Tourbillon Souverain | Seconde Morte | Platinum

This 40mm, platinum Tourbillon Souverain TN (or Tourbillon Nouveau) is one of the second series of tourbillon watches produced by F.P. Journe. In the 2004 redesign of the series, only the tourbillion cage was kept from the original Tourbillon Souverain, with all other aspects thoroughly rethought. This example comes with its original boxes, booklet and guarantee card, stamped by German retailer Oeding-Erdel.

Tourbillon Nouveau

The earliest Tourbillon Souverain pieces were originally made between 1999 and 2003, with a Remontoir d’Egalité; rather than a dead-beat seconds complication. This example, is part of the Tourbillon Nouveau series, indicated by "05TN" engraving on the caseback. In later examples of the Tourbillon Nouveau, after approximately the first 150 cases, this designation was changed to no longer feature the "05" portion, in favour of displaying only case number, followed by the "TN". It's a feature which is typically associated with F.P. Journe's earliest wristwatches, often revealing the year in which the case was originally produced, with this TN likely to be one of the last examples of where it was still used.

This Tourbillon Souverain is quintessentially an F.P Journe, in both its design language and movement. Housed in a classical 40mm dress watch case, it's made distinctive by a number of signature elements throughout. The white gold dial is delicately textured, and displays a separate silver guilloché dial for the hours and minutes. The words ‘Invenit et Fecit’ are inscribed at 1 o'clock (Latin for ‘Invented and Made’ or more literally 'Designed and built by F.P. Journe') - a nod to signing conventions of a century ago. Also inscribed are the words 'avec Seconde Morte', denoting the added dead-seconds complication. At 12 o’clock, a power reserve indicator of 42 hours is displayed. Overall, the dial layout is well balanced and highly legible.

The natural dead-beat seconds is displayed at 6 o’clock, concealing the Rementoir d'egalité, which featured more prominently on earlier models. The term ‘Seconde Morte' or ‘dead-beat seconds’, is derived from the way in which the hand remains motionless, until the second has passed.

The Movement

This manual-winding, F.P. Journe caliber 1403 tourbillon movement is 18-carat rose gold, with a Rementoir d'egalité, constructed with 25 jewels and a shock-absorber mechanism. It further features a straight-line lever escapement, and monometallic 4-arm balance with 4 timing weights, adjusted to 5 positions. It includes a self-compensating free-sprung flat balance spring. The movement is engraved 'Chronometre A Tourbillon', decorated with Côtes de Genève.

The Set

This F.P. Journe Tourbillon Souverain TN comes with an original F.P Journe, black alligator strap, a bespoke grey saffiano leather strap with curved ends (measuring 20 x 19mm) and corresponding platinum buckle. It's also accompanied by the original inner and outer boxes, stamped guarantee card and instruction booklet.

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Closer look