Watches with a different display of time

The first pocket watches only had one hand to display time and later this changed to an hour and minute hand. There are however watches with entirely different way to display time. Jumping hours, rotating disks, moving satellites and more!

Displaying time in another way than the now ‘considered normal’ two hands watch, is of all times. Moderator of the Revolution Online Cartier forum started a post about this subject. After reading the post, the first brands that came to mind were Hautlence, Ladoire, MB&F, MCT Watches and URWERK, more or less the usual suspects if you’re a frequent reader of Monochrome.

The new MB&F HM3 Rebel (No.1 is exclusively available at Chronopassion in Paris, if it hasn’t been sold yet), is a good example of the relatively young, innovative, exotic and very exclusive watch brands. These brands manage to create a design that is not held back by traditional watchmaking boundaries. Design is first, technique follows.

There are however also some more affordable possibilities when it comes to watches with a different way to display time. Just think of Dingemans Mechanische Horloges (or d.m.h) I wrote about several times before. He uses vintage Tenor Dorley movements with rotating hour and minute disks. And here you can see one of the newest models, featuring a rotating hour disk and normal minute and seconds hands.

Another option can be found in the Seiko Moving Design collection. The Seiko Discus Burger was a hit when it was released a few years ago. And there is still a group of watch collectors interested in this very unusual, but very nice, Seiko.

Hop over to the Cartier forum at Revolution Online to share your thoughts about watches with a different display of time. The moderator posted gorgeous photos of very impressive timepieces, both from Cartier and the brands mentioned above. Do you like these exotic displays or do you prefer hour and minute hands?