Watchmakers have long sought novel and unorthodox ways of expressing the time on their timepieces. From the early days of the pocket watch, they have ceaselessly sought ways to improve upon the classic functional display of the time by means of a pair of hands rotating around a dial.

In jump-hour watches, like the present lot, the hour hand is replaced by a disk with 12 hours on it. As the wandering minutes hand goes from 59 to 60, the hour jumps from one hour to the next, ergo the name.

Jump Hours enjoyed their first brief vogue in the 1820s and 30s, though they continued to be made in small numbers throughout the 19th century.

In the Art Deco period jumping hours watches came into the spotlight once more, both in pocket and wristwatch forms. During the Roaring Twenties jump hour wristwatches were produced by eminent names of watchmaking, most notably Audemars Piguet and Vacheron Constantin, but the fashion declined with the Great Depression, and definitively ended by World War 2 only to come back in the early 90s and the post-quartz renaissance.

The present lot from 1924, fitted in a rare white gold case, embodies the audacity of the 1920s and fuses refinement and panache. Made by Audemars Piguet for the prestigious Swiss retailer E. Gübelin, one of Switzerland's oldest watch retailers founded in 1854, the present lot with its double signed dial, overall excellent condition and rare jump hour function will be an excellent addition to the collection of the perfect gentleman.