Inside The Manufacture A Photo-Filled Visit To Les Boîtiers de Genève And Les Cadraniers – F.P. Journe’s Newly Re-Inaugurated Case And Dial Manufacture

F.P. Journe will continue to produce around 1,000 mechanical watches annually, plus approximately 500 of its quartz Élégante models. Its new building in Meyrin, outside of Geneva, was inaugurated last year, housing dial and case manufacturers solely owned by Journe and representing decades of Journe's dedication to in-house watchmaking in a way few other brands have achieved. But these new facilities were designed with very little extra space for expansion. In fact, the basement of Les Boîtiers de Genève only has enough room to house a few upgraded machines in the future. Sure, a limiting factor is the footprint of its main headquarters in Geneva's old town, where movements are made and assembled. But that really doesn't matter. The company knows its goals and is all-in on where its production stands while making some of the best watches on the market today.

As we begin our tour, I'd encourage you to read through this story in parts because it is both long and in-depth. Often, brands are unable to give time or unwilling to give access to cover nearly every part of their manufacturing. In this case, F.P. Journe completely opened its doors for this story over the course of two days earlier this spring and I'm happy to be able to take you along on the tour. 

Unlike most independent watchmakers (and some major brands) who rely on various outside suppliers, almost all the parts of each mechanical Journe watch are made in-house. Not only does Les Cadraniers make dials for F.P. Journe, they still do dial restoration for other brands (which you can read about in this article by Phillips) and modern dial manufacturing for them as well. At this point, the only components not made by the brand are crystals, springs, jewels, some parts of escapements, and straps. Even the circuitry for the Élégante is made in Switzerland. But I'm getting a bit ahead of our tour.

Beyond the increased demand, there are plenty of other major changes that have happened in the last decade. If you look back at our visit to the manufacture in 2015, the first thing that jumps out is that the Maison is no longer making their iconic Sonnerie Souveraine, which was a mainstay of the brand since 2006. François-Paul himself decided in 2018 that part of what made their (at the time) most complicated watch special was its limited production – just over 50 pieces were made – and the watch was discontinued in 2019.

Instead of shutting down one revenue stream, that discontinuation opened the door to other complicated watches like the Astronomic Souveraine (one, if not the most complicated watch I've ever gone Hands-On with) and the FFC. Such watches would have been unimaginable to people like Janvier or Breguet – maybe even Daniels – and are only possible because Journe adopted modern industrial manufacturing technology like CNC machines to push his watches to the limit. The brand's total production number wouldn't be possible otherwise. But looking at his watches, you can see an appreciation of the balance of handcraft (when appropriate) and industrialization (when necessary), done at a scale that no other traditional independent has reached.

Handcraft is still, thankfully, very necessary. I often hear collectors criticize that Journe doesn't have the best movement finishing for its price. That's true. The brand will readily admit as much. But that's only because that's not where it put its efforts. Instead, they choose to spend time, money, and manpower on horological innovation. They do hand finishing, of course, but the goal is to not be another Dufour or Rexhepi – Journe is, well, Journe.

F.P. Journe employs about 150 people at its Swiss facilities. But in the company only three employees (four, including F.P. Journe himself) can assemble these two previously-mentioned incredibly complicated watches (the Astronomic and FFC). Yet, Journe keeps innovating and adding new challenges to his team's plate. A part of François-Paul's historic success is making a new caliber yearly. Such work requires that he continue coming to work at the headquarters on Rue de la Synagogue in Geneva, the location most people would see if they go to visit Montres Journe in Geneva. The inside remains much the same as our last trip in 2015. It's comforting, in a way, to know that no matter how much demand for the brand has grown, the core remains the same.

The stories of Les Cadraniers and Les Boîtiers de Genève go back to the early days of F.P. Journe. François-Paul made the dials for all his souscription models of the Tourbillon Souverain and Chronomètre à Résonance (and the Resonance's pre-souscription pieces). Though these pieces are some of the brand's most collectible, they're obviously not the best dial work in the brand's history. Journe quickly found the need to expand and improve his dial production while maintaining a level of independence. You could say that everything you see in Meyrin today came from those early days of Journe.

There are nearly endless benefits of owning your own dial and case manufacturing facilities, some of which I'll get to in a bit. But by controlling the brand's own supply, they inevitably avoid the kind of slowdowns that have plagued so many watchmakers who have had to rely on an ever-constricted flow from outside suppliers that can't keep up with increasing demand. Then there's the other obvious benefit. F.P. Journe can make exactly what it wants, how it wants when it wants, and to the standards it sets. 

