Specialist Picks • 03 Sep 2018
Swiss Watches, Russian Elements & Havana Dials
A watch made in Switzerland, with a platinum case and a tropical dial made by mixing gold with an element discovered in Russia. It’s none other than the F.P. Journe Octa Automatique Lune – Havana Dial.
Ruthenium, named after the latin name of his homeland, was discovered in 1844 at Kazan State University by scientist and member of the Russian Academy of Science, Karl Ernst Claus. By mixing it with gold, the illustriousness of gold has been brought down to a rich coffee brown colour. Yes, perhaps it’s a nod to the ongoing popularity of tropical dials. But being a member of the platinum group, mixing it with gold brings the two materials harmoniously together. It’s essentially the bridge between two metals that don’t always look great side by side.
Unlike tropical dials – dials that turn a speckled chocolatey brown, an unintentional discolouration resulting from the intense equatorial sun – the Havana dial is 100 % intentional. Intentional, yet difficult to achieve. Taking Journe’s own dial-makers, Les Cadraniers de Genève several months to get right. Combined with the milky vanilla hands and indexes, the result according to Frank is a set of “warm, elegant and unique watches that bring some fresh air to the conservative styling of F.P. Journe.”
The one-meter-long mainspring and extremely fast automatic winding give these watches autonomy of more than five days and make them exceptionally comfortable to wear. A specific wheel train allows precise moon phase indications for the Octa Automatique Lune. Adjusting the indications is done via the crown, which makes it very easy to use. Both of the 40 mm F.P. Journe Octa Automatique Lune and Automatique Réserve have since been released in red gold.
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