Horological Meandering

KIH
[Purist]
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Flash Report: FPJ CHRONOMETRE OPTIMUM unveiled!

I was fortunately able to attend the launch party at FPJ Boutique in Tokyo, thanks to a good friend of mine who has invitation.  As the World Premier of Optimum, there were so many people at the event.  Note that FPJ is the brand which is kinda cultish here in Japan.  And he seems to like Japan, so here he first unveiled Optimum. 

Since this report requires speed, my report may not be sufficient, but I hope I can convey you the gist of the new offering or innovation of FPJ.


FPJ Boutique in Aoyama (unlike other brands which are mostly located in Ginza area) - this is the first time for me to visit (!)




Opening remark by M. F.P. Journe himself.





Special guest - M. Jean Alesi, former F1 Driver.  His partner is former Japanese actress, but not only that, he is apparently a good friend of Mr. Journe.  He also came for F1 in Suzuka this coming weekend (not sure whether he will do the demo run on the historical machine).




Crowd are listening to M. Journe's opening speech.




Many Jean Alesi related display.




Nice clock....









Now, this is it!  Platinum.




Rose Gold




Explaining the fans what the secret of the new escapement.




Cakes?




Sushi, all you can eat




According to M. Journe, in this new escapement, there are two escape wheels, but it has Swiss Lever ankle.  The ankle (or anchor) has 4 hands (usually, two) - two to start, two to stop.  Similar to detent escapement, but completely new idea.  Somewhat similar to Natural Escapement I recently saw in Laurent Ferrier's Micro-Rotor, but different.  According to him, those "old" escapement ideas are not for today's wrist watches.  They were for pocket watches.  So, this new escapement is "optimum" for today's wrist watches and all the good thing about Swiss Lever escapement and natural escapement were taken in.  All bad things about them are all left out.

"Optimum" means more about efficiency and stability of the movement.  It doesn't mean totally accurate all the time however you wear it.  It promises to be stable in certain position (of course it is as accurate as other chronometers in other positions as well) and the stability stays very long time.  No need for oil in the escapement module, by the way.





This is one of the present to the guest (watch cleaning cloth), but the escapement is clearly printed here.




Here is the video which was in the gift package for all the attendees (link posted by permission).




Press papers (sorry for the smallish scan).  There are "some" explanation about the escapement.









We were allowed to handle the actual one.




There is another Dead Second subdial on the back of the watch directly from the Remontoir.  Runs counter-clockwise.








Present to M. Alesi




Thank you speech by M. Alesi












Optimum cake, which was eaten later - so did I






Guests' wrist shots.




















Oh, well, he had FPJ on his left wrist and this was on his right wrist....




That's it!  I hope as the premier tour goes around, someone who understands more about the escapement mechanism hopefully explain better than I did.

Thanks!

Ken

Special thanks to:
FPJ Boutique Tokyo
Ms. Kitano - PR Manager
and
M. F.P. Journe

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