Between 2001 and 2003, Journe created the Ruthenium collection to bookend the production of watches fitted with brass movements and move to 18 karat pink gold movements now in use throughout Journe’s watches. The Ruthenium collection comprises five models: the Octa Jour/Nuit (Night/Day), the Octa Calendrier, the Chronomètre à Résonance, the Tourbillon Souveraine, and the Octa Chronographe (the present watch). Each model was released in only 99 examples and are some of the most highly coveted, early Journe timepieces. Stylistically, the Ruthenium collection, with their larger, 40 mm case diameter, close the door on the early brass movement pieces measuring 38 mm, and ushered in the more modern iterations that have drawn admirers of Journe’s craft year after year.
First identified and isolated in 1844, Ruthenium is a heavy, platinum group metal. Each of the pieces in Journe’s Ruthenium collection have their brass movements fully coated in a light-absorbing ruthenium coating. Similarly, the white gold dial is specially coated with the same ruthenium, yet the remarkable sheen and luster found in Journe’s earliest solid gold dials is preserved. Such Journe dials often display beautiful variations of patina, and in this case, the tarnish-free darkness of ruthenium further enhances the glimmer of the underlying gold dial. The circular Côtes de Genève finishing seen on later iterations of brass movements is visible through the ruthenium coating.
The Octa Chronograph was the world’s first automatic fly-back chronometer chronograph with oversized date window. The Octa caliber 1300 is a mere 5.7mm thick, allowing it to fit into the existing Octa case. To achieve this, the typical column wheel was replaced by a cam wheel, meaning it is a profile rim instead of a column that actions the chronograph levers. A single sliding lever returns the chronograph seconds and minutes to zero by disengaging the brakes at the precise moment when it hits the specially profiled reset elements.
Numbered 27 of a limited edition of 99 produced in 2002, the present watch, accompanied by an F.P. Journe Authenticity Certificate, will certainly delight any connoisseur of independent timepieces.
Founded by watchmaker François-Paul Journe in 1999, the F.P. Journe brand is relatively young, but already is as highly regarded by collectors as many distinguished manufacturers with centuries-old heritage. In the minds of the world's savviest collectors, Journe is producing some of the finest wristwatches the market has ever seen. Mastering his craft from restoring historical timepieces, he was the first to create a wristwatch incorporating two escapements that benefit from the phenomenon of resonance — the Chronomètre à Résonance.
Key models include the Résonance, tourbillon wristwatches incorporating a remontoir and the limited edition Vagabondage series. Especially sought-after are his earliest "souscription" watches, made in 1999.
