F.P. Journe Chronomètre à Résonance
Owner's Review

Introduction

What exactly is resonance? It is a very interesting phenomenon, and very powerful. With it, the impossible becomes possible. Take a look at the wine glass to the right (click on it to see the movie). The movie shows the glass shattering when in resonance using a 5W sine wave audio tone in the 800Hz range. Watch how the rim of the glass deforms, by quite a large amount, before it shatters. The “jellification effect” indicates that the resonance phenomenon weakened the intermolecular force and made it similar to the force found in liquids, increasing the glass’ elasticity. In essence, the audio energy is used to modify the state of the glass. (1)

Tesla

Let’s go back to 1898. Nikola Tesla was working on an experiment in his New York laboratory. He attached a vibrating device to an iron column, and set it off. Over time, he had noticed that certain frequencies would cause some of the equipment in his lab to shake. Changing the frequency would make other equipment shake. As Tesla was experimenting, his vibrations were spreading. He stopped his experiment just as the police came storming in. It turns out the force of resonance caused a small earthquake in the neighbourhood! (2)

Janvier

Let’s go back further still, to 1780. Here we find Antide Janvier, a gifted watchmaker, who was appointed "horloger-mécanicien" to the King of France. He found that by putting two pendulums on the same structure, they began to beat together in resonance. The pendulums were enveloped by this force, and protected from outside vibrations, enhancing the movement’s precision. Janvier built two of these precision regulators, one of which is in Montres Journe SA's private collection. A third desk-top regulator is kept at the Patek Philippe museum in Geneva. Approximately 30 years later, the great watchmaker A.L. Breguet experimented with the same phenomenon, making two regulators with resonance, and going as far as making a pocket watch based on the same principles.

Journe
As we see in the examples above, the resonance effect was and is of great interest to scientists. However, it took the genius of another gifted watchmaker – François-Paul Journe, to finally incorporate the phenomenon into a wristwatch: The Chronomètre à Résonance! Making its debut in 2000, this was the second serial production watch by F.P.Journe and it is this fantastic watch that will be the subject of this owner's review.

Packaging

Opening the wooden box reveals the watch and the guarantee card in a pouch. The guarantee card is a little blue credit card type card with a hologram and a photo of the watch. On the back is the date of purchase and dealer stamp. At this point you cannot remove the watch, you have to open the second part of the box.

The newer models use a simplified version of this box, with two parts instead of three. Rather than having the second wooden section, the divider is inside the box. I don't have a strong preference and both versions of the box are nice. The newer box also has metal hinges on the corners, which is a nice touch.

Manual

Case

The crown has a wonderful knurled effect that really complements the whole ‘look’ of the watch. The only complaint is that as nice as the knurled effect is, it makes winding a little less comfortable. It is a small sacrifice to make for aesthetics though. :-) One interesting point to note is that the crowns on the platinum cased watches are also made of platinum. This is somewhat uncommon in the industry, with most manufacturers using white gold because it is easier to work with. These little details are testament to François-Paul’s commitment to quality.

The case is secured by proprietary screws with three holes instead of a traditional slot, and all service is currently done in Geneva. As mentioned in other articles on ThePuristS.com, basic servicing will be available at the F.P. Journe boutique in Tokyo soon as well. When I first got this watch, and even subsequently after owning it for a while, I was worried about the proprietary nature of these screws. What if F.P. Journe ceases to exist in 5-10 years? Who would service the watch then? Luckily, any good watchmaker should be able to manufacture a tool to open the case, as well as servicing the watch in the future. A good friend of mine once told me that he knew of a watchmaker good enough to service a Breguet sympathique pocket watch and clock, so watches like the Resonance and Tourbillon should not pose too much of a problem. I have since stopped worrying about this. Of course, this is the worst case scenario, and for the time being sending the watch to F.P. Journe in Geneva is no problem at all (as you will read later on).

