Here’s a horological trend we didn’t see coming: montres à guichet, or window watches. Not familiar? No wonder. Until this year, you had to go back to 2005 (as far as I can tell) for an example of a closed-fronted mechanical wristwatch that displayed the time digitally (that is, in number format) via apertures, or openings, rather than via conventional hands sweeping around a dial. Technically, Gucci launched a window watch in 2019, but that was battery-powered and flew so far under the radar that even I’d forgotten I’d seen it at that year’s Baselworld watch fair.

In both 1997 and 2005, Cartier relaunched the Tank à Guichets as a limited edition collection. For earlier examples of window watches – a smattering of examples from specialist Swiss indies notwithstanding – you had to go all the way back to the 1920s, when the first montres à guichet began to appear. A response to the straight-line design codes of the Art Deco movement, so horologic legend has it, it was Audemars Piguet that debuted the earliest window watch in 1921, followed by Cartier and its Tank à Guichets in 1928 (the wristwatch, let’s not forget, had only been a thing for around a decade-and-a-half at that point).

Early examples arrived in rectangular cases and, like window pocket watches before them (IWC was a forerunner here), displayed the time via a ‘jumping hour’ function – where digital readouts ‘jumped’ in succession, unlike hands, which continually sweep their way around a dial. While employing the same jumping digital displays, this year’s clutch of (wholly unexpected) window watches lend a contemporary look to one of the oldest, and lesser-spotted, ways of presenting the time. Dials are overrated anyway…

Louis Vuitton Tambour Convergence

In October 2011, in a move widely read as a statement of intent, Louis Vuitton acquired La Fabrique Du Temps, a Geneva-based high-end movement manufacture founded by esteemed watchmakers Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini. The French fashion house had dabbled in watches before, yet had until then relied on third-party suppliers for the trains and gears that made their timepieces tick.

Five months later, in March 2012, Louis Vuitton purchased neighbouring dial-maker Léman Cadran, supplier to Blancpain, among other upmarket watch maisons. In 2014, the Parisian label consolidated the operations under a single roof in the Genevan suburb of Meyrin, a stone’s throw from the headquarters of Chopard, Roger Dubuis and Van Cleef & Arpels (CERN, the particle physics centre, is based there, too). Finally, in 2023, LV announced its new La Fabrique des Arts division, allowing the company to enamel, engrave and gem-set all of its timepieces in-house.

All of which is to highlight a couple of things. Firstly, that Louis Vuitton’s commitment to mechanical watchmaking goes a lot further than simply slapping its famous insignia on non-proprietary cases and dials; and two, that the company must be pretty pleased with how things have gone because the success of its protracted process of verticalisation has inspired the name of its latest watch. 

‘Converging’ the talents of its artists, case-makers and movement designers, the Tambour Convergence (see what they did there?) platforms the depth of Louis Vuitton’s watchmaking capability in a single watch. Arriving in pink gold (seen here) and a diamond-set platinum version, the Convergence is what’s known as a montres à guichet, or window watch, where two rotating disks display the time in an aperture at 12 o’clock. Both Audemars Piguet and Cartier have historic examples of their own, but nothing quite matches the graceful restraint of Louis Vuitton’s close-fronted creation.

£32,500, louisvuitton.com

Cartier Tank à Guichets

While still hotly contested in the sort of circles that hotly contest these things, Cartier’s Santos de Cartier, which first appeared in 1904 and entered regular production in 1911, is generally credited as being the world’s first, series-produced wristwatch. The Cartier Tank, with a more elongated case, arrived just six years later; the brand’s Tank à Guichets landed in 1928 – making it one of the earliest examples of a watchmaker getting creative with the ways of displaying the time on a wristwatch.

The collection has been reissued at various points through the ensuing century, most recently in limited edition runs in 1997 and 2005. Now, three years shy of the watch’s centenary – you’d have thought that Cartier may have waited – the Tank à Guichets returns as a three-reference, non-limited collection. Available in yellow gold, rose gold, and platinum, the watches measure a chic 24.8mm by 37.6mm, and, faithful to the original, sport a crown at the top of their cases. Keeping things retro, each houses a manually-wound movement.

Outside of the main collection, there’s also a 200-piece limited edition version in platinum, which repositions its hour display to 10 o’clock and its minute display to four o’clock. As per the recent revival of Cartier’s Crash among celebrity circles, Luxury London predicts an uptick in the wearing of Tank à Guichets in the front row of fashion shows in the seasons to come.

Approx. £40,100 for the yellow and rose gold versions, £47,600 for the standard platinum, and £52,300 for the limited edition platinum, cartier.com

Bremont Terra Nova Jumping Hours

Under new ownership since 2023, Bremont continues to chart a course away from the adrenaline-led, military-enthused, aviation-soaked waters in which it swam from its inception in 2002. Last year’s launches riled Bremont loyalists for playing fast and loose with what they considered to be the brand’s DNA – a charge unlikely to be conciliated by the Henley-based watchmaker’s new Terra Nova Jumping Hours.

Objectively speaking, it’s a cool-looking, well-executed watch. Taking design cues from early 20^th-century trench watches, we’re told, the timepiece sports a 38mm cushion-shaped brushed-bronze case with apertures on its dial for hours, minutes and the brand’s much-debated, ahem, new logo. With Bremont having rowed back on its aspirations of producing movements in-house, the Terra Nova Jumping Hours is powered by a calibre developed in partnership with Sellita. Just 100 units will be made. It’s bold, it’s brash, it's competitively priced. But it’s a bit like Aston Martin making a landau. It doesn’t really make sense. You suspect that’s the point.

£4,900, bremont.com

Gucci Grip

At the Baselworld watch fair in March 2019, Gucci launched a family of genderless watches that failed to grab the attention of attendant buyers and press. A few months later, in October 2019, the fashion house threw a star-studded party in London on the watch’s behalf. Again, despite its name, the Gucci Grip failed to gain any sort of traction. Looking back from this year’s bumper crop of window watches, perhaps we can say that the Grip was the victim of being way ahead of its time.

The family consisted of four 35mm quartz timepieces, each with a closed, cushion-shaped case featuring three front-facing windows. Beneath, white rotating disks displayed the hour, minute and date. There were gold PVD and silver-tone options, the best of which ditched the brand’s interlocking G logo. It’s fair to say the Grip flopped at the time, but perhaps the window watch revival will provide the collection with a second wind. Unsurprisingly, they are still widely available online.

From £1,050, fraserhart.co.uk

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