F.P. Journe - Origin of FP.Journe's Slogan? a theory

Origin of FP.Journe's Slogan? a theory

Jul 27, 2014,04:20 AM

Hi All, just wanted to share some interesting reading for a Sunday.

INVENIT ET FECIT

In Latin: "(I) Invented it, and (I) made it"

Where does this slogan come from? It does sound a bit "arrogant", yet a growing number of watch aficionados (me included) think that Francois Paul is among the few living watchmakers that are free to raise (and eventually mark in all their watches) such type of declarations.

Dealer/jeweler Wempe is issuing a 2013/2014 collection of booklets called "The art of horological complications", each booklet focusing on a particular complication or technical aspect of watchmaking. During a recent visit to one of their Spanish boutiques (Madrid) I was offered the one that talks about the hairspring history.

Quite interesting reading, and I think I might have found a hint on the origin of FP Journe's slogan; or it could simply be a coincidence, but still cool!

Page no.8 gives details and dates about the invention and very first use of the hairspring in the 17th Century; an invention that "made it possible to make accurately running pocket watches". According to the text the very first watch publicly exhibited using a spring-driven balance was co-developed by 2 contemporary science-men: Robert Hooke (1635-1702 - English polymath, discoverer of the laws of elasticity) and Thomas Tompion (well-known London watchmaker).

Following written: "The prototype which was shown to the King of England in April, 1675, was engraved with the words "R.Hooke invenit 1658. T. Tompion fecit 1675' ("Invented by R.Hooke in 1658 and made by T. Tompion is 1675").

Interesting, hey?

If it is a coincidence I think it still highlights Journe's desire of highlighting that HE is the one imagining, conceiving and making all his watches. Some could see here a bit of presumptuousness but I think that this comes from the fact that he has been years "in the shadow" of the big brands, developing complications and movements for them, and he has broken the "code" and revealed himself to the public by creating his own brand, instead of remaining in the shadow. IMHO. It makes you think how many "Journe's" have lived and died under the shadow of big brands without personally exposing to the world their genius?

I could not post this without adding a small pict of my current dream Journe, I had to borrow it as sadly this one seems unattainable.. (Tourbillon Historique 30 anniversary).

Enjoy!

Cheers,

Alex

Latin Notes like these were very common in the past..

By: moc : July 27th, 2014-10:49

from the 13th(maybe before) to the 19th century,you can find quite often such remarks next to the author s name and the date in : Paintings........Xauthor pinsit or pinxit(painted it) 1756(year) Poetry or Calligraphy.......scripsit(wrote it) Art or scienc...

sure, it does not necessarily come from there

By: Alex83 : July 27th, 2014-12:14

but still a cool syllogism! ;)

Rooted in truth ...

By: AndrewD : July 27th, 2014-17:44

... with probably just a dash of modern folklore. I believe in the first F.P.journe catalogue was the explanation that the “ F.P.Journe Invenit et Fecit ” printed on the dial harked back to the inscription on pocket watches produced by French horologers w...

John Arnold....

By: BDLJ : July 27th, 2014-21:25

...often signed his movements with Invenit et Fecit or abbreviations of such. It was supposedly also inscribed on the Arnold 36. The British Museum has a page on the famous Arnold - Breguet Chronometer Tourbillon which aside from being the first tourbill...

More examples ...

By: AndrewD : July 27th, 2014-22:01

Fantastic, Ben. Thanks for the link. Here's a couple more from the interweb, the Ferdinand Berthoud (1727-1807) No. 144 from 1753 and a Jean-Antoine Lepine circa 1800. ...