You think your digital watch is old? Circa 1830's French 18k champlevee enamel jump hour digital pocket watch by Blondeau, watchmaker to the King.
Close-up of dial - engraved with bugs & birds! 
PoyFR
2842
It is said that Villepin was disliked in the US because he kept pocking the eyes
;-)
Many people associate jump hour watches with the 1970s so they are surprised to learn that they were invented in the nineteenth century. The first recorded jump hour watch was made by esteemed French watch makers Blondeau for the French King of the time in around 1830.
Credits To Watchismo
French Digital Jump Hour circa 1830
Close-up of dial - engraved with bugs & birds!
When was the first mechanical Digital wristwatch produced?
I am curious for obvious reason to find out when was the first mechanical digital wristwatch. I browsing fast the web, I came across the below 'vintage' presentation which is said from 19 68. Do you more and other info ? T hanks in advance for sharing you...
Very interesting, POY
Great Historical ad, my friend. Your obvious reasons are so actual... I was wondering the same when Lange launched their new Zeitwerk. But, honestly, I didn't know, till you posted this ad. I would be curious to see if any of our fellows, here, can give u...
history goes back to at least the 19th C for PW and early 20th C for WW.
IWC had pocketwatches (one called Pellaton model (?) and I know several off the top of my head in WW form factor in early 20th C. Will try to dig up some pics of watches and/or ads if no one else beats me to it. Definitely before 1960's. Cheers, TM
yep, thanks, it was caught lower down in the thread.
The mind and memory...what a thing to waste! ;-) TM
the best source for this would probably the watchismo times site
if i'm not allowed to mention the site i apologize, but he is a great source of unusual information expecially in things like digital mechanicals. there are examples often seen in rectangular cases from the 1920-30's. i dont have a pic, but they are a reg...
Thank you for sharing this info
I had already visited that site, and you are correct there is plenty to read on the subject. And many more too ;-)
Now I have a problem! is Digital Display the same as Jump Hour watches?
My initial post (right at the top) is titled ' When was the first mechanical Digital wristwatch produced? ' When I saw the first replies I got confused because may be I always misunderstood the 'Jump Hour Watches'. Therefore I am coming back at all of you...
Poy, i would say that...
Poy, i would say that a jump hour is where you can only see that particular hour in the box and it jumps instantaneously. the Chronoswiss delphis is a jump hour, but a seiko discus is a digital display as the time discs are continuously moving. the Lange ...
"wandering hour/minute" vs "jump hour/minute"
Hi, Graham, Monsieur PoyFR "officially" (what the heck does that mean anyway?) a "digital display" is one that displays the digit rather than an "analog" (an indicator that points to a position in a relative position scale; thus, the crescent fly backs ar...
ps: digital displays can also be wandering!
The Seiko Discus Burger is an example of this.
just to confuse matters more, "dead seconds" (seconde morte) are jumping seconds...
but usually analogue! think FP Journe...there is no real technical reason why they couldn't do a jumping seconds digital but the energy needed to turn a disc (as opposed to a second hand) once every second is not insubstantial and there isn't really enoug...
To digress
Thomas, "but it takes too much electrical energy to make a second hand "jump" 3, 4, or 5 times every second" What of Accutrons? ;-)
:-)
Hi, BDLJ, LOL! Obviously, Accutrons are a little different electrically and electronically than typical quartz designs; also their electrical to mechanical translations...but good point, non-sequitor notwithstanding. Just in case others reading this are c...
Thomas, you are right, 1921 AP was First. Thank you.
I made a couple of phone calls to the neutral country sides and it seems that there is no arguments, it is 1921 by Audemars Piguet Calibre HPVM10. home.watchprosite.com
Professor, you are not confusing, it makes perfect sense! Thank you
I am so keen to always learn I would stop my life to find and understand the answers ;-) Thank you again.
Thomas, I learnt to read you with pleasure
Thank you for your reply. It is so simple yet so dam complicated! The way I am so far understanding 'Digital watches' is it is a term which I would want to reserve for watches powered by electronics or batteries, because so far I see that all mechanical w...
