The Centigraphe Souverain arrived in 2007 as François-Paul Journe's unconventional answer to the high-speed chronograph. Instead of adopting a familiar two-pusher layout, it uses a patented rocker at two o'clock: press one end to start or stop, and the other to reset. The arrangement can be operated without changing the hand's position on the crown and gives the case a silhouette unlike any traditional chronograph.
Three registers divide elapsed time by scale. The upper-left hand makes one revolution per second over a scale subdivided into hundredths; the upper-right register covers twenty seconds, and the lower register ten minutes. Each hand is driven from the centre of the movement, and the chronograph train is isolated so that its operation has limited influence on the going train. The hand-wound caliber 1506 is built in 18k rose gold and helped the Centigraphe win the Aiguille d'Or at the 2008 GPHG.
The original precious-metal Souveraine versions were followed by lineSport editions in exceptionally light cases and integrated bracelets. Aluminium appeared first, then titanium brought greater durability while keeping the watch light. Dial colours, anniversary pieces and charity editions broadened the family, but the three-register layout and rocker control remain its defining language. It is a chronograph valued as much for how differently it thinks as for what it measures.