F.P. Journe Octa Chronographe Ref. C Octa Platinum Grey Dial

F.P. Journe launched the Octa Chronographe in 2001 and made it until 2008. It was the first automatic chronograph to combine a large date with a flyback, on a reserve of over 120 hours.

The case is platinum, measuring 38 mm across and standing 10.6 mm deep, on a leather strap. F.P. Journe states the case size for this reference as 38 or 40 mm. The dial is white gold and whitened guilloché silver, and the hands are blued steel.

The watch shows hours, minutes, small seconds, a large date, a power reserve indication and a flyback chronograph. A flyback returns the chronograph hand to zero and restarts it from a single press rather than requiring stop, reset and start.

This example belongs to the Octa Collection. Its twin in the Brass Collection is the same reference built before 2004, when the Octa mainplate was rhodium-coated brass rather than 18K rose gold — that movement metal is the whole of the difference between them, and it is not visible from outside the watch.

F.P. Journe presented the Octa in 2001 as a single automatic platform intended to carry a moon phase, an annual calendar, a chronograph or a second time zone without being redesigned for each, and every Octa reference shares one case size whatever complication it carries. It was the first automatic movement with a reserve long enough to keep precision timekeeping for over five days, the effective reserve running to about 160 hours against 120 chronometric ones. Until 2004 its mainplate was rhodium-coated brass; from that year it was made in 18K rose gold, so an Octa's movement metal follows its production year rather than its reference code.