COGU "Jump-Hour" Automatic Watch

Today's watch has one of the most awkward ways of telling time that I've seen in a mechanical watch.

The watch is by the brand COGU, which is a brand I've blogged before, and appears to be a Chinese brand which is said to be an Italian brand founded by Cosimo Gucci. Many things do not make sense with the brand/description so I can't vouch for the accuracy, but they make some interesting watches.

I called this watch a "jump-hour" but it isn't like the more common jump-hour which has a rotating disc. Instead this watch has a normal looking dial, but closer inspection shows the numbers are scattered around the dial. The way the watch works is that at the change of the hour, the hour hand jumps 5 numbers clockwise (5/12 of a rotation) around the dial (instead of the usual 1/12th), but the minute hand rotates as normal. It takes the first few minutes of the new hour for the hour hand to move though. This is all powered by an automatic mechanical movement with a glass window in the back where the weight (and some of the mechanism) can be seen.

Because the hour hand doesn't move during the hour, and the number placement is definitely abnormal, it is a watch that takes some time to get used to telling the time on. But it's definitely a cool idea and fits well into my collection

COGU Classic Automatic Skeleton Watch

Just over 3 years ago I posted a watch by a brand called COGU, and today I'm blogging my second from this brand.

The COGU watch brand is a difficult one to research a definite story around. The brand is reportedly an Italian brand, but there is no Italian website that I've found, with the main online presence being on the watch sales sites Bodying and Rakuten. When I blogged the previous model, I also found a Japanese website where it appeared they had checked and the import office had no record of the company. The brand name is a shortened version of the founder's name Cosimo Gucci, who is a 4th generation Gucci (son of Roberto and born in Florence in 1956). According to a YouTube interview, the brand was started in 2004 to allow Cosimo to explore his unique take in design, and the company is French owned. The trademark however is owned by a Chinese name/company, Sun Xianbo of Hong Kong. Last time I posted the about the brand, I was sceptical about its Italian origin, and I still haven't found anything to reduce that scepticism.

The watch itself is another mechanical watch with an automatic movement. It is also a skeleton design with the mechanical movement being visible through the face and the back of the watch. Unusually, the movement is offset from the centre of the watch with the dial closer to the bottom of the case. Above the dial is the COGU name and logo, and the text 'Classic Automatic'. This model comes with a Chestnut coloured leather strap which is imprinted with the COGU name and logo on the back.

There is no model number to this watch, so I can't confirm the release date, but this model doesn't seem to be on the sales sites anymore.

COGU skeleton watch

Today's watch is not electronic for a change. The watch is an automatic skeleton watch with a curved triangular shape. The shape is very reminiscent of the classic Hamilton watches. Unfortunately, that is about all I know on the watch itself.
The COGU brand is also difficult to find information on. It is reported to have been formed by Cosimo Gucci (4th generation Gucci? eldest son of Roberto Gucci, born 1956 in Florence, Italy). The COGU brand started in 2004 after Cosimo wanted to explore his own unique approach to design, and belongs to a French company (from a 2008 interview) . The brand has both watches and accessories, but only seems to be active in the far east (HK, Taiwan, and Japan account for most of the links, and there is a YouTube video of a HK interview). The US trademark COGU appears (as of Dec 2011) to be owned by Sun Xianbo in the Liaoning province in Hong Kong. Because of all this, there is a lot of scepticism on whether this is a real Italian brand (and a translated Japanese site suggested that a check with the official import office found no record of the company).
But despite the history of the brand being a bit uncertain, the watch itself is a nice example of a full skeleton :-)