WATCH POP

Can anyone give comments on how both watches stand out. Which of the two's do you prefers and why. Personal impressions of the Journe and owner thoughts on the Datograph.
1. Dials, and visual image of the watch as worn on wrist. Originally I disliked the patchwork dials of the Journes, but they are begining to grow on me. The new Souverain II dial is quite good. The dial layout is funky, and to my eyes, lopsided and unbalanced, though I like the fancy, informal look the two tones and patchwork subdials give to the watch, rather like the air of casual elegance of Francois Paul himself. The Datograph dials are serious, and look like they mean business...also rather like the air of the fully suited Lange folks. Slight edge to Lange with one point, Journe scoring half.
2. I dislike the Journe crowns, though they are unique, they don't feel comfortable on the fingers winding the watch...I know the watch is automatic with 120 hrs power reserve, but I feel the Datograph crown is much more comfortable, more beautiful, and the small touch of the engraved nameplate on the crown completes the detail. Clock one more for Lange.
3. I like the Journe free sprung balance. The Datograph features a breguet overcoil, screw compensation balance with swan neck fine adjustment, more beautiful to look at, and more traditional, though theoretically, the free sprung balance is superior, in practice there is little differences to the rate. Even round. One point to Journe for superior balance design, one point to Lange for superior execution and beauty.
4 Innovation. Datograph's contribution is the instantaneous jump minute counter. Beautifully conceptualised and executed. Journe's is the squeezing of the chronworks into 1mm thickness. One point each. The Journe also features 120 hrs power reserve, a great feature for a chronograph to ensure isochronism. Ironically, Lange's solution here is the other way round, to limit the power reserve, so that the torque curve remains good. They achieve this by incorporating a malteze cross to stop the movement after 36 hrs elapsed time. One point to each for their out of the box thinking.
5. Visual impact of the movement. The Datograph's back, seen through the sapphire cased back is fantastic. Classically designed, optimally laid out, and very pleasing. Multi-dimensional "layering" effect is a joy to gaze. On the FP, the chrono works cannot be seen, but hidden under the dial. One point to Lange for visual impact, and chrono works layout. 
6. Feel of the chrono buttons, start, stop, reset, flyback all feel smooth, equal in pressure required to activate. On the FP, they ware rather gritty. This is Lange's round.
7. Movement finish. Datograph finish is impeccable, with well executed sharp edges and beaks in SS on the chrono works. Journe is finished nicely, but no cigar. One more point for Lange.
8. Wear impressions on the wrist. Heft and feel of the Datograph. Marvellous...focussed mass...Datogrpah owners will know what I am talking about. Perfect comfort on the wrist. The Journe feels light on the wrist, fairly comfortable. Half point edge for Lange.
Don't total the score up...its not a numbers game...but you can see that for me, the FP Journe Octa Chronograph is nice, but the Datograph is king. I second Peter's comment. As a Datograph and FPJ Chronometre Resonance owner, I must say that it's very hard to make a direct comparison between the two. Datograph is a very different watch from FPJ's Octa chronograph, the former is a pure chronograph movement built from scratch while the latter is a module design.
I know Mr. Journe for quite some time and have a lot of respect for him. I had the privilage to see the design work of the Octa movement and played with the prototype a few years ago, and I must say it is a fantastic base movement. It can accommodate different functions (module) without changing its size and thickness at all. However, this post a problem with the design of the module because there's a tradeoff between size and functionality. The chronograph module on the Octa can never be as good as the Datograph as it's not a "purposedly-built" chronograph. If you play with the Octa you'll notice that it's flyback function resemble that of Glashutte Original's Panograph. When you push the chrono button, you're "pushing" the hand back to the zero position, it's not like a typical chronograph in which the hand actually "jump" back to its original position. This is a very special design which can be found it old chronograph (pocket) watches. It's hard to say which one is better because they're very different.
: Personal impressions of the Journe and owner thoughts on the Datograph. 
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: 1. Dials, and visual image of the watch as worn on wrist. Originally I disliked the patchwork 
: dials of the Journes, but they are begining to grow on me. The new Souverain II dial is quite good. The 
: dial layout is funky, and to my eyes, lopsided and unbalanced, though I like the fancy, informal look 
: the two tones and patchwork subdials give to the watch, rather like the air of casual elegance of 
: Francois Paul himself. The Datograph dials are serious, and look like they mean business...also rather 
: like the air of the fully suited Lange folks. Slight edge to Lange with one point, Journe scoring 
: half. 
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:  
:  
: 2. I dislike the Journe crowns, though they are unique, they don't feel comfortable on the 
: fingers winding the watch...I know the watch is automatic with 120 hrs power reserve, but I feel the 
: Datograph crown is much more comfortable, more beautiful, and the small touch of the engraved nameplate 
: on the crown completes the detail. Clock one more for Lange. 
:  
:  
:  
: 3. I like the Journe free sprung balance. The Datograph features a breguet overcoil, screw 
: compensation balance with swan neck fine adjustment, more beautiful to look at, and more traditional, 
: though theoretically, the free sprung balance is superior, in practice there is little differences 
: to the rate. Even round. One point to Journe for superior balance design, one point to Lange for 
: superior execution and beauty. 
:  
:  
:  
: 4 Innovation. Datograph's contribution is the instantaneous jump minute counter. 
: Beautifully conceptualised and executed. Journe's is the squeezing of the chronworks into 1mm thickness. 
: One point each. The Journe also features 120 hrs power reserve, a great feature for a chronograph to 
: ensure isochronism. Ironically, Lange's solution here is the other way round, to limit the power 
: reserve, so that the torque curve remains good. They achieve this by incorporating a malteze cross to 
: stop the movement after 36 hrs elapsed time. One point to each for their out of the box thinking. 
:  
:  
:  
: 5. Visual impact of the movement. The Datograph's back, seen through the sapphire cased back is 
: fantastic. Classically designed, optimally laid out, and very pleasing. Multi-dimensional "layering" 
: effect is a joy to gaze. On the FP, the chrono works cannot be seen, but hidden under the dial. One point to 
: Lange for visual impact, and chrono works layout. 
:  
:  
:  
: 6. Feel of the chrono buttons, start, stop, reset, flyback all feel smooth, equal in pressure 
: required to activate. On the FP, they ware rather gritty. This is Lange's round. 
:  
:  
:  
: 7. Movement finish. Datograph finish is impeccable, with well executed sharp edges and beaks 
: in SS on the chrono works. Journe is finished nicely, but no cigar. One more point for Lange. 
:  
:  
:  
: 8. Wear impressions on the wrist. Heft and feel of the Datograph. Marvellous...focussed 
: mass...Datogrpah owners will know what I am talking about. Perfect comfort on the wrist. The Journe feels light on 
: the wrist, fairly comfortable. Half point edge for Lange. 
:  
:  
:  
: Don't total the score up...its not a numbers game...but you can see that for me, the FP Journe 
: Octa Chronograph is nice, but the Datograph is king.