F.P. Journe

F.P. Journe

Octa Chronographe

An important platinum flyback chronograph wristwatch with date, pink gold salmon dial and brass movement, Circa 2002

Dial: pink gold salmon and whitened guilloché silver

Calibre: cal. 1300 automatic, jewelled

Case: platinum, sapphire crystal display back secured by 6 screws

Case number: 45-02C

Closure: brown F.P. Journe alligator strap and platinum buckle

Size: 38 mm diameter

Signed: case, dial and movement

Accessories: F.P. Journe Warranty, instruction manual and presentation box

Rightfully considered to be one of the most important independent watchmakers alive, the story of F.P. Journe is not as obscure as it once was. Enthusiasts and collectors now know the formative developments that contributed to Journe becoming the brand that it is today: from getting expelled from school, to being taken in by his uncle who owned a Parisian clock restorer, to showing up to Basel World with his first wristwatch and getting almost wholly ignored, to launching his brand via souscription, personality and perseverance are two words which have defined both the man and the brand from the start. Potentially lesser known, however, are some of the minutiae of the brand, and about its relatively unsung hero: the Octa.

Although not as flashy or widely lauded as the Tourbillon or Résonance, Journe spent every bit as much effort perfecting the Octa as all of his other celebrated works, so much so that even after completely upgrading his two flagship models in recent years with new calibres and other design improvements, the Octa has remained largely unchanged and even still uses the same calibre 1300, named using Journe’s standard convention with the first two digits representing movement length, 13 lignes, and last two digits for the year in which it was introduced, 2000. Indeed, when the 1300 was launched at the turn of the century, it featured the world’s first one meter long main spring, allowing the watch to achieve a power reserve of 8 days, which for the period was a groundbreaking feat for an automatic movement, earning the model line it was housed in its ‘Octa’ name. The movement also proved itself to be a reliable workhorse calibre and extremely versatile, able to accommodate a range of complications while maintaining performance and a similar form factor. Two and a half decades later, Journe himself has admitted the reason that he has not made another automatic movement to replace the calibre 1300: he simply cannot do better.

Seemingly less daunting than other complications, the automatic integrated chronograph is actually one of the most important trials that any watch manufacturer can face. Indeed by comparison, Audemars Piguet was founded in 1875 but it wasn’t until 2019 that the brand introduced their first in-house automatic chronograph. Journe, on the other hand, did not drag his feet, and introduced the Octa Chronographe just two years after formally establishing his own brand. The new movement variation was a true in-house chronograph with integrated architecture despite still borrowing from the calibre 1300 base, an especially impressive achievement when considering that the additional complication only resulted in a thickness increase of 1 mm.

For a time, the Octa Chronographe remained largely underappreciated by the wider community, in part because it was overshadowed by its popular successor, the Centigraphe. However, true connoisseurs have always realised the collectibility of this niche model. Aside from the highly asymmetric dial layout, which with the rise in popularity of eccentric watch designs has attracted collectors, there is also a huge amount of variation within Octa Chronographes despite a low production of just over 300 pieces in total. These variations include some of the most coveted hallmarks of early Journe, such as brass movements and dial colours like the present pink. Taking these factors into account, of the entire 300 unit strong run, only 23 examples have ever been made in the present combination of platinum case with pink dial and brass movement. The instantly recognisable aesthetic combined with the high rarity and mechanical prowess make the Chronographe one of the most collectible within the Octa line, and arguably one of the most interesting watches within the wider Journe brand. 

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The present watch is particularly significant as it combines a platinum case, brass calibre 1300 with circular Côtes de Genève decoration, and the highly coveted pink gold salmon dial. While the earliest Octa Chronographe examples were fitted with brass movements finished with straight Côtes de Genève, the present watch belongs to the subsequent generation featuring circular Côtes de Genève, while retaining the desirable brass movement construction. According to research, only approximately 135 brass movement Octa Chronographe watches were produced in total, with as few as 23 examples believed to have been made in the present platinum case, Côtes de Genève circular and pink gold salmon dial configuration. Combining exceptional rarity, early production appeal and one of the most sought-after dial variants, this watch represents an important opportunity to acquire one of the most collectible executions of F.P. Journe's landmark chronograph.