Dial

The hands are unique to Journe, and surprisingly easy to read. You get used to them fairly quickly. While they are technically unique to Journe, the hands on some Ikepod watches are similar. Due to the size of the sub-dials, and consequently the hands, the older ones among us may have difficulty reading the time. Once again though, it’s a small sacrifice to make for the beautiful look.

Here is another testament to François-Paul’s attention to detail – the second hands are curved at the end to correct for parallax. Sadly, some of the modern Resonances I have seen at my local dealer no longer have this little touch, and instead have flat second hands.

Movement

"Every oscillating object sends out vibrations. Nearby bodies absorb the same frequency. It's the principle used to tune a radio to the right station.

In the case of the resonance wristwatch created by François-Paul journe, each balance alternately serves as exciter and resonator. When both balances are in motion, they reach a state of "sympathy" throught the effect of resonance and began to beat naturally in the opposite direction. The two balances therefore support each other, giving greater inertia to their movement. This harmony is only possible if the difference in frequency between the two is no more than five seconds per day accumulated in 6 positions. Adjusting them is an extremely delicate task. While an external disturbing movement affects the running of a traditional mechanical watch, in the case of a resonance watch this same disturbance has the effect of accelerating one of the balances and slowing down the other. Little by little, the two balances come back together to reach a point of agreement and thereby eliminate the disturbance. This innovative chronometer offers a level of precision that is unrivalled among mechanical watches."

So does it work? I think so, at least based on the experience I have had with my watch. I synchronize the seconds and they remain synchronized for as long as six weeks. It was once pointed out on ThePuristS.com Journe forum that in some instances, the balances may fall out of synchronization temporarily and cause the second hands to differ, but the watch then goes back into resonance and the second hands maintain their difference. This certainly sounds reasonable, and I have experienced this behaviour. A few times I noticed the seconds were out of synchronization but did not bother to reset them, they maintained their difference for a week or more before I reset them, rather than the difference increasing. Some people have commented that the effect may be the air resistance between the two balances, but they move in opposite directions, so that theory is unlikely. My comments are all very unscientific though, but from my anecdotal experience the resonance phenomenon appears to work.

A more scientific demonstration was once given by Georges Alessio, using a Witschi timing machine. For those of you not familiar with this device, it produces a diagram of the sound of the lever escapement. Watchmakers use it to help them with regulation. With the two escapements running, but not exactly in phase, two very similar diagrams appear close together. Georges showed that as resonance occured, the two diagrams merged into one. The combined rate of the watch then appeared as a straight line. (3)

The watch is fitted with a display back to show off the beautiful movement. My untrained eye would classify the finish as very good. The two free sprung variable mass balances are 10.1mm in diameter, rather large compared to those found in modern watches from other brands. They beat at 21,600 vph and are mesmerizing to look at. Calibre 1499 uses the lever escapement and has 37 jewels.

A picture is worth 1,000 words, so below is a short novel on the movement.

Operation

Time Setting and Synchronization
It takes me exactly 3 minutes to set. Here is how I do it, although you can take less time if you don't want to be so exact. Minute 1: Set the left dial so the minute hand is exactly over the marker when the seconds on your time source are at 00. Minute 2: Do the same on the right dial. Minute 3: Pull the crown at 4 o'clock when your time source seconds are at 58 or 59, release when at 00.

It takes some practice because I used to overshoot the time dials at first, and since you can't go back you have to go all the way around until the time is correct again. I would say the feel of the crown when setting the time is similar to, although possibly with a little less resistance than, the crown on the Octa.

When you pull the crown at 4 o’clock, the two second hands gently reset to zero. It reminds me of a chronograph resetting; however, a little slower so that you see the hands moving back to zero rather than a fast ‘click’.

I do not use the watch as a dual time watch, and instead keep both dials with the same time on them. Some people may want to use it as a travel watch, or dual time watch, in which case it works very well. Because the time on both dials can be set separately it is very easy to move one or the other when you travel. It is also very legible when used this way provided you remember which side is local time and which side is home time. Another benefit of the Resonance as a dual time watch is that each time can be set completely independently, so if you travel to a time zone that has a half hour difference it will be no problem.

