Jump Hour pocket watches - the "mechanical digital" watch

[HAC]

That finky electric clock posted below got me digiing through the books and pics.
Thought you might be interested to see some early "digital" watches. In these watches, the hour and minutes are displayed numercally, and use rotating plates, similar to those used in the date function of a modern watch.  A spring driven finger causes the disk to "jump" to the next position, hence the name.

Quite possibly the earliest jump hour was this one by Blondeau, a one of a kind piece from 1830. It was made for Louis-Philippe d'Orléans, the French king at the time.









Later on, in the 1880's, The production jump hour watch was designed by Joseph Pallweber for manufacture  by Cortébert and International Watch Co. (IWC) in the 1880s.

Cortrebert:


IWC:



Finally, a promotional watch by Modernista in the early 1900's, this one with a retrograde minutes complication.







Cheers
Harold

[Wisconsin Platt]

Thank you.  Your knowledge and pictures have once again made my day.

[clockwork creation]

i have been trying to hunt one down for a while.. even broken ones i could restore are pricey

[HAC]

Yeah, the early ones are generally museum pieces now. There are a few jump hour wristwatches coming out of China, notably in the Alpha brand, now..


Cheers
Harold

[markf]

Very nice watches, I like all of them.  markf

[Rowan of Rin]

Thanks for that great intro Harold, any chance you could go a little bit more in depth about the jump mechanism?

Also, is it sad that I recognise every single one of those photos from Bogoff watches?

[HAC]

Thanks for that great intro Harold, any chance you could go a little bit more in depth about the jump mechanism?

Also, is it sad that I recognise every single one of those photos from Bogoff watches?

Ah yes, Bogoff... happily separating watch-nuts from their hard-earned money for many years    - They do have some neat stuff, though, don't they..
I'll put something togeterh on the jump mechanism and post..

Cheers
Harold

[Rowan of Rin]

That they do, my favourite jump hour watch they had was the sort of triangular looking one, perhaps you remember it? I can't seem to find it in his page now.