 | I am always amazed at how long it took for Jump Hour ("jumps") watches to make a big push onto the watch scene - despite being first introduced in some crude forms during the early 1800s. The mechanical "digital" had it's only real flurry of popularity right after the electronic readout digital watches, such as LED and LCD, appeared around 1972. The old line manufacturers wanted to compete against the electronic digitals, but they were all tooled up for mechanicals! Bad for them - good for us. We now have a large number of very high quality jumps from the early '70 that have survived the years, partly due to electronic digitals drawing away enough of the market share that these watches just sat. |
Most jumps have individual dials that are rotated by the movement, for hours, minutes, seconds and maybe date. These dials are stacked or staggered so they only show a small slice of the dial thru a stationary window/aperture. A true "jump hour" will hold the hour dial motionless under its viewing window until the next hour actually arrives, then "jump" to the next hour.
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Cheaper "jumps" might more properly called "scroll hour" as their hour dial is in constant movement like an analogue watch's hands. Part of two different numbers [disturbingly] shows when you are at 30 minutes past the hour! Look closely at the watches above - I set all to about 1/2 past the hour to show how the hour still shows clearly. The one below is a cheap modern "scroller" - what time is it?!
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What time is it?
The problem with cheap jumps. | 
Left is super-cheap quartz. Right is a medium quality jeweled ALPHA automatic, Chinese. |
There are also jump hours which have a large curved aperture that shows more than two hours at a time, indicating the time by a pointer on either the crystal, bezel, or face of the watch.
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"Flybacks" are "jump hours" that have hour hands that "jump" ahead at the passage of an hour, whilst the minute hand "flys back" to the "0" minute position along a scale that goes from 0-60 minutes - a bit alarming if you are not expecting it! "Flybacks" are obviously not digitals.
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| Movements range from simple wind-up mechanicals, to heavily jeweled automatics and quartz movements of various qualities. Like any watch, you should look for a quality movement that is properly jeweled for the longest life. Anti-magnetic movement and self-winding automatic movements are features that add value. Myself, I am really drawn to automatic jumps, so I don't have to worry about over-winding/under-winding. I also feel that jumps with the hour aperture closer to the edge, as opposed to the center of the face, have bigger numbers on average and are easier to read. |
| Due to their modernistic, "spacecraft item" appearance, very few jumps were fitted with metal bands. Maybe it was the era, with all it's love for color and earthy materials, but cloth and leather bands were primarily used. Or was it concern that a metal band would clash with the bulbous look? Some jumps have unusual width bands or bodies that don't look very nice without a band that covers part of the case just like the original( e.g.the pink banded Hoga in the center of the top picture) - this adds to the cost of ownership and can be very frustrating to deal with. When buying a vintage piece that is fitted with a newer band that looks good, take that into consideration against other potential purchases that need a band - those sellers may have been frustrated in finding an appropriate band replacement. If it doesn't have a standard size & shape band, figure you will spend from$50-200 on a band and you may not have much choice in where along the price line your purchase falls. If you can even find one that really "works" with the piece. |
| A few jumps were made in a side-view or "drivers" style. The Amida "Digitrend" is probably the best known of those. |  |
| Some jumps were made as toys - the "hidden" nature of the passing time was good for combining with other tools of "covert activity". The Milton Bradley 007 jumps from 1968-? have a pull out telescope lens on one side and a crosshairs that pulls out on the other side, so you could look across your wrist and "spy" thru your miniature telescope. It is a non-jeweled wind-up, but they habitually draw $350 - 450 in good shape. So stop laughing that I own two! |  |
| With permission, I have included a few pictures of some other interesting jumps. |
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