Timekeeping
I don’t place too much importance to the accuracy. I do care whether it keeps good time, but I will not be disappointed if the watch is +2.324s instead of +1.851s/day. That said, I wear this watch daily from Monday to Friday, and I have found that after about 2-3 weeks the minute hand is fast by a minute or so. I would say I reset the time every 3 weeks on average, putting the precision of my particular watch at about +3s/day (considering it stays face up overnight and on my wrist during the day). F.P. Journe claims that this watch has "a level of precision that is unrivalled among mechanical watches". While I don not have enough experience to support this claim, I certainly cannot complain that it keeps poor time. I think it does very well.

Maintenance & Problems
My Resonance is about 4 years old, and it has already been serviced. The Journe documentation recommends that the watch is sent in for maintenance every three years. At the time, my watch was keeping great time but the movement was a little ‘dirty’ with some specs of dust here and there. Since I was not the original owner, I thought that the position of the crown at 12 was more conducive to dust entering the case. I decided to send the watch in anyway, just to clean it up and give it a ‘fresh start’ under my ownership. Well, it turns out that one of the gears in the winding system was made from an alloy that has since been found to be weaker than desired. This meant that, while the operation of the watch was not compromised over a short period of time, over a longer period there would be accelerated wear on this gear. This in turn meant that one might have difficulty setting or winding it if it was not corrected. Not to worry though, as F.P. Journe are well aware of this issue. My Resonance was completely cleaned and the little gear replaced with a new and improved one. The whole service job took three months; bearing in mind the annual watch industry holiday was in-between, so F.P. Journe was closed for about a week or two during my wait time. Since coming back from service the watch has performed very well. Initially the seconds would not stay synchronized for more than two days, and I was a little worried that the servicing had ‘broken’ it. But after about a week the seconds stayed synchronized longer, and now they stay synchronized for weeks.

I haven’t experienced any real problems with the watch. It has performed as designed, kept great time, and in general has been very robust because I use it daily. One thing did happen once, before the watch went in for service, which freaked me out a little – one day, after fully winding it, I heard the watch make a very loud ticking noise. I looked at the seconds and the one on the right was racing around the dial. When 5 seconds had passed on the left dial, 20 seconds had passed on the right dial. I reset the seconds, holding the crown at 4’clock out for a few seconds to make sure they were ‘really’ stopped, and let go. The watch went on as usual and I’ve never had this problem since. Maybe a little gremlin got in or it was the ghost from the F.P. Journe atelier coming to haunt me.

Auction Results (from Antiquorum)

Some watch lovers are very interested in the price of a watch; what ‘investment potential’ it has. While I don’t expect my Resonance to fund my retirement, I certainly hope it at preserves its value. I doubt I would sell it in the near future, but it is comforting to have the option should emergencies arise. The Resonance has appeared at auction several times in the past four years.

Prices have been relatively stable, with an overall average of USD 33,185. It should be noted that this price is unadjusted, so earlier prices will be under-estimated due to inflation. In two cases, the watch even sold for more than its current retail price! I am sure the owner realized that was a bargain as soon as he laid hands on his new treasure. It is no surprise that in seven of the ten auctions, the Resonance was awarded Antiquorum’s highest rating, “Exceptional”, based on: general condition, quality, technical and historical interest, age, and rarity. It should also be noted that this short history in no way guarantees future auction prices or that the watch will even retain it's value going forward. I am not predicting anything here, good or bad, just presenting some historical information.

Conclusion

Disclaimer

(1) Used with permission from Blaze Labs
(2) Margaret Cheney, Tesla Man Out Of Time, 1989, Dorset Press
(3) Anthony G. Randall, F.P. Journe's Chronomètre à Résonance, March 2002, BHI Horological Journal