Messages: 2644 Location: East Coast, USA
Registered: November 2003
A look at an uncommon jump hour, aka heure sautante, wristwatch ref. 43040 >>>
Tue, 09 October 2012 19:46
Hi All,
From my archive of photos shot for past Antiquorum auctions, below are photos of a rare and superbly designed jump hour watch produced by Vacheron during the mid-1990s. Produced in two variants - yellow gold and platinum - the ref. 43040 measures 36 mm in diameter, with a slender thickness of approx. 7 mm.
What enabled this very thin case? None other than Vacheron's use of the exquisite, ultra-thin caliber 1120 as the base movement. With the added jumping hour module, the movement's caliber designation was changed to caliber 1120HS, with HS standing for 'Heure Sautante'.
Hours are indicated through the gold-framed "digital" aperture at 12 o'clock, and minutes are indicated via a faceted, onyx-tipped wandering minute pointer...
The center of the dial is finished with an elegant, hand-guilloché'd pattern, while applied gold, faceted triangle-shaped hour markers are found on the outer circumference.
Long discontinued, and perhaps a little small for some, I think it's simply superb.
- Paul Boutros