F.P.Journe Automatique Lune Platinum — Blue & White Mother-of-Pearl Dial | Ref. 1304

Water and light conspire in the Automatique Lune Mother of Pearl, a 40mm platinum timepiece whose guilloché-finished mother-of-pearl and silver dial captures the very quality of moonlight that the complication on its face is designed to honour. The Calibre 1304 — a manually wound movement that embodies the manufacture's principle that hand-winding remains the most direct relationship between wearer and mechanism — delivers 120 hours of power reserve through a solid 18K rose gold movement architecture, its plates and bridges built from the same precious alloy that has distinguished every F.P.Journe calibre since François-Paul Journe established his manufacture in Geneva in 1999.

Mother-of-pearl is among the most demanding of dial materials precisely because no two pieces are identical — the iridescent play of blue and white that gives this particular dial its character is the product of the natural material itself, not of any applied finish. The guilloché pattern beneath the mother-of-pearl adds texture and depth, catching light at angles that a flat dial cannot reach. Moon phase, date, small seconds, and power reserve indicator complete the functional poetry of the dial, the moon's waxing and waning tracked with an accuracy that will require correction only once every 122 years.

At $65,800, the Automatique Lune in platinum on blue alligator strap with folding clasp occupies a compelling position in the Journe hierarchy — generous in its complications, extraordinary in its material palette, and possessed of the lunar romanticism that has drawn collectors to moon phase watches since the complication was first incorporated into a wristwatch. For those who believe that the finest watchmaking should also move the spirit, this is the Journe to own.