Edox Grand Ocean Jumping Hour Watch

Things have been quiet from Edox for a while, and suddenly they present a few new models. The brand has been crawling upmarket as of late, with the pictured recent addition to the line priced at over $5,000. This is the new Edox Grand Ocean Jumping Hour, and it takes full advantage of the brand's common nautical theme, and places a unique jumping hour display in the watch. As is the trend with "open displays," you can see a bit more of the hour disc than is necessary, but only a portion of it is framed (showing the appropriate hour). The minute hand is shown as a dial the encompasses the hour display. The minute hand style is common on each of the new watches from Edox this year. For the seconds, you have one of those clever half circle displays. Basically, you look at the hand which has two sides to determine what you are counting. If the red portion of the hand if going across the display, you read the red seconds, and vice versa for the unpainted steel side.

An interesting feature in the watch is the application of blue PVD, something that is pretty rare as PVD is almost always black. The rest of the case is done in polished steel. The case itself is pretty big at 45mm wide, with a design that reminds me distinctly of the sporty Jaquet Droz Grande Second SUW watch. You can click the link to compare the two and come to your own conclusion. This is not a bad thing though, as both watches are very cool looking in my opinion, with the Edox costing less than half of what the Jaquet Droz watch costs. I particularly like the grooved bezel and metal work into the lugs.

The movement powering this unique display is an automatic ETA 2892-2 with a special jumping hour module from Dubois Depraz. For the price of this watch, given the design, movement, and appeal; I would argue that it is probably a pretty good value. The pictured watch has a label indicating Sea Dubai, and you might be wondering why that is. Well I can speculate by suggesting that there might be regional editions. Dubai is one of the fastest growing luxury markets, and it is no surprise to see luxury makers give personal attention to the watch hungry region. With the unique yet functional design complimented by the blue tones on the case and alligator strap, you get a refreshing new watch from Edox that is the star of their 2009 line up.