F.P. Journe

Any thoughts on what caused the discoloration shown in the below picture on this yellow gold RdM dial around the edges of the silver sub-dial (e.g., oxidation, oil from the movement, etc.)? Has anyone seen this in other Journes? Many thanks. ...  

This is a known issue with the early F.P.Journe dials. The problem is oxidation. It is move obvious on the YG dials, as you show here, but also occured on the WG/grey dials which can yellow. Like many small companies F.P.Journe sourced dials from an exter... 

Thanks very much for the extremely helpful response Andrew. This is a 2002 RdM (originally sold in 2004) that I purchased pre-owned a few years ago. When I bought it the dial was basically pristine with just a slight difference in color around the edges o... 

One is that they swapped the dial out at service. I believe that they would do this on request, although some owners wanted to keep their original dial. The second is that they were able to repair the dial, which would seem to be the case if you can see r... 

I'm having trouble with the photo uploaders ("invalid blog" message) but happy to send them to you if you PM me your email address. I'm certain it was the latter option (cleaning / restoration rather than dial swap) as you can still see just a faint trace... 

Here is ciwasko's watch today. A piece of F.P.Journe history ... ...  

FYI Montres Journe kindly responded to my email today and confirmed that the service team removed the oxidation from my dial by cleaning it. Restoration is not possible. Replacement dials are available though supplies are limited and the color may not nec... 

I like watches showing their age and imperfections, I know "collectors" value pristine like new pieces but I personally don't, gives them character and uniqueness. I would welcome the Oxidation and hope it would accelerate :-) but thats just me. S

Cheers, Anthony ...  

Oxidation does look great in some cases (like the RG dial in your photos). It adds a lot of character to the early Journes.

It depends on the cases,the one you showed is ok ,but the one on top really looks faulty..... We watchnuts are incredibly creative when it comes down to our beloved...maybe these will be future tropical dial Journes.... Mo