He was expelled after a couple of years, but then headed to Paris, and it was there that he was taken on as an apprentice by an uncle who repaired clocks and watches for a living. By the age of 20 he had made his own pocket watch and, during the mid-1990s, he began to conceive his own range of wristwatches, which resulted in the founding of the eponymous brand, F.P. Journe, in 1999.