First selection: F.P. Journe, Urwerk and H.Moser

So today we would like to present you the FFC Blue, an extremely original automaton watch created by F.P. Journe in collaboration with Mr. Coppola himself.

It is said that the idea was born during a dinner that François-Paul Journe had with Francis Ford Coppola in 2012 and I wouldn’t have minded being a fly and assisted at this dinner! So the famous film director asked if it is possible to tell time with a hand in a watch, using fingers as traditional hands. Intrigued, the watchmaker accepted the challenge.

Nine years later the intense work is finished, and now we can admire the FFC prototype. The base is made from F.P. Journe’s Octa movements, his first mechanism with an automatic movement celebrating this year its 20th anniversary and able to perform for up to 120 hours so the choice here was pretty obvious.

So this FFC watch does not feature traditional hands but instead a large articulated human hand, right in the middle of the dial, partly covering the intricate mechanical movement. The mobile fingers appear or disappear instantaneously on the passage of the hour to display the hours according to their position and this mechanism is made of special cams that you can see between 6 and 9 o’clock.

Ok, you might need a manual for a little while to remember which position corresponds to which hour, but how cool is this. And regarding the minutes, they can be read at 12 o’clock thanks to a pointer and a peripheral rotating minutes disk.

The F.P. Journe FFC Blue is presented in a 42mm tantalum case which is 10.70mm high. Bridges and base plate of the movement are typically made in 18k rose gold and the automaton blue hand is driven solely by the barrel of its automatic FFC 1300.3 caliber running at 3Hz.

The movement comprises of 396 parts and can be partly seen through the caseback and if the future owner is daring enough, well he you can even dive with it up to 30 meters. Well I am already pretty certain that this piece will fetch quite a spectacular price during the charitable auction to be held in collaboration with Christie’s in Geneva on the 6th of November. 

At the first glance this futuristic-looking timepiece looks like Endeavour Cylindrical Tourbillon, the collaboration of the previous year between H. Moser & Cie and MB&F. But this time the Schaffhausen-based Manufacture managed to create an outstanding piece of art, combining several of its bold signature codes with the new technologies.

The Streamliner Cylindrical Tourbillon Only Watch has a steel cushion shaped fluid case 40 mm in diameter, water-resistant to 12 ATM, and is topped with a domed sapphire crystal. Its movement was indeed developed in collaboration with MB&F for a special edition in 2020 and highlights the sophisticated 1-minute flying tourbillon with a cylindrical hairspring. If you want to remind yourself about this very smart collaboration, I clearly invite you to check the report we did at the time, link below and on the side.

This type of a hairspring was invented in the 18th century and became a frequent feature on marine chronometers at the time and because of its specific shape, these cylindrical hairsprings are extremely difficult to produce. In this case they are developed and produced by Precision Engineering, H. Moser & Cie.'s sister company.

But let`s continue. The heart of this piece is the caliber HMC 810 and beats at the frequency of 3Hz. It comprises 29 jewels, features 184 components, and gives you a good power reserve of 72 hours.

The three-dimensional aspect of the movement is not the only one to enjoy. Below it at 6’o clock is the tilted hour and minute fluorescent sub-dial that is inclined at 40°. The perfect angle for the owner to enjoy an exclusive view on time.

And if you were wondering where the darkness is, I will advise you to look closer at the dial, because it is made of the Vantablack material. The super-black coating reputed to be the darkest man-made substance in existence. H. Moser & Cie describes it as an artificial material that is composed of carbon nanotubes that are 10,000 times finer than a human hair, aligned vertically alongside each other.

This innovative material was first developed and used by astrophysics, but soon became popular in other areas. Now you can find Vantablack in telescopes, as well as in the military because of its efficiency in creating thermal camouflage.

Ok, final watch of this first selection with the UR-102 Gaia by URWERK and I think that this is really a smart move by the brand. Not only does it remind us of its origin with this iconic model, but based on its probable success during the auction and the general interest around it, well it might well give some ideas to URWERK if they ever want to introduce or let’s say reintroduce such a collection at a very likely more reasonable price point.

We know the UR-100, the entry priced collection of the brand, has been really successful and letting new customers enter the URWERK universe, but this could even widen this.

Anyhow, let’s go back to the watch itself and firstly to its name: the UR-102 Gaia, Gaia in reference to the award URWERK received in 2020 in the Entrepreneurship category, an award ceremony organized by the Musée International de la Chaux-de-Fonds celebrating men and women who have devoted their career to the measurement of time and this can be seen on the platinum caseback of the watch with a reminder of the actual trophy’s design.

The case is made of aluminum, as with the original model, and is anodized giving it this special feel, it’s 38mm in width and this watch also shares the same automatic movement as the first model introduced in 1997. I really like the sheer simplicity of the time display with this wondering hour and you can just kind of guess the minutes with the placement of the hour indication between a zero to sixty scale found between 9 and 3 o’clock. I hope you got me!

There is something really minimalist with this timepiece, some kind of to the point design with this flying saucer inspired shape, well you have all the codes URWERK successfully declined over the years with their unique take on watchmaking.

Thanks for watching and reading! See you real soon and of course Viva Watchmaking!!!