FP Journe Octa Lune Havana

There is a place at FP Journe for those who prefer warmth to the cold depth of the tantalum blue Chronomètre Bleu: Havana dials. Journe’s Havana guilloché dials are a celebration of handcraft, in the same way that CB is a story of resilience and perseverance. It took FP Journe’s own dial manufacture Les Cadraniers de Genève months to perfect this exact tone by mixing gold and ruthenium to create a tone reminiscent of cigars and sunsets. Particularly in pink gold, it is the second warmest thing in this solar system. It is not just time intensive to perform the guilloché, but the multiple layers of metal coating baths that are quite tricky by reputation. There’s a reason these are quietly developing their own base of insanely passionate collectors.

For all that it is magnificent, Journe needed to push the brand past the CB on the time-only side. Journe produce under 1000 watches each year, and the CB in 2019 accounted for 1/5th of that. The Havana dial began in the Octa Automatique and Octa Lune in 2017, but quickly was added to the CS by client demand. They’ve always been in the more approachable side of the catalogue, although recently productions have sold out entirely for years ahead. The areas of Journe that are both collectable and approachable have this way of superseding their remit, which we’re watching before our eyes in slow motion. It is something of a rarity, but it’s not a Jade Resonance. And that’s the whole inherent charm here, where the difficulty to acquire one now is the inherent paradox.

The dial design of the Octa Lune is little more abstract art than classic dress watch styling, almost like what would happen if a Lange 1 weren’t made by Germans. Stare at the sizes of each numeral a little longer and you’ll start to see what I mean (I love that he’d rather not place a 5 than have it cut off, respect) It is a very charming and elegant watch, based on the 1300 with the unidirectional winding update. There’s something very pleasing about having a pink gold case and matching pink gold movement as well. You really only get that at Journe. Journe is often at his best in his more simple offerings. That’s certainly the case here.

This example has nothing really to note condition wise. The case looks mega. The dial shows nothing. It’s not like it’s vintage. It comes from a well-regarded London retailer.