FP Journe Gold Dials

A little change can go a long way: here’s a look at four updated FP Journe wacthes with solid gold dials, the Chronometre Souverain and Octa Lune in rose gold and platinum.

Complementing FP Journe’s solid gold movements (well the baseplates and bridges anyways) comes a new range of solid gold dials across a few collections, the Chronometre Souverain, Octa Lune and Octa Reserve (which I unfortunately couldn’t photograph). A subtle evolution, but one that adds a lot of depth to the dials and ultimately, perceived value for end customers.

What’s particularly interesting is that if you look at the dials, they just look silvered, albeit with subtle nuances of colors. You can clearly see that the dials on the rose gold models have a warmer tone than their platinum counterparts. That’s because the rose gold case models use solid rose gold dial plates, while the platinum versions come with white gold dial plates. The movements of course are in rose gold regardless of case material.

Perhaps the best part about these new dials are the numeral hour markers, which are neither painted nor applied. No easy feat, but luckily FP Journe owns its own dial manufacturer; a testament to the independent brand’s uncompromising autonomy.

To make these dials, a solid gold base is first sanded to achieve a uniformly flat surface. The dial plate is then silvered, receiving its off-white color while adding a subtly grained and opaline texture. The plates are then embossed so that the Arabic hour marker numerals end up with this raises appearance, which in turn are mirror-polished on top with the sides of the numerals left silvered. Again, a little detail that goes a long way. And finally, the other numerals and logo are added using a five layer pad printing technique.

Noticed the blue digits on the date wheels, perfectly matching the hands and moon phase disk?

Perhaps the biggest surprise that came with the revised Octa Lune isn’t the dial or movement, but the actual proportions of the case. The original Octa Lune come in a choice of 38mm or 40mm, while the new gold dial versions come in both 40mm or 42mm. I can appreciate that 42mm may be a bit on the larger side for die-hard Journe fans, but by today’s standards 42mm is by all means reasonable, especially on larger wrists. Besides, with the larger case and dials comes a slightly rearranged (and to my eyes, improved) dial where the logo has been moved, the date windows enlarged, and the off-centered hours and minutes dials is also larger and thus more legible.