Armand Nicolet M02 HS2: A Jumping Hour Born in Tramelan

Key Highlights

• Jumping hour module (Calibre AN1560) fully developed at Armand Nicolet’s manufacture in Tramelan, Switzerland
• Module assembled onto a modified SW-200 automatic base movement; 38-hour power reserve
• 41mm stainless steel 316L case, 12.20mm thick, with sapphire crystal and see-through screwed caseback
• Guilloché-decorated dial with applied Arabic numerals and indices
• Three wearing configurations: alligator-embossed leather with deployant buckle, leather with tang buckle, or steel bracelet
• Water resistant to 5 ATM / 50 metres

What Caught Our Eye

The hour digit does not glide. It snaps. At each transition, the M02 HS2 delivers a visible, mechanical jump that transforms a routine time-check into a small event worth watching. That quality of surprise is precisely what the jumping hour complication has always promised, and here Armand Nicolet delivers it with quiet conviction.

What sets this release apart from a bought-in complication is the provenance of the mechanism itself. The AN1560 jumping hour module was entirely conceived and built at the Armand Nicolet manufacture in Tramelan, the small Bernese Jura town that shaped Swiss watchmaking at the industrial level for generations.

Heritage & Lineage

Tramelan’s watch factories popularised a jumping hour mechanism decades ago that became, for a time, a regional signature. Armand Nicolet has traced that lineage directly, taking a vintage example as the engineering reference point for the AN1560 module.

The decision matters beyond sentiment. Rebuilding a mechanism from a historical blueprint rather than licensing a contemporary solution is an act of genuine manufacture capability. It places the M02 HS2 in a tradition that collectors attentive to haute horlogerie will recognise immediately.

The module is then fitted to a SW-200 base that has been modified to Armand Nicolet’s own specifications, creating calibre AN1560: an integrated result, not an add-on.

Design & Mechanics

The 41mm case in stainless steel 316L sits at 12.20mm thick — a figure that reflects the additional module without becoming unwieldy on the wrist. Sapphire crystal protects the dial; a second sapphire crystal closes the screwed caseback, offering a direct view of the modified movement beneath.

The guilloché dial carries applied Arabic numerals and indices, a pairing that gives the surface depth without competing with the hour aperture. The visual hierarchy is correct: every element draws the eye toward the jump, rather than away from it.

This is the M02 collection’s character expressed through a complication. The lineage of the case silhouette remains familiar to existing owners; the mechanism beneath is something new altogether.

The Watch in Context

Independent Swiss watchmakers willing to develop complications in-house at this price tier are not common. The M02 HS2 arrives at a moment when collectors with exposure to Watches and Wonders are increasingly drawn to manufacture credibility over brand scale.

Three strap and bracelet configurations keep the watch adaptable: the