THIS MODEL WAS PRODUCED IN 2020.

LIMITED SERIES OF 20 TIMEPIECES IN TOTAL, 10 IN PLATINUM AND 10 IN 18K 6N GOLD, TO CELEBRATE THE ENDING OF THE UTC LAUNCHED IN 2011, EXCLUSIVELY AVAILABLE IN F.P.JOURNE BOUTIQUES.

THE F.P.JOURNE UTC_ COORDINATED UNIVERSAL TIME.

CREATED IN THE 19TH CENTURY, GREENWICH MEAN TIME (GMT) ORIGINALLY REFERRED TO SOLAR TIME AT THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY IN GREENWICH, LONDON. ALREADY USED BY THE BRITISH NAVY TO CALCULATE THEIR LONGITUDE POSITION FROM THE GREENWICH MERIDIAN, IT WAS INTRODUCED IN THE UNITED KINGDOM BY THE RAILWAY CLEARING HOUSE IN 1847. IT WAS THEN LEGALLY ADOPTED AS OFFICIAL TIME THROUGHOUT GREAT BRITAIN IN 1880, AND THEN IN THE ENTIRE WORLD FOR THE MAJOR PART OF THE 20TH CENTURY, BEFORE BEING REPLACED IN 1972 BY UTC, COORDINATED UNIVERSAL TIME, DUE TO THE INCONSISTENCY OF AVERAGE SOLAR TIME.
GMT IS USUALLY USED IN THE WATCHMAKING WORLD TO DESIGNATE WATCHES WITH A SECOND TIME ZONE. GMT IS BASED ON TERRESTRIAL ROTATION, WHILE UTC ON ATOMIC INTERNATIONAL TIME. THEREFORE, THE TWO TIME MEASUREMENTS ARE CLOSE BUT NOT THE SAME. UNLIKE GMT, UTC OFFERS THE CURRENT VIEW OF TIME ZONE DIVISION DIRECTLY LINKED TO THE REAL ROTATION OF THE EARTH, AND LESS VARIABLE.

F.P.JOURNE INNOVATES ONCE AGAIN WITH THE PRESENTATION OF THE CLASSIQUE UTC, FEATURING A PATENTED SYSTEM THAT USES THE MODERN STANDARDS OF DETERMINING TIME ZONES IN FULL HOURS. MECHANICALLY IT INDICATES THE DIFFERENT TIME PERIODS LINKED WITH THE EARTH’S GEOGRAPHICAL POSITIONS, INDICATING SUMMER AND WINTER HOUR.

ON THE DIAL, THE LOCAL HOURS ARE INDICATED BY THE BLUE HANDS, AND LINKED TO THE CALENDAR INDICATING THE CURRENT GEOGRAPHICAL TIME. THE 5N GILT STEEL HAND INDICATES THE HOME TIME ON 24 HOURS, REPRESENTED BY THE EARTH’S 24 TIME ZONES.

THE DIAL FEATURES OFF CENTRE HOURS, MINUTES AND SECONDS, A RETROGRADE POWER RESERVE WITH A 120-HOUR SCALE, A LARGE DATE, AND FOR THE FIRST TIME, A DIAL WITH THE EARTH DIVIDED IN TIME ZONES. THE PASSING OF THE MONTHS FROM 28 TO 31 DAYS IS DONE MANUALLY.

THE F.P.JOURNE UTC HAS A MECHANICAL MOVEMENT WITH AUTOMATIC WINDING, MANUFACTURED IN 18K ROSE GOLD, BUILT ON THE EXCLUSIVE CALIBRE OCTA 1300.3. IT HAS MADE ITS MARK AS THE FIRST AUTOMATIC MOVEMENT WITH A POWER RESERVE SUFFICIENT TO INSURE PRECISION TIMEKEEPING FOR OVER FIVE DAYS OR 120 H (EFFECTIVE POWER RESERVE: 160 H ± 10 H). IT IS WOUND UNIDIRECTIONALLY BY THE EXCLUSIVE OFF-CENTRE F.P.JOURNE ROTOR IN 22K 6N GOLD, USING A SELF-LOCKING BALL BEARING SYSTEM FOR UNEQUALLED EFFICIENCY. EVERY INFINITESIMAL MOVEMENT OF THE WRIST IS THUS MAXIMALLY EXPLOITED FOR AN OPTIMISED WINDING OF THE WATCH. THE VARIABLE INERTIA BALANCE WHEEL ENSURES AN OPTIMUM YIELD THAT OFFERS AN IRREPROACHABLE STABILITY.

Calibre OCTA

A horological ideal

“The construction of the Octa calibre has less powerful ties with horological history than do the constant-force device or resonance models, but it symbolises an horological ideal of giving timekeepers the highest possible degree of precision and autonomy!

One can indeed note the fact that if church clocks are placed so high, in addition to enhancing visibility, it was mostly because it often took an entire month for the driving-weights to drop the length of their cords. Numerous systems were invented to increase the operating duration of timekeeping devices, meeting with various degrees of success. Given the small volume of a wristwatch, the size of the mainspring was automatically limited. Watchmakers therefore discovered the trick of adding an extra wheel to the customary geartrain in order to extend the duration of its development. Unfortunately, actually using this system, even with a stronger spring, led them to observe that the level of energy actually reaching the balance remained low. To compensate for this, they fitted a smaller balance using less energy, but which was also less stable. It is therefore not unusual to find that some watches able to run for several days display an extremely unpredictable level of precision.

This challenge was a powerful source of motivation! I then imagined that the best and the most obvious means of extending the running duration would be to extend the capacity of the spring development. The difficulty lay in integrating it on the same level as the gear-train and the escapement, given its stability: 1 metre and 1 millimetre thick. Thanks to the low torque of this spring, I could achieve extremely fast automatic winding (one and a half hours on a Chappuis cyclotest for over 5 days’ running).

Once the challenge of autonomy was thus successfully met with this automatic winding calibre, I knuckled down to the second challenge of managing to insert various complications into that same movement: power reserve with large date display, fly-back chronograph with large date display, retrograde annual calendar, etc… and of doing so while maintaining an identical size for all models.

Three years of research and development were required before this automatic winding movement that is unique in the world could be presented to the public.”

François-Paul Journe