If there was ever a ‘beater minute repeater’, it is the Sonnerie Souveraine. Completed in around 2005, as of 2013, only about 30 of the watches have been produced. This particular piece is F.P. Journe’s personal model, and he wears it everywhere - even if he has a different model watch he is promoting that is worn on his opposite wrist.
The Grande Sonnerie watch with a minute repeater is the most complex of horological creations, one that demands the very utmost in both technical and artistic virtuosity for the watchmaker in charge of its assembly. In the past, it has always been risky to use a Grande Sonnerie watch. The slightest error – for example, adjusting the time while the watch is chiming – could severely damage the watch’s delicate mechanisms. Therefore, the first entry in F.P.Journe’s specification book for this watch was: make the watch so that an eight-year-old child can manipulate it safely without damaging it. To meet this challenge, he had to construct a movement based on new mechanical principles. Thus, according to the brand’s motto, ten patents testify to the ‘Invenit’ of this work of watchmaking art, while the ‘Fecit’ took six years of research and development”.
