2025 continues to be the year of the jump hour display. It was back in the summer that we reported on the trend of jump hour watches becoming more popular among watch brands and since then there has been no slowing down of the complication taking headlines. Isotope, Fears, H. Moser, Christopher Ward have all thrown their hat into the ring – even today Czapek released their new Time Jumper. Now we have another one in the form of the Chronoswiss Neo Digiteur.
Neo Digiteur means new digital, referring to the fact that this is an update of the original Digiteur from 2005, a watch that made use of a mechanical, jump hour ‘digital’ style display. Digital here meaning a handless design that gives the time as separate and sequential numerical figures, running from jump hours at the top, to minutes in the centre and running seconds at the bottom. In that manner the watch also serves as a regulator display, which separates each facet of time onto its own scale in order to allow you to set another timepiece or clock accurately.
Where the Neo Digiteur differs from the original model is an overall modernisation of the watch on a structural, aesthetic and mechanical level. Starting with the case, instead of the original concave barrel (sort of reverse tonneau) shape, it’s now a bolder, stronger rectangle design. It’s made from steel and measures 48mm x 30mm with a combination of satin brushed, polished and sandblasted finishing. The crown has also been reshaped as a half-onion for better integration.
In the same spirit, the dial is much sharper and angular. The curvy edges of the seconds window have been straightened out and the arrow indicator on the minutes scale is much more prominent. The overall aesthetic is clean with well defined lines, emphasised by the vertical brushed finishing. It’s available in Granit or Sand versions, which are dark grey and rose gold coloured respectively. I of course have to mention the Cartier Tank à Guichets which has a similar layout and vibe sans seconds display and which arguably kicked the jump hour trend into overdrive back in spring.
Powering the Chronoswiss Neo Digiteur is a new movement, the Chronoswiss calibre C.85757, a manual-winding number with 48-hour power reserve. The jump hour module used was produced in-house and the movement is finished with guilloché, brushing and Côtes de Genève. You can admire it though the sapphire exhibition caseback, which I feel like is a rare thing to see on a rectangular watch but maybe that’s because I’m used to Reversos where the back of the watch is another watch face.
Both versions of the watch are limited to 99 pieces each, making them more exclusive than the original 999 piece Digiteur. The price of CHF 12,500 (approx. £11,870) feels appropriate given that you can find a pre-owned original Digiteur for just under £10k.
Price and Specs:
More details at Chronoswiss.
