Tag Archives: Tourbillon watch

F.P. Journe Turns 86 Carats of Rubies Into One Watch

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Most gem-set watches treat stones as decoration. F.P. Journe’s Tourbillon Souverain Vertical Joaillerie Rubis treats them as the entire point. This unique piece took eight years to build because finding 93 rubies that match perfectly in color, then cutting 61 carats of material away to achieve that uniformity, requires a timeline most manufacturers would never approve. The result is 25 carats of baguette rubies wrapped around a platinum case that was engineered specifically to hold them.

Designer: F.P. Journe

Jeweled complicated watches have drawn serious collectors since Geneva’s golden era of the late twentieth century. Brands including Patek Philippe and Piaget established the category, and demand has only intensified over the past decade as colored stones moved from novelty to centerpiece. But what F.P. Journe delivered here operates on a different scale entirely. This is closer to a wearable ruby sculpture than a watch that happens to feature gems.

Image source: watchesbysjx.com

The arithmetic tells you everything. Eighty-six carats of rough ruby entered the workshop. Twenty-five carats survived. The remaining 61 carats were ground away in pursuit of identical size, clarity, and saturation across every stone. That ratio of loss would kill most projects before they started. F.P. Journe spent nearly a decade sourcing and recutting until the math worked.

The Case as Canvas

Every exterior metal surface carries rubies. Forty baguette-cut stones sit channel-set in the bezel, forming an unbroken red circuit around the dial. The lug hoods hold another 16 baguettes arranged in a fanned configuration that draws the eye outward and exaggerates the watch’s footprint on the wrist. The case band wraps the mid-section with 37 stones, the largest in the entire build.

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F.P. Journe describes those 37 case-band rubies as the largest baguette-cut stones ever set in a watch. The claim matters because ruby’s natural crystal structure favors oval or cushion cuts. Producing elongated baguettes from material that resists that shape required sourcing oval-cut rubies of appropriate dimensions, then recutting them to fit the Tourbillon Vertical geometry. The case itself grew 2mm wider than the standard model specifically to receive stones of this size without leaving visible gaps between settings.

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What you notice immediately is the seamlessness. No color variation breaks the surface. No pink tone drifts into orange. The 93 stones read as a single continuous shell rather than a patchwork of individual gems. Achieving that uniformity across bezel, lugs, and band demanded precise color matching at a level most jewelers would consider impractical.

That precision explains the eight-year development cycle. One stone that skews slightly warm or slightly cool would fracture the visual coherence of the entire case. Patience was not optional here.

Why Average Stone Weight Matters

Numbers put this in perspective. Each ruby on this watch averages 0.269 carats. Typical melee diamonds used in gem-set watches weigh under 0.02 carats and cost almost nothing because they trade as bulk commodities.

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Patek Philippe’s fully set Grandmaster Chime carries 30.16 carats of baguette diamonds distributed across 392 stones, averaging 0.077 carats each. F.P. Journe’s diamond version of this same case averages 0.242 carats per stone. The ruby variant exceeds even that figure because ruby carries roughly 1.14 times the density of diamond: identical physical dimensions yield higher carat weight.

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A Dial Built From Stone

The dial shifts the ruby theme into different territory. Instead of faceted gems, F.P. Journe selected cœur de rubis, a mineral combining red corundum growths with green zoisite matrix. The surface reads as ruby embedded in raw rock, textured and organic rather than polished to clarity.

Visually, the contrast works. The mottled dial recedes behind the geometric precision of the baguette case setting rather than competing with it. Thematically, the choice keeps everything on the watch connected to ruby in some form.

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Machining corundum presents real difficulty. The material sits at 9 on the Mohs scale, just below diamond, and its brittleness makes drilling apertures for hands and the tourbillon window a high-risk operation. Scrap rates on dials like this run steep, adding another dimension of rarity to an already singular object.

F.P. Journe used ruby heart dials on the final 20-piece run of the Tourbillon Nouveau, so this represents continuation rather than experiment.

The Movement Behind the Gems

Caliber 1519 sits beneath the ruby exterior. This hand-wound movement carries one of F.P. Journe’s signature complications: a constant-force device built around a titanium blade-spring remontoir that François-Paul Journe designed in 1983 at the request of collector Eugene Gschwind.

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The constant-force mechanism produces what the brand calls natural jumping seconds. The seconds hand advances in discrete one-second increments without requiring a separate dead-beat module. You see the hand step crisply rather than sweep, which provides immediate visual confirmation that the remontoir is functioning and makes accuracy checks against a reference signal straightforward.

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The tourbillon departs from convention by rotating 90 degrees from the standard orientation, linked through a crown gear. This vertical positioning keeps the balance wheel perpendicular to most watch movements, theoretically reducing rate variation between dial-up, dial-down, and crown positions. Whether that translates to measurable real-world accuracy gains depends on wearing habits, but the engineering ambition registers clearly. Total power reserve runs 80 hours, with a guaranteed 42-hour chronometric window during which the constant-force system operates at full effectiveness.

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Positioning the Piece

The crocodile strap intentionally recedes, letting the case dominate. The platinum folding clasp does not: it carries 18 additional baguette-cut rubies, extending the red-on-platinum language to every visible metal surface including the underside of the wrist.

Water resistance registers at 30 meters, a specification that signals jewelry-object status rather than any expectation of practical use. This watch exists for controlled environments, not daily wear.

