This Red-Hot Affordable Watch Brand Just Brought Back a Beloved High-End Feature

Christopher Ward was making jump hour watches before they were cool.

Jump-hour complications, in which a watch’s hour hand is replaced by a digital display that “jumps” to the next hour every 60 minutes, are suddenly everywhere in 2025.

Cartier resurrected the complication after a two-decade absence with the buzzy Cartier Privé Tank à Guichets. Bremont shockingly launched its quirky Terra Nova Jumping Hour field watch that sold out in a flash. YouTuber Nico Leonard collaborated with microbrand Maen on a unique jump hour watch that also sold out immediately. And British brand Fears has lately become known for its jump hour versions of its flagship Brunswick watch.

Bremont

Christopher Ward, meanwhile, introduced its first jump-hour watch back in 2011 with the C9 Jump Hour, which was powered by the brand’s own in-house jumping hour module paired with a Sellita SW200 automatic movement.

The custom movement, dubbed Calibre JJ01, was then used for four more CW jump hour watches (and in Fears’s jump hour models), with the last being the C1 Grand Malvern Jumping Hour in 2017. More recently, the jumping module was heavily reworked to create the chiming mechanism for Ward’s game-changing Bel Canto.

Now, eight years since its last new appearance in CW’s catalog, the jumping hour returns for its fifth generation, just when the complication is having its moment in the sun. And, I’ve got to say, this looks like the jump hour watch to get.

Christopher Ward

Jump around

The four jump hour watches that Christopher Ward produced between 2011 and 2017 were all very traditional, with minimalist dials and a classic dress watch feel. The new C1 Jump Hour Mk V is a different beast entirely.

CW’s new jump hour watch is decidedly modern, both in its design and its execution. The dial is quite impressive and consists of four separate layers.

At the center sits a disc that’s stamped with 27 concentric circles to create depth. This is topped and surrounded by an applied metal ring that’s brushed on the top and polished on the sides. This ring is then surrounded by a wide top ring in sapphire that functions as the minute track, with printed markings that appear to float above the lower layer of the dial.

Christopher Ward

The current hour is displayed in a round window at 12:00 that’s framed by a smaller version of the metal ring found in the dial’s center. The hour is fully lumed thanks to the hour disc being completely doused with Super-LumiNova, which allows the numerals to constantly maintain a full charge during the day since the translucent sapphire allows light to reach the layer below while still being opaque enough to prevent showing any hour but the current one.

But that’s not all the lume we’ve got going on — all of which is super-bright Super-LumiNova Grade X1, btw — not by a long shot. There’s also a ring of Globolight solid ceramic lume underneath the sapphire minute track that looks dynamite in the dark, and the watch’s sole hand — the minute hand — is made of sapphire that’s coated on the bottom with several layers of Super-LumiNova. This is CW’s first-ever sapphire hand, as well as its first cantilevered hand: the sapphire is mounted on a bent metal base that allows it to clear the elevated sapphire minute track.

Christopher Ward

The 39mm stainless steel case measures 14mm thick, which sounds chunky, but a significant portion of that height is occupied by a massive sapphire box crystal. I’ve seen and tried on the watch, and it doesn’t come across as overly thick at all. Inside is the Cal. JJ01, marking the movement’s return to Christopher Ward’s catalog in its original, non-Bel Canto-fied form.

Pricing and availability

I personally am not a big jump hour guy. For the most part, I find them ugly and boring, as their dials typically don’t have enough visual interest for me. But the C1 Jump Hour Mk V is a big exception. With its four-tiered dial and innovative use of sapphire and lume, this is one of the most interesting dials Christopher Ward has ever created. There’s a ton of cool stuff to look at, and that to me is a measure of whether or not a watch will hold my interest.

Christopher Ward

I also appreciate the sporty, futuristic design of the watch. Most jump hour watches, including CW’s past efforts, are very traditional and dressy. This is neither. This watch, like the Bel Canto and C1 Loco, is a conversation piece, and it slots in next to them perfectly in CW’s recently created “Atelier” collection, where it now categorizes its most ambitious watches.

Now, onto the price, where CW is once again setting the bar and daring other brands to try and compete. The C1 Jump Hour Mk V — despite its in-house jumping hour module and extensive use of pricey sapphire and Globolight — is priced at just $2,975 on a leather strap, or $3,165 on the Consort Bracelet, complete with quick-release spring bars and a microadjustable butterly clasp.

There are two colors available, Noon Blue and Dusk Gold, both of which are available to order now on Christopher Ward’s website.

Christopher Ward

Christopher Ward C1 Jump Hour Mk V

Specs

Case Size	39mm
Movement	Christopher Ward Cal. JJ01 automatic jump hour (Sellita base)
Water Resistance	30m

• $2,975 at Christopher Ward

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