F.P. Journe Vagabondage Ref. V Limited Series Platinum Slate Grey Dial Limited Edition of 10

The Vagabondage line began as a unique piece. In 1997 François-Paul Journe built a watch called the CARPEDIEM for a patron, carrying a wandering jump hour, and the idea returned in 2004 when the Vagabondage I was made for the thirtieth anniversary of the auction house Antiquorum — three unique pieces in white, yellow and rose gold, auctioned in aid of the ICM research institute in Paris. The platinum limited editions followed in 2005 and 2006. This is the set one, made in ten pieces.

The case is platinum in the Flat Tortue shape, set with baguette diamonds, measuring 41 by 34 mm and standing 6.7 mm deep. It is worn on a leather strap closing on a platinum folding clasp that is also set with baguette diamonds. The dial is slate grey with a sapphire disc carrying an aperture, and the outer dial is finished with screwed steel elements.

The watch indicates jumping hours and jumping minutes through apertures and is manually wound, with no hands on the dial at all.

Two platinum Vagabondage I series were made alongside each other: this one of ten pieces with the case and clasp set with baguette diamonds, and a plain version of sixty-nine pieces at the same 41 by 34 mm and 6.7 mm. A gold Vagabondage I was made in sixty-eight pieces and is larger, at 45.2 by 37.5 mm and 7.6 mm deep. The Vagabondage II followed in 2010 and the Vagabondage III in 2017.

Each of the three Vagabondage references was also made as a small set series — ten pieces for the Vagabondage I and the Vagabondage II, ten for the Vagabondage III — so a set Vagabondage is not unique to the first of the line, but this is the smallest platinum series of the first.