The ABCs of Time: Unconventional Ways Watches Tell Time Without Traditional Hands
From aimless wandering to visual illusions, traditional hands become unnecessary when you enter the circus of time.
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In the early days of mechanical timekeeping, hands did not exist; bells were used to tell time. Medieval Europe was dotted with these massive mechanical clock towers, such as the 14th-century bells of Salisbury Cathedral, which still operate today (after restoration, of course). These early clock towers employed ancient escapements and wheel-like designs, but were revolutionary at the time, dating back to the 13th century. By today's standards, their accuracy and reliability are poor, with daily errors exceeding one hour being common. Another (though rarer) design emerged early on, developing alongside the bell tower with only chimes, adding a dial with a single hour hand. One of the earliest such "clock towers" appeared in 1283 at Dunstable Abbey (a medieval Augustinian monastery). By the 15th century, dials and hour hands had become standard, but chimes remained part of the clock tower's performance.
It wasn't until the late 17th century, with the replacement of the traditional escapement by the pendulum escapement (invented by Dutch scientist Christian Huygens in 1656), that clocks became accurate enough to accommodate minute hands. This visual configuration of hour and minute hands persisted for centuries and remains standard on almost all analog clocks. That said, we need some fun, and watchmakers have been experimenting with other methods of timekeeping for over a century. While the 18th and 19th centuries saw some extremely rare and unusual timepieces, the first mainstream alternative to hour and minute hands appeared in 1883 when Austrian engineer Joseph Palwebe invented jumping hours—a display of Arabic numerals in a window, transmitting time in analog/digital format with the hours "jumping" instantaneously. Today, we have all sorts of unusual and complex mechanical creations that can tell time without hands. While exotic watchmakers like MB&F and URWERK quickly come to mind (which will certainly be discussed later), some stunningly unconventional timepieces are surprisingly accessible, because thinking outside the box doesn't necessarily mean spending a fortune.
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Jumping Hour Display and IWC PALLWEBER
While IWC PALLWEBER is widely credited with inventing the jumping hour function, a similar pocket watch existed 50 years earlier, commissioned for King Louis-Philippe I of France. Designed by French watchmaker Antoine Blondot in 1830 (the exact date may vary slightly), this jumping hour pocket watch featured a rotating numeral dial that "jumped" to a designated position every hour, while a second numeral dial displayed the minutes through a separate window. This was likely the first pocket watch to employ a "digital" display, a futuristic design for its time, but also an expensive bespoke piece for royalty, with no other models ever produced. Fast forward to 1883, Joseph IWC PALLWEBER patented the jumping hour pocket watch movement and licensed it to watchmakers Cotterbel and IWC (see above). Before 1900, these two companies produced several thousand jumping hour pocket watches (IWC produced a larger number, approximately 20,000). Unfortunately, due to the discontinuation of the IWC Pallweber pocket watch in 1890, the initial production cycle was very short, lasting only six years for the entire series. This design concept regained popularity in the 1960s and 70s, but it took IWC decades to reintroduce the pocket
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In 2018, to celebrate the brand's 150th anniversary, IWC launched a modern wristwatch that reinterpreted the Pallweber jumping hour function—the IWC Pallweber 150th Anniversary Edition (model: IW505003). This watch's design is very similar to the original, featuring a jumping hour display at the top, a central "large date" minute display window (using a double-disc design), and a traditional seconds hand in the sub-dial at 6 o'clock. In addition, IWC also released a more limited edition hunter-style gold pocket watch (model: IW505101), as a direct continuation of this classic 19th-century timepiece. The watches mentioned above are all priced in the five figures (though not outrageous for a wristwatch), but many brands now offer more affordable jumping hour watches. Although the IWC Pallweber pocket watch was only produced for six years, its high production volume means that well-preserved, fully functional original IWC Pallweber pocket watches are relatively easy to find on the secondhand market with a little online searching.
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