Acclaimed director Francis Ford Coppola, best known for films like The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, is selling the watch that bears his name, the F.P. Journe FFC – it is FFC’s FFC. Mr Coppola’s personal FFC prototype is expected to be the top lot at Phillips’ New York auction taking place in December.

The timing of the auction is opportune for Mr Coppola, who funded his latest – and arguably most ambitious – film, Megalopolis by selling a vineyard and then borrowing against his other holdings in the California wine industry. Against a US$120 million budget, Megalopolis grossed only $15 million, and now the legendary director is auctioning off much of his prized watch collection.

Initial thoughts

Positioned at the top of the F.P. Journe collection alongside the Sonnerie Souveraine and Astronomic Souveraine, each FFC is engraved with the customer’s name. In this case, that name is Francis Ford Coppola. That makes it arguably the FFC to own, even surpassing the unique tantalum example made for Only Watch 2021, which sold for CHF4.5 million. In this context, the estimate of over US$1 million seems conservative.

The unique FFC made for Only Watch in 2021.

F.P. Journe rarely sells prototypes. Only a handful of the brand’s prototypes have ever emerged for sale publicly, and all of those were originally sold by Mr Journe well before the firm achieved the success it does today. F.P. Journe simply doesn’t need to sell prototypes anymore.

The FFC, and Mr Coppola’s example specifically, are notable in other ways. For one thing, Mr Coppola’s FFC is distinct from the regular production version with its blackened hand and silvered minute scale. Only two such prototypes were made. In case you’re wondering what happened to the other prototype, it remains with F.P. Journe.

And the FFC is the only model ever made by F.P. Journe that was not originally conceived by Mr Journe himself, who credits Mr Coppola for the original design. This layered provenance should contribute positively to the result.

Hand as a hand

Like many F.P. Journe watches, the FFC is still interesting even without its provenance. The concept for the FFC originated with an idea Mr Coppola pitched to François-Paul Journe in 2012. He suggested a watch that indicated the hours with a mechanical human hand, inspired by finger counting methods from antiquity. With no horological challenge to great for Mr Journe, the watchmaker took a few years, but pulled it off and presented the first prototype to Mr Coppola.

Inspiration from the hand comes from Ambroise Paré’s (1509-1590) experiments with early prostheses. This is one of two matching prototypes assembled by Mr Journe’s own hand with a blackened gauntlet and white minutes ring. On the standard model, the colours for those parts are inverted.

A diagram that explains how to read the time on the mechanical fingers.

Aside from the FFC, Mr Coppola’s personal Resonance – a gift from his late wife, Eleanor – is also on the block. The necessity of the auction is unfortunate, but gives collectors an opportunity to acquire some highly desirable watches while helping one of the most important figures in modern filmmaking out of a bind.

Francis Ford Coppola’s personal F.P. Journe FFC has an estimate in excess of US$1 million, and it will be sold at The New York Watch Auction: XIII on December 6 and 7, 2025.

For more, visit Phillips.com.