The current facilities for both companies opened last year after a three-year renovation and overhaul of the building they call home. The building, on rue de Veyrot, sits near a number of other watchmakers' factories (including La Fabrique du Temps) so it's not unusual to see other watch brands represented on wrists during lunch at one of the few restaurants nearby. The building Journe's facilities occupy previously sat empty for some time until they acquired it three years ago, stripped it to its core, and rebuilt it completely bespoke. To fit the needs of the brand, floors needed to be insulated against vibrations that could impact things like dial-making. Climate control and security are also all state-of-the-art.

Though the facilities in Meyrin share a single building, the two sub-companies operate completely siloed from each other. One main purpose is purely logistical: any work done in the case manufacturing facility (be it vibrations, metal particles, etc.) could adversely impact the fine tolerances of the dial manufacturing. But as we'll see in a bit, Le Cadraniers and Les Boîtiers de Genève serve two different client bases.

For François-Paul Journe, everything always starts with the dial. Even today, Journe is a one-man research and development department. Every idea worth exploring quickly gets disseminated to various departments, including an R&D dial design department at Le Cadraniers de Genève that takes each idea, explores the possibilities, and returns the results to F.P. Journe to share their findings. A number of my favorite movements from other manufacturers have less-than-beautiful dial designs. This is often an inherent issue with movement design – a movement layout necessitates subdials be placed in certain locations, sometimes squished in the center or lower on the dial, disrupting the visual balance. When starting with the dial and working toward the movement, designing the movement becomes harder, but the result will always look good on the wrist.

One of the most interesting things about Les Cadraniers isn't the work that it does for F.P. Journe, but the place of prominence it holds in the industry as one of the best high-end dial suppliers for the rest of the watch world. This all harkens back to the long and winding path Les Cadraniers has taken over its history and eventual independence under F.P. Journe.

After his early work with his own hand-made dials, F.P. Journe partnered with jeweler Harry Winston (which was then under Max Büsser's leadership) and watchmaker Cédric Johner to create Les Cadraniers in 2000, barely a year after the founding of F.P. Journe. Looking back on this move, what strikes me is that, like his early acquisition of the Janvier clock, Journe made bold (and frankly expensive) choices in the early days of his career, just two years after the founding of his brand. But they paid off. By 2012, his two other partners had left Les Cadraniers and Vacheron Constantin stepped in, taking a 50% stake in the business. In 2016, Journe bought out Vacheron, though the brand still remains a prominent client.

Just like with F.P. Journe's movements, the creation of dials at Les Cadraniers de Geneve is a balance of technology and handcraft. But the independence and technological prowess of the dial maker has allowed them to experiment and become an industry leader in a number of techniques. One of the most interesting, which you'll see shortly, is the company's skills with luminous materials. If you've seen a watch with three-dimensional lume with sharp shapes and that stand proud without surrounds, it's very possible that you're looking at Les Cadraniers work. It should be no surprise either that if you've ever enjoyed a fully-lumed dial (not just Journe's Élégante) that shines bright under UV light without dark patches causing blotches on the dial, that's probably something they've done as well.

Then there's the materials. You won't see brass dial plates in photos here. F.P. Journe is famous for its use of dials made from solid red and white gold, but Les Cadraniers also will use solid silver and German silver. While the process starts with CNC machines milling out plates, drilling holes for subdials, apertures, dial feet, and seats for numerals to be applied, even here there's a tremendous attention to detail, including beveling done to these holes. As the process moves forward, handcraft quickly becomes more and more important.

Moving on from the creation of the components, we visited the next workshop (of the 13 total at Les Cadraniers), where dials are subjected to a number of chemical baths in a delicate and intricately timed sequence. Depending on the dial (or in this case, subdial) workers will move hanging racks between different baths, washing them in-between, with the dials slowly rotating on a hanging hook. These dials are then gently washed between chemical baths to reduce potential contamination. We actually stayed in this workshop for quite a while, so you get to see how these subdials for the Chronomètre à Résonance change between each treatment.

