F.P. Journe Élégante 48 mm Titalyt MAMCO (the half a million quartz)

Quick specs F.P. Journe Élégante 48 mm Titalyt MAMCO
Price: approx. $ 554,000 | approx. € 495.000 | approx. £ 416,000 | CHF 470’000
Size: 48 x 40 mm
Reference: unknown – unique piece

On Wednesday the 18^th of September 2024 this F.P. Journe Élégante 48 mm Titalyt MAMCO became the world’s most expensive quartz watch. With a price of around half a million it surpassed the price of the former most expensive quartz watch in the world. Which happens to be a F.P. Journe as well…

This is a unique piece, and it was auctioned. So, the 470’000 Swiss francs paid for it was not the price F.P. Journe asked. The auction of this watch is a philanthropic act by the Swiss brand to raise funds for the renovation of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Geneva (MAMCO). The buyer of the most expensive quartz watch in the world is unknown, but he/she/it is an international collector and philanthropist as well.

Why should you pay half a million for a quartz?

The reason to pay around half a million for a quartz is the good cause of course. Second, it is a unique piece, and far more affordable than the most expensive watch in the world, that hits the 30 million. And third, the movement inside is very, very special. If you buy the unlimited version of the model, you will pay somewhere between 20 to 40k – so, that’s what it is “really” worth.

Moreover, this MAMCO edition also features a special dial. The grey center dial has the letters A, R, and T in red, blue, and yellow, forming the word ART, on a green luminescent background. These letters in the depicted shapes and colors are inspired by a 1994 artwork from Maurizio Nannucci called “Art”.

Maurizio Nannucci is a contemporary artist from Italy who is renewed for his neon works, amongst other things. This work is in the collection of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Geneva and is made from fluorescent tubes. It measures 250 × 250 × 5 centimeters and it is part of 12 works by Nannucci owned by the museum.

The F.P. Journe Élégante 48 mm Titalyt MAMCO has a power reserve of 8 to 10 years

The special feature about the F.P. Journe caliber 1210 is its standby mode. A motion detector with inertia weight, visible on the dial at the 4 o’clock position, switches of the quartz movement when the watch hasn’t moved for more than 35 minutes. Only a microprocessor continues to measure time, all mechanical elements stop moving. As soon as you move the watch again it automatically sets itself to the correct time.

Because of this automatic standby mode, the power reserve of this F.P. Journe Élégante 48 mm Titalyt MAMCO is 8 to 10 years. Should you put the F.P. Journe caliber 1210 in standby mode all the time, it will still keep track of the time for about 18 years. And although it is a quartz movement, it doesn’t mean it’s not adorable.

So, this Élégante has a sapphire case back to enjoy the view on the golden movement, with engraved and decorated battery bridge, Côtes de Genève and polished and beveled screw heads. The F.P. Journe Élégante 48 mm Titalyt MAMCO comes on a dial matching grey rubber strap with folding clasp.

And the second most expensive quartz watch ever?

The second most expensive quartz watch ever is the F.P. Journe Élégante 48 mm Titalyt, executed with a pink rubber strap and pink “1” on the dial.

This one was also given away by F.P. Journe to have it auctioned on the 2^nd of March 2024 to raise funds for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. With people like this, there is still hope for this world…