Another first impressions post, are you kidding me! Why does this guy just keep buying watches? Sometimes I wonder the same thing, I really do. But then I realise that it's because watches are cool and I'm cool and so it makes sense, hmm right. Also, it's almost June and this is the third watch of the year, that ain't too bad at all, I think.
If you didn't catch the last post, specifically the end of it, then you might not know who Pierre Paulin is, I'll recap. He is a French interior designer from the 50s-80s, who became a legendary furniture designer, his stuff and style is still pretty sought after and expensive. It seems his name has been borrowed by Chinese watch company Merkur, who have a number of brand names including Merkur, Seizenn, Fod and of course Pierre Paulin. You might be aware that I have a bit of a grievance with Chinese watch companies with odd or unconsidered brand names. I guess that PP is ok, even Merkur, which means Mercury in German. They are based out of Peking and Hong Kong from what I can gather under the unbrella of 'Beijing Time Unlimited Technology Co., Ltd' - so far so good. Pierre Paulin are the dress watch brand, and they do all sorts, tourbillon, double tourbillon, this jump hour and even a star wheel, well then, fancy that.
What the hell is a star wheel, ask AP. We'll come back to that, but jump or jumping hour watches have generally been in the domain of the Swiss watchmakers, and they charge a pretty penny for them. Saying that there are plenty of vintage examples and pre-owned mid-range examples from Perrelet, Corum and Breitling. And then you have Rolex, Breguet, Patek Philippe, Cartier and the Blancpain Villeret Tourbillon which is just delicious(ly expensive).
Jump hours are less common these days but the Chinese brand Farasute also do them alongside Pierre Paulin, they are all bargains but this one is the best looking of the bunch (I just realised Sugess have recently released one too, at time of writing it's not on aliexpress only their website - it might be prettier, damn it). Anyway, I saw this for the first time about two weeks ago, just after I got back from Paris, I can't remember where but it was probably YouTube. I was straight on Aliexpress and I bought one the next day, I slept on it see, I'm kinda sensible. It was a good deal at £145 on the bracelet, and about £115 on leather. It took about 10 days to arrive and was packaged well but not really on brand as you can see.
It has a glass box style and the case is a very nicely sized 38mm, the dial and colour is really lovely, the blue hands pop nicely and the sunburst / concentric circle details are very nice. It is a very well put together package, under the glass box sapphire, the only issue is the hour display is a bit small, it's not a dealbreaker considering the price but the it could be an issue for some. Oh and the bracelet is a bit janky but not the worst I've seen, and it only pulls the odd hair once in a while.
So, first impressions are pretty good, and I have a jump hour in the collection. I was actually wearing one the Jump Hour's countryman watches when it arrived, the Lobinni Microrotor. It needs a nickname, the PP, sounds like a synonym for wiener, the Jump Hour is a bit boring, the Salmon Jumper - could be an item of clothing, the Chinese Jumper - a bit acrobatic and a bit weird. The Jumper sounds like it's suicidal but will do, it was a good movie too.
The Jumper, then, is my 8th Chinese watch, a post is due covering that journey, or should I wait until I get to ten? I know I'll be buying the Sugess Jump Hour, it looks fantastic in baby blue and the Star wheel, as promised, below is the AP Code 11.59 Star Wheel - wandering hours. The numbers on the wheels are the hours and the one aligned with the arrow and the retrograde minutes track shows you the time, in the photo below it's 10:22, easy. This watch is around £50-£80k, the lower being retail I think, but you can get a pre-loved older design one for half that. Some brands, Chinese ones, have their own versions at £1-£2k...
But then Merkur/Pierre Paulin have one at around £250, which looks like the classic AP version - that is very much on my radar - beeping constantly that sunnuvabich radar.
Yours JumpingJoyously,
Alvin
PP JUMPER
PP STAR WHEEL
SUGESS JUMP HOUR