F.H.B. Mechanical Jump-Hour Watch

It's been 90s watches for a while, and so I went for something a little older today.

Today's watch is one of the vintage design jump-hour watches, which are also sometimes called a mechanical digital watch. The principal is that there are two windows showing through to rotating discs below. The minutes disc is continually rotating, and the window is about 10 minutes round to ensure you can see at least one of the numbers on the disc. In a true jump-hour such as this one, the hours disc remains in one place until the final minutes of the hour when it 'jumps' round to the next number (whereas most quartz replicas have a rotating and not jumping hour). This model also has a seconds hand, but you need to watch it carefully for timing as it is double ended.

The design is quite common for this style of jump-hour, with a round face and rectangular window. The strap is steel, but the clasp has a spring loaded section to lengthen it, so it has a more comfortable fit.

This watch is by a company called F.H.B., and it has a Swiss made 17 jewel mechanical movement. I've found reference to a FHB watch company which seems to be Japan based but originated in Switzerland after the brand was started by Felix Huber. This company appears to have been started with quartz watches though, so I think it is a different company. This F.H.B brand is therefore a mystery (so if anyone knows more please let me and my readers know).

Phosphor Appear Black Crystal Display Watch

I don't normally go for watches with too much crystal bling, but as soon as I saw this watch i knew I had to have one!

The watch is called the Appear and is produced by Phosphor. They are probably most known for their e-ink watches, but also produced this style (which uses some similar principles).

At a glance, you see the face is covered with tiny Swarovski crystals with the numbers highlighted in black against the rest of the white crystals. As the time changes, the tiles change to show the new digits in black again. On closer inspection, you notice that the black digits aren't just lit or unlit, but are themselves lines of black crystals.

This is all due to the Micro-Magnetic Mechanical Digital (M3D) display. Each segment of the time is a pair of tiles, white on one side and black on the other, on a small rotor with a magnet. When the time changes, an electric pulse generates an electromagnetic force flipping the tiles to it's new position. The effect of the flipping, and the noise it makes while working is quite hypnotic (but at 10ms flipping time, you never really see the turning itself). I'll try to post a YouTube video to show this soon! UPDATE: Here is the YouTube video: YouTube Link

This type of display does not require any power while displaying a number - it only requires power to change the time.

The display has two rows of two digits (although the top only goes to 12), and you have display options for time, seconds, or off (just showing a face of crystals).

This particular colour and strap combination has a product code of MD007G, and can still be bought from Phosphor for $210

It is 50m water resistant, and the watch is made in China. The back also states that the US and foreign patents are pending.