Auction house Phillips has walked back and corrected a claim that an early, pre-production Chronmètre à Résonance watch, set to come up for sale in November, was delivered in 1999 after the watchmaker F.P. Journe said it arrived the next year and wasn’t the first example of the reference sent to a customer.
“We stand corrected thanks to François-Paul Journe,” Phillips said in an Instagram post.
“The “Pre-Production” Chronomètre à Résonance 022/99 to be offered by Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo on November 7-8 was not delivered in 1999 as we originally believed. Thanks to F.P.Journe we now know the watch was actually delivered on 8 June, 2000,” the auction house added.
The Phillips correction followed the publication of a letter signed by F.P. Journe that disputed Phillips’ claim that the watch with serial number 022/99 was likely one of the first Résonance watches commercially sold and delivered. In announcing the sale of the watch, which will hit the auction block in November in Geneva, Phillips had said the consignor and original owner of the watch had taken delivery of the piece in 1999. The auction house also suggested in a press release that the watch could be one of, if not the first, commercially delivered examples of the Résonance, often heralded as the signature watch from the French watchmaker. Phillips did not say it had confirmed that the watch was the first of the reference commercially delivered.
In the letter titled “Correction,” Journe said, “The first Chronomètre à Résonance was delivered on March 10, 2000. As for No. 022/99R, it was delivered on June 8, 2000, three months later. During those 3 months, others were delivered elsewhere in the world. I am keeping the serial number of the first R delivered confidential,” Journe added in the letter.
The correction letter by Journe could impact the sale price of the watch at auction, which has an estimate of CHF 500,000 to CHF 1 million, according to Phillips. Another early example of the Résonance, with serial number 007, sold for a record $13.9 million at Phillips in New York in June, making it the fifth most expensive watch ever sold at auction.
Collectors may place more value on a watch delivered earlier in a production run, with the first delivered example often considered the most desirable. Prices for F.P. Journe watches, particularly early and rare examples of the French watchmaker’s work, have soared to record levels in recent years.
“I am very often dismayed by the untruths I read about us,” Journe wrote in the letter, the authenticity of which was confirmed by a company spokesman. “There are ‘experts’ who know F.P. JOURNE better than I do. Yet it is hardly difficult to gather information, to write and tell the truth,” Journe said. “The purpose of this clarification is not to punish anyone, but to protect buyers. We are also trying to protect them from counterfeit pieces, tampered watches, and the like,” Journe wrote in the letter.
In its own correction post following the letter published by F.P. Journe, Phillips says the watch is still most certainly one of the earliest examples of the Résonance.
“The Chronometre à Résonance 022/99, whilst not being the first one delivered, remains the lowest commercially available number at the time (numbers 1-20 with case numbers 01/00-20/00 were reserved for the Souscription pieces), and 021/99 was retained by Journe himself, Phillips said. “This watch is one of a handful of known “Pre-Production” models with case numbers xx/99; it features shallow engraving on the caseback, a shiny pink gold dial, and is offered by its original owner.”
With the prototype produced in 1998, and with ‘Souscription’ commercial pieces produced and delivered beginning in 2000, Journe’s Chronomètre à Résonance marks the first time that the concept of “résonance,” combining two movements with separate balances into a single case and bringing them into synchronization, was brought to a wristwatch. For many collectors, the model represents the ultimate expression of Journe’s vision and talent as a watchmaker.