F.P. Journe has not published pricing, listing availability only through boutiques with figures disclosed upon application. Given the material costs, the eight-year timeline, and the unique-piece designation, the number will occupy territory where inquiring about it implies you probably cannot reach it. More relevant than the price is what this watch demonstrates: how far an independent maker will push when schedules, budgets, and conventional production logic become secondary to a singular creative vision.

F.P. Journe Tourbillon Souverain Vertical Joaillerie Rubis

  • Case: 44mm × 13.76mm, platinum
  • Crystal: Sapphire
  • Water Resistance: 30m
  • Movement: Cal. 1519, manual wind
  • Functions: Hours, minutes, natural jumping seconds, power reserve, constant force device, tourbillon
  • Frequency: 21,600 vph (3 Hz)
  • Power Reserve: 80 hours total, 42 hours chronometric
  • Strap: Crocodile with ruby-set folding clasp (18 baguette-cut rubies)
  • Availability: Unique piece, F.P. Journe boutiques only
  • Price: Upon application

The post F.P. Journe Turns 86 Carats of Rubies Into One Watch first appeared on Yanko Design.

The Vanguart Black Hole Tourbillon Replaces the Crown with a Joystick

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Most luxury watches treat time adjustment like an afterthought. You twist a tiny crown, feel the mechanical resistance, and hope you land on the right minute. Vanguart looked at this centuries-old interface and asked a simple question: what if setting time could be as engaging as reading it?

Designer: Vanguart

The Black Hole Tourbillon answers with a joystick. Not a crown dressed up to look modern, but an actual ergonomic joystick system that lets you push time forward or pull it backward with the slightest pressure. It’s the kind of design choice that makes you wonder why every other watchmaker is still using miniature knobs.

The Levitating Tourbillon That Defines the Dial

The center of the Black Hole dial presents what appears to be a floating tourbillon, hovering above three concentric tiers of titanium. Vanguart calls it a “levitating flying tourbillon,” and the visual effect lives up to that description. The caliber T-1701 mechanism creates the illusion of weightlessness while maintaining the precision you’d expect from 775 hand-assembled components.

Time displays through a linear system where hours and minutes each occupy their own concentric ring, bordering the tourbillon rather than competing with it. The dial doesn’t just show time. It orchestrates a three-tier mechanical ballet where every element serves both function and visual narrative.

What makes this approach work is the restraint. Instead of packing the dial with complications and sub-dials, Vanguart gave the tourbillon space to breathe. The titanium tiers create depth without clutter, and the hand-painted indications provide just enough contrast to remain legible without disrupting the futuristic aesthetic.

Design Without Visible Fasteners

The case architecture follows a principle rarely executed this cleanly: no visible screws, no exposed pins, nothing that breaks the flowing geometry. The exoskeleton and fuselage are microblasted with polished bevels that catch light across complex curves. Grade 5 titanium in the base model keeps the weight at 80 grams. The rose and white gold versions climb to 173 grams, but the visual language remains identical across all three limited editions.

This seamless approach extends to how the case integrates with the joystick system. Traditional crown guards would have interrupted the organic lines. Instead, the joystick emerges as part of the case architecture, positioned where your fingers naturally rest. The design team coordinated every surface element with the mechanical layout inside, treating the case as an extension of the movement rather than a container for it.

The Interaction Design Philosophy

Vanguart positions this as “emotional engineering,” which sounds like marketing speak until you consider what they’re actually doing. The joystick time-setting system changes how you physically interact with the watch. Push forward to advance time, pull back to reverse it. The resistance feels deliberate, the feedback immediate. It transforms a functional task into something tactile and engaging.

This matters because luxury watchmaking often prioritizes technical complexity over user experience. You get incredible movements trapped behind interfaces designed 300 years ago. The Black Hole Tourbillon rethinks that equation. The 42-hour power reserve indicator runs vertically along the case, giving you an instant visual gauge without adding dial clutter. Every interaction point receives the same consideration.

The result is a watch that respects your time while asking you to slow down and appreciate the mechanics. You’re not just checking the hour. You’re engaging with 775 components working in coordination, visible through the architectural dial design.

Limited Production and Material Choices

Eight pieces per material configuration. Titanium for the weight-conscious, rose gold for warmth, white gold for understated luxury. Each version uses the same titanium dial with silver or anthracite PVD coating, maintaining visual consistency across the collection. The movements receive gold or silver PVD treatment depending on the case material, creating subtle coordination between exterior and interior finishes.

The rubber straps make sense for watches this technically focused. Leather would feel too traditional, metal bracelets would add weight and cost. The anthracite strap on titanium and white versions on gold cases complement without competing. These are considered design decisions, not default choices.

What This Watch Represents for Independent Watchmaking

Vanguart launched in 2017 with serious credentials. CEO Axel Leuenberger came from APRP’s R&D department, Chief Technical Officer Jeremy Frelechox spent 15 years at APRP, Chief Creative Officer Thierry Fischer designed for major established brands. They’re not outsiders disrupting tradition. They’re insiders asking what tradition might look like if you started fresh.

The Black Hole Tourbillon demonstrates this approach. It uses high-complication watchmaking techniques in service of an interface philosophy borrowed from product design and user experience. The joystick isn’t a gimmick. It’s a genuine rethinking of how we interact with mechanical time.

Whether this approach influences broader watchmaking remains to be seen. But for now, the Black Hole Tourbillon stands as evidence that even centuries-old categories can evolve when designers ask fundamental questions about form, function, and human interaction.

Limited to 8 pieces per configuration (titanium, rose gold, white gold). Available through Vanguart at info@vanguart.com.

The post The Vanguart Black Hole Tourbillon Replaces the Crown with a Joystick first appeared on Yanko Design.