion, visible via an aperture, positioned between 9 and 10 o’clock. A mirror-polished hammer (low tone) occupies approximately 60% of the aperture. The movement is visible to the side of the hammer. The exposed surface is embellished with perlage, a motif that is extensively used on the baseplate. Once the minute repeater bursts into song, a second hammer (high tone) temporarily comes into view, collaborating with the first hammer to proclaim the quarters.
Most minute repeaters feature hammers and gongs to the rear of the watch. This necessitates the wearer removing the watch from their wrist in order to witness the chiming sequence taking place. However, the Répétition Souveraine indulges the wearer with a fabulous visual performance to accompany the mellifluous soundtrack, while the watch is still secured to the wearer’s wrist.
Despite this watch containing much complexity within, the indications prove eminently simple to understand.
Prospective clients can specify the watch with a smoked sapphire dial on request. An option that affords views of various components, sometimes in flight.
F.P.Journe is an exemplar of Haute Horlogerie. Needless to say, it often houses its sublime movements within cases formed of noble metal. Therefore, it may come as a surprise to learn that the Répétition Souveraine is housed in stainless steel. The rationale for this decision is clear to understand. Compared with precious metals, the crystalline structure of stainless steel conducts sound extremely well. Indeed, stainless steel allows the sound of the struck gongs to resonate more efficiently, thereby granting exquisite dulcet tones.
A narrow slide unobtrusively hugs the left flank of the case (near 10 o’clock), awaiting its owner’s instructions. A charming attribute of this model is that it does not fanfare its complexity with gauche branding. Indeed, to the majority of observers, the watch resembles the much simpler, yet handsome, Chronomètre Souveraine. With the F.P.Journe Répétition Souveraine everything is wonderfully understated and exhibits notable decorum.
Longstanding admirers of Journe will note the familiar crown design, featuring a charming knurled silk cord pattern. Sitting close to the caseband, the crown is relatively slim and sports two circular indentations on its vertical flank.
Despite being equipped with an 18-carat rose gold movement, the watch proves remarkably light, weighing just 69.6 grammes. This low mass contributes to the model’s impressive levels of wearer comfort. The watch is available on a blue strap or stainless steel bracelet.
The hand-wound movement, the Calibre 1408, features two barrels in parallel. By employing two barrels instead of one, the power serving the escapement and, ultimately, the regulating organ is more consistent, thereby augmenting precision.
Precision or chronometry is an overriding concern for Monsieur Journe. Indeed, over the years he has created several models that deliver extraordinary accuracy. A few notable examples include, the Chronomètre à Résonance, the Chronomètre Optimum and the Tourbillon Souveraine Vertical.
Most watches are equipped with an index-regulated balance. With this latter system the hairspring passes between two curb pins mounted on a ‘raquette’. When the raquette is moved towards or away from the stud, the effective length of the hairspring changes, making the watch run faster or slower.
However, the Calibre 1408 is fitted with a free sprung balance which means the effective length of the hairspring never changes. The rate is adjusted by rotating four C-shaped masselottes, positioned on the spokes of the balance wheel which, in turn, alter the moment of inertia. Consistent with the Maison’s fastidious attention to detail, the C-shaped masselottes are placed in-board thereby producing less air turbulence which again enhances precision. Furthermore, a free sprung balance is less susceptible to positional errors and grants superior rate stability.
Beyond the functional aspects of the movement, it is beautifully appointed. The baseplate is suffused with circular graining (sometimes called ‘perlage’) and the bridges are embellished with straight Côtes de Genève, crisply engraved with various text. The screw heads are polished and bevelled, the pegs sport polished rounded ends and other examples of hand polishing and decoration abound. Indeed, the finissage found on the F.P.Journe Répétition Souveraine is of the highest order.
Throughout the history of F.P.Journe, the company has challenged industry norms, ingeniously conceiving new solutions to the problems other marques have chosen to accept. The company’s founder, François-Paul Journe, regularly looks to the work of Berthoud, Breguet and Janvier for inspiration rather than his contemporaries. Indeed, when Monsieur Journe invented his Chronomètre à Résonance he read the works of Breguet and Janvier but refined their ideas over a number of years, conceiving a mechanism suited to the wristwatch.
In the case of the Répétition Souveraine, it is surprising that a watch of such complexity is so modestly sized. However, F.P.Journe has surmounted all obstacles. The dimensions of this watch make it very wearable and its lucid display proves particularly user-friendly.
Inevitably, other minute repeaters have emerged since the advent of the F.P.Journe Répétition Souveraine (2008), however, I personally doubt they feature Monsieur’s ingenuity and no-compromise approach to watchmaking.
