François-Paul Journe introduced his first wristwatch, the Tourbillon Souverain, in 1999, and shortly thereafter followed with the revolutionary Chronométre à Résonance and the Octa Automatique. The Octa (2001) model began as one watch but with the mindset that Journe was in fact building the base for an entire collection.

The Octa Lune was launched in 2003 and won the “Best Men’s Watch” award in the same year at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) - the most prestigious award ceremony in the Swiss watch industry. The moon-phase on the left-hand side of the dial offered a balance to the offset sub-dial displaying the hour and minute, with the moon aperture poetically crafted in the shape of a crescent moon when rotated 90 degrees horizontally. From 2003 to 2005, the first-generation models featured the caliber 1300.3 brass movement, while the second generation, introduced in 2004, was updated with a solid gold movement.

In 2007, Journe released the “Automatique Lune,” featuring a new dial layout with the hour and minute position moved to the traditional horological display format at the outer rim of the dial. The new model offered a classic, clean, easy-to-read display, and while the moon-phase and large date apertures remained the same, the Arabic hour numerals were newly prominent at the periphery of the dial with the railroad minute track between them. The present Octa Automatique Lune is fresh-to-the-market and in excellent overall condition, accompanied by its original presentation box and a Journe Certificate of Authenticity dated to 2013.

The timepiece is contemporary and elegant, perfectly matching the genius of its creator and the elegance of a timeless design. This lot will appeal to the collector of independent modern horological artisans.