The market for second-hand watches is notoriously cyclical. Whether this is the case for F.P. Journe or whether, on the contrary, the brand founded by the brilliant master is destined to remain firmly in the elite of haute horlogerie, only time will tell. What is certain is that at this historic moment, its prices are sky-high, its trend seems unstoppable, and the creative vein of its founder is far from exhausted.
GMT Great Masters of Time is the brand's official distributor for our country. "Interest in the brand has exploded in the last two years," explains Jacopo Corvo, owner of GMT, "but I don't think it's a bubble. The prices reached by certain examples at auctions in recent years could, in fact, suggest an irrational and therefore unreliable trend, as in the case of the Chronomètre A Resonance or the Tourbillon Souverain which, at the auction held by Phillips in New York on 11 and 12 December last year, literally flew, with hammer prices double or triple the starting estimate.
In any case, according to Corvo, 'Journe is definitely the independent brand that is growing the most and is therefore destined to remain at this level in the long term. Moreover, thanks to the great attention it enjoys, it is acting as a driving force for many other high-end independent brands and this is good for the whole sector.
Jacopo Corvo has a privileged vantage point for sensing and anticipating trends: 'At the moment, collectors looking for vintage are mainly foreigners, while the Italian clientele is more oriented towards new models.
F.P. Journe's is therefore a rare case in which a creator in a perpetual state of grace churns out masterpieces on a continuous cycle and manages to see immediate success, a fortune that many watchmakers of the past did not have.