At the end of one hallway is the enameling workshop, where they are kind enough to put a large display above the workbench so you can see the work they're doing. Currently, beyond the Chronomètre Furtif Bleu, the only enameling work in the brand's production line is the Grand Feu enamel hour dial at 3 o'clock on the Tourbillon Souverain. As with other parts of Les Cadraniers, the enamel workshop uses their skills for orders from other brands.

One of the most interesting (and headache-inducing) tasks to watch was the sorting and application of dial numerals. The numerals (other parts of the dials assembled in the appliqué department) are all cut out with CNC machines and then hand polished. To assemble the watch, you first have to find the numerals in a tray full of similar-colored metal material. They're then sorted into rows so the right numeral can easily be found later before they're gently applied. For some reason, this reminded me of trying to spell out words in your alphabet soup.

As a lover of good stories, I was probably most impressed by Dinh-Sang Ngo, an employee who has been working in the tampographie (or pad-printing) department for F.P. Journe (and other brands) since 2000 after starting at Stern Frères more than 40 years ago. Until recently, he was responsible for nearly every pad-printed dial from F.P. Journe, though as he's getting older, the brand has brought on someone else to learn the ropes. That said, Ngo works differently than his apprentice. Using stamps that he has hand-made out of natural animal gelatin, Ngo carefully aligns each dial by sight, transfers the ink, and then stamps the dial at least five times. Across from his bench the same thing is done by the apprentice but using calibrated machines with silicon molds, requiring less "feel" for the process.

On the tour, the brand was most restrictive for photos when we reached the printing area for luminous materials. The mix of materials used and how they're applied to (or integrated into) the dial is a closely guarded secret, but I could have spent hours in the space discussing their work with the head of the department. It was fascinating to hear how difficult the process is and how surprised even the materials manufacturers who make the lume are when they find out what F.P. Journe is capable of.

Compared to the complexity of Les Cadraniers, the sister company of Les Boîtiers de Genève (which largely occupies the lower floors of the Meyrin facility) seems relatively simple by comparison. The case-making facility doesn't do any work for outside companies, so the company's full production is dedicated to F.P. Journe. Even then, the expensive CNC machines don't run 24/7 like they might at other companies. But there are still plenty of parts of the process that require a human touch.

Les Boîtiers de Genève has been in operation since 2012 but the technology used here is being continually updated. While several of the machines I saw were bought for the opening of the new facility in 2023, another had been delivered just a few weeks prior and just gone through its calibration to get to work crafting new cases. The newer the CNC machines, the better the tolerances that are allowed. Tools need to be continually monitored because each material used by the brand – gold, platinum, titanium, steel, and tantalum – all wear down the parts at different rates. It's been talked about ad nauseam, but tantalum requires the most effort because of its incredibly ductile properties. That's why F.P. Journe is one of the few brands willing to use it and the first to make a full bracelet from the material with the Chronomètre Furtif Bleu.

Raw materials are slowly formed out to make the shape of the case and refined bit by bit. Most often you'll find a three-piece case construction with back, midcase, and bezel, all joined together with screws (back to middle) or lasering/hand-soldering. It's also worth noting that, even though you won't see it here, F.P. Journe also produces all the parts of their bracelets (whether their lineSport titanium or gold bracelets or the additional "on request" bracelets in rose or platinum for their classic line) here at Les Boîters de Genève, another component of the brand's skillset that many other brands have outsourced.

As my visit to F.P. Journe's facilities drew to a close, I couldn't help but feel a renewed interest in the brand. I'm lucky to have several friends who count themselves among Journe's collector community, one that is probably the most tightly knit and carefully fostered of any brand. But with the increased demand over the past few years, the idea of Journe as an attainable brand has slightly drifted away.

After seeing the facilities for myself, I left feeling the same magic I felt when I handled my first early brass movement Résonance; it was like holding a piece of someone's genius laid out intricately in front of me. This time, I was wildly impressed that all of the manufacturing I was shown was the result of a singular mind who grew a company from small-batch bespoke timepieces to something far more grand while keeping the best of what a watch-lover would look for. Some of the decisions – the refusal to expand production and to eschew some of the intricate finishing that other brands have put their stock in – might seem counterintuitive. But when you see all the parts of one person's decisions result in one of the biggest powerhouses in independent watchmaking, it gives me a bit of hope. F.P. Journe could very well have remained far smaller, making watches at a scale like Dufour or Smith, but instead, he's blazed a path for other watchmakers who might care to follow suit and grow while making some incredible watches along the way.