Thursday, November 24, 2005

F. P. Journe Limited Editions Still Around. Why?

On my recent travels I got a chance to handle two highly sought after limited pieces still strangely languishing in dealers at list price. Why people will pay silly auction money for these when they're still in dealers dying to shift them is a mystery to me; discounts were discussed.


Wicked idea illustrated on the F.P. Journe forum.

Surprisingly heavy, for its diminutive size and 1/4" thickness, the Vagabondage, in platinum, is one of Journe's undoubted technical masterpieces and 'still' pictures don't do it justice. So it shows its stuff above in the excellent animation from ThePuristS. Only the rope style crown really gives a clue as to its identity as it's so different from any other Journe. Still for sale, but not even on display in the dealer I visited....
"'Vagabongage' is the name chosen by F.P. Journe, and suggested by the French collector Jean Aube, to express the wandering of the revolving frame, which captures the hour and keeps it, while continuing its journey around the dial, to indicate the minutes."
The Zodiaque (Zodiac) is seriously cool with the rotating month ring and as Bernard Chong points out:
"Not only is it the last of the first Octa series, and also the last of the first series of ltds editions...but to add a distinction, it is also the only ltd edition Octa that has a conventional sparkling Rhodium plate finish that is found on the Octas and not the dark grey Rhuthenium finish."
But it's crying out for some more colour (pink gold, for example as the recent one-off, would make such a difference) and it has the oddest spring bar location for its lug position in any watch I've ever come across.


Someone needs to tell FPJ that blue on grey does NOT work.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

With limited production comes limited promotion. Each Journe piece is extremely special in its own way. Auction prices should never be used as the market price since other factors can drive stupid prices. Over time you wll find that all of the limited editions will be sold and truly become limited. Look at the ruthenium collection. 1 year ago you can buy almost any piece... today you may have the opportunity to buy one.