F.P. Journe Octa Automatique Ref. A 38mm Steel Set Limited Series Stainless Steel Yellow Dial

F.P. Journe released the 38 mm Steel Set in 2015 to mark the end of the 38 mm case, which he had used since the brand began. Thirty-eight sets were made, each holding five watches — a Tourbillon Souverain, a Chronomètre à Résonance, an Octa Automatique, an Octa Calendrier and a Chronomètre Souverain. All five are steel-cased with rose gold movements, a pairing offered on no other F.P. Journe watch, since steel had been kept for the sports references and the dress watches were gold and platinum. After 2015 the catalogue moved to 40 mm and 42 mm.

The steel case measures 38 mm across and 10.2 mm deep, on a leather strap. The dial is gold given a bronze patina and worked against whitened guilloché silver, and the hands are blued steel. That patinated treatment is specific to the set and is not a finish any of the five references carried in its own production.

The Octa Automatique shows hours, minutes, small seconds, a date and a power reserve indication. It is the Octa platform with no complication added above it, and it is the only self-winding watch in the set.

F.P. Journe launched the Octa in 2001 as an automatic platform intended to carry several complications without redesign, and the Automatique ran until 2016 — the longest production of the five watches in the set. Until 2004 the Octa's mainplate was rhodium-coated brass; from that year it was made in 18K rose gold, which is what the set's movements are.

The case, case size, dial finish and movement metal are shared across all five watches, so the reference is identified by the dial layout and the complication rather than by anything visible from outside, and sets are broken up so individual watches circulate separately.