Not all images were able to load for printing. Please close the print window and try again. The Surprising Emile Chouriet Héritier à Guichets
An elegant yet accessible remake of a 1920s Art Deco digital watch.
The circular motion of the hands to display the time has been adopted for centuries. Just like shadows on a sundial, early mechanical clocks showed only hours until the invention of the minute hand. There are, however, a number of other ways to indicate the time in mechanical wristwatches. A case in point (but an accessible one), the Emile Chouriet Héritier à Guichets takes on a completely hands-free approach and instead relies on a digital indication of the time. Let’s take a closer look.
Presented in 2018 and part of the collection of historically inspired watches, the Emile Chouriet Héritier à Guichets is a classic with a twist, a modern remake of a 1920s Art Deco digital watch. The first thing to catch your eye is, of course, its original display. Instead of traditional analogue indications, the Emile Chouriet Héritier à Guichets takes on a hands-free approach, showing numerals and days only through windows. This original timepiece will be perfect for those who want to keep track of the time but are not obsessed with knowing the exact seconds.
On one hand, this intuitive digital display makes it effortless to check the time and calendar indications at a quick glance. On the other hand, the disc with 5-minute increments doesn’t display the exact minute – and there’s no seconds indication either. But if you’re not a stickler for knowing the exact minute, this Emile Chouriet watch is really an original and cool option.
The display of the Héritier à Guichets is symmetrically aligned and harmoniously balanced with arch-shaped windows showing, from top to bottom, the day of the week, the hours, the minutes and the date. The day-date guichets (counters) are slightly deeper, but Chouriet did quite a good job in shaping them. These are integrated into an elegant, minimalist anthracite grey sunray-brushed dial, which plays nicely with the ambient light but also provides contrast with the matte white indications.
The watch comes in a round case, standing out with its stepped lugs and crenellated crown. Fashioned out of lightweight titanium, it is 40mm in diameter, a versatile size. On the wrist, it wears comfortably and has a distinctive presence.
Turning the watch over, you’ll find the automatic calibre EC9227. The digital display mechanism is powered by an ETA 2834 – which is basically an ETA 2824 with day-date indication. Nothing especially fancy but you get a good, reliable and precise Swiss workhorse. The hours and minutes are wandering displays while the day and the date are jumping. Beating at 28,800 vibrations per hour, it has an autonomy of 38 hours. The 3-position crown winds the movement, sets the calendar functions and adjusts the time with a hacking mechanism. The rotor is decorated with Geneva stripes.
The Emile Chouriet Héritier à Guichets is delivered with a calfskin strap, embossed with an alligator pattern and fitted with a steel folding clasp. This elegant yet original timepiece retails for CHF 1,970. More details at www.emilechouriet.ch.
5 responses
I really like this watch but it bothers me that you have to read the hours disc right to left and the minute disc left to right. To make this more readable at a glance the hour disc should be reversed, however not sure that could be achieved using a stock movement without adding significantly to the expense.
Is that plate below the oscillating weight scratched?
When quartz digital watches first came out, I like many others bought one. I didn’t have it long before I realised that traditional hands are a much better way to tell the time at a glance and it’s still true. A bit like trying to reinvent the wheel.
Where can you buy this?
They have a store locator here: https://www.emilechouriet.ch/