- Movement
- Self-winding
Overview
Central hands for the Octa
The F.P. Journe Octa Automatique Lune Black Label, reference AL, in platinum with a blackened guilloché silver dial, 10.6 mm high. Self-winding calibre 1300.3 with central hours and minutes, small seconds at 4:30, large date, power reserve at 9 o'clock and moon phase.
The Black Label Automatique Lune sets a blackened guilloché silver dial in a platinum case. F.P. Journe gives its production as 2008 to 2016. The brand created the Black Label collection, when it made about 900 watches a year, as a platinum, black-dial line available only to owners of an F.P. Journe watch and sold only in its boutiques and Espaces.
F.P. Journe presented the Octa line in 2001: automatic chronometers with a 120-hour reserve, every complication in the same case size. The Automatique Lune came with the revised calibre 1300.3. Journe says some clients found the original Octa dial hard to read, so he used the new calibre to build two models with central hands, the Automatique Réserve and the Automatique Lune, their dials inspired by the Chronomètre Souverain, which won the men's watch prize at the Geneva watchmaking Grand Prix in 2005.
Calibre 1300.3 answered a second observation. Journe reports that a friend's Octa was never fully wound because his right hand barely moved while he worked at a computer. The new rotor winds in one direction only and runs on ceramic balls that let it turn one way and lock it in the other; when the wearer is still, it swings back to its resting position, so each small movement becomes winding. The five-day reserve and the variable inertia balance of the Octa are kept.
For collectors
Both changes in this model came from owners, in Journe's own account: one about legibility, answered with central hands, and one about a watch that was never fully wound, answered with the one-way ball-bearing rotor. The moon and the reserve are indications the Octa already carried; what the Automatique changes is how the watch is read and how it is wound.
Key details
Design and engineering
- One-way rotor on ceramic ballsThe off-centre rotor drives in one direction and locks in the other, so short, small movements of a still wrist are turned into winding rather than lost in the rotor swinging back and forth.
- Slipping mainspringAt full wind the spring slips in its barrel, so the rotor cannot overwind it.
- Variable inertia balanceFree-sprung, with four inertia weights setting the rate, a flat microflamed Anachron spring, Nivatronic laser collet fixing, a mobile stud holder and a pinned stud. In-line lever escapement, 15-tooth wheel.
- Central handsHours and minutes at the centre, small seconds at 4:30, large date, reserve at 9 o'clock and moon phase, a layout inspired by the Chronomètre Souverain.
- Three-position crownPosition 2 sets the date by turning the crown in opposite directions; position 3 sets the time. The date changes instantaneously.
Calibre 1300.3
- Automatic winding, uni-directional, off-centre rotor on ceramic balls
- 21,600 vibrations per hour (3 Hz), 36 jewels
- Autonomy 160 ± 10 hours
- Amplitude dial-up 280° at 12 hours, 220° at 90 hours
- 30.40 mm casing-up diameter, 5.80 mm high, 271 parts
- Circular stripes on the bridges, base plate partly circular-grained, steelwork with polished chamfers
The reference
Technical specifications
| Reference | AL |
|---|---|
| Collection | Black Label |
| Calibre | Calibre 1300.3 |
| Movement | Self-winding |
| Functions | Centre hours and minutes, Small seconds at 4:30, Large date, Power-reserve indicator at 9h00, Moon phase |
| Case material | Platinum |
| Dial | blackened guilloché Silver |
| Jewels | 36 |
| Power reserve | 160 ± 10 hours |
| Frequency | 21'600 Alt/h (3 Hz) |
| Distribution | Black Label collection: available only to owners of an F.P. Journe watch, in F.P. Journe boutiques and Espaces. |
| Status | No longer in the current collection |
Buying with HYPA
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