F.P. Journe Octa Réserve De Marche Ref. A Octa Platinum Salmon Dial

The Réserve de Marche came first. It was the first automatic watch Journe built, the model that opened the Octa family in 2001 and set the layout every later reference borrowed from, with the time pushed off to one side and the calendar work balancing it out. A rose gold dial plate inside a platinum case is the warmer of the two ways it was offered, and the contrast between the two metals is entirely deliberate.

Platinum, at 38 or 40 mm and 10.6 mm deep, built around an 18K 6N gold dial plate. The hours and minutes take a whitened guilloché silver disc on the right, screwed down to the plate through a thin steel ring, with the small seconds counter overlapping just below it. A large date opens at the top left of the dial. Blued steel hands run throughout, and the case is polished rather than brushed.