In 1883, Austrian watchmaker Josef Pallweber designed a unique timepiece display mechanism that he subsequently licensed to the International Watch Company. Rather than use conventional watch hands, his system featured rotating discs inscribed with the minutes and hours, which were hidden beneath the watch’s main dial. As the time progressed and the discs revolved, the appropriate hour and minutes were revealed via small cutout windows. However, rather than slowly advancing to the following minute or hour, the discs “jumped” into place. This combination of windows and jumping discs—which debuted in a series of I.W.C. pocket watches in 1885—constituted one of the earliest “jump hour” (or “digital”) watches, and one of the earliest “guichet” watches. “Guichet,” French for the type of window at a ticket counter in, say, a train station or bank, also describes an aperture in a watch dial through which the time is read. Though this type of..