Wow, haven't heard reference to Cortebert for ages!
Hi, Monsieur PoyFR! You are far too kind, and I hope this discussion doesn't boil down to differences in semantics due to languages! Yes, in colloquial English, "digital watches" are often (erroneously) used to refer to electronically controlled or powere...
just some additions.....
Hello, PoyFr, you were asking for the wrist watches in your original post - I would have to look through a lot of books, but I'm pretty sure there are plenty of digital display ww's even at the time when wrist watches started to be "en vogue" - let's say ...
Thank you for re-steering back to wristwatches
Of course I know the Cortébert Village, but what I meant by 'French Company' is that that Cortébert was founded by the Juillard family which were made a noble under Louis XVI one year after the French revolution in 1790. For the Jump hours, well I have re...
Good news ....
...for your french soul I've found a reference of a nice pocket watch with jumping hour (similar design as previously mentioned, satelite with sector dial for minutes and jumping hour "a guichet"). It's from the Gschwind collection, made by french watchma...
On a popular website by Carlos Perez
The text below is part of a post/reference titled: The Myriad Dialects of Time (October 8, 2001) In Memory of David M. Graifman Most digital displays used in mechanical clocks and watches work on the same principle, based on rotating discs which are print...
same question as below...
I knew (was in touch with, and sometimes even consulted by) Carlos when he was active on the net in horological matters. Like the other internet sources so far quoted (and most of the others one likely finds on the 'net) I have to caution against taking a...
Correct! I do not jump to beliefs at web publications, I sometimes use them as a base
and I learn to ask a question and read everyone, often the answers are from humble and hidden authorities: I also refer to the older books which I admit I often to fatigue to open and luckily in the end I use that old contact book and my telephone... ;-) ...
Who was the first Digital mechanical watchmaker
Hi Does anyone know, which was the first watch company to make Digital Mechanical watch with Jump hour/minute. Lange Claims they have the breakthrough, after reading some of this forum, it seems like IWC already did this years ago. Was IWC's Digital hour/...
Mike, are you talking...
Mike, are you talking digital moving disc display or instantaneous digital display? the moving disc design has been around for a couple of hundred years, but i think Lange made the very first instantaneous digital display. best Graham
Graham, many thanks
Graham, many thanks > I started being confused on this issue. ;-) I agree with your definition ‘ any watch where the digits rotate around at the correct pac they would do if they were hands’. Thank you for your time.
Try Googling "IWC Pallweber"...
...IWC made a number of digital pocket watches based on the Pallweber System patent during the 1880s.
It is said that Villepin was disliked in the US because he kept pocking the eyes
;-) Many people associate jump hour watches with the 1970s so they are surprised to learn that they were invented in the nineteenth century. The first recorded jump hour watch was made by esteemed French watch makers Blondeau for the French King of the ti...
hmmm...I would sincerely like to know...
Watchismo's source and authority for that information...
"A Man's World"
Real men wear digital. Surprised that I haven't seen one of these pop up anywhere. Wonder who actually made them.
You may witness a surprise
in seeing how many Zeitwerk will be on Men's wrist ;-) I do not think of them as feminine do you?...
I got it! can anyone make a better claim? 1921 Audemars Piguet
1921 Audemars Piguet creates the first jumping-hour wristwatch driven by calibre HPVM10 1921 Audemars Piguet creates the first jumping-hour wristwatch driven by calibre HPVM10 This message has been edited by PoyFR on 2009-05-12 04:26:19...
great find on that ad!
save me from having to dig up my pics of the watch... ;-) Y, my friend, knowing what you know about watches and the watch industry, I just realized you were having fun with me, and I fell for it hook line and sinker! Ah, oh well, at least you know I am si...
I will never
Have this sort of Fun!. You and the others sincerely helped and guided me, I re-read the posts/replies and steered my searches. Initially I thought it would be Vacheron or Audemars Piguet. When you said 1921... that was it, I knew it was Audemars Piguet. ...
many thanks
for the enreichment you and other mates on here provided us with . Faisal