The jump hour watch is commonly thought to have originated in the 1970s. Yet they were invented well over a century before that.
This watch was made my Blondeau for the French king in around 1830. The site refers to it as a "French 18K gold champlevee enamel digital antique pocket watch". Although it is a pocket-watch rather than a wristwatch, there is no doubting that it is the ancestor of the modern jump hour watch. And you can spot that ever since the earliest days of the jump hour watch it has been very strong on looks and putting eye-catching showiness at the fore. I think it's a very good contender for the earliest digital watch and the earliest jump hour watch.
The production jump hour watch was designed by Joseph Pallweber. These watches were made by Cortébert and the International Watch Co. (IWC) in the 1880s. The photo above is a Cortébert (used under Creative Commons license). Compare that and this picture of a Cortébert jump hour with the IWC version and you'll see how similar they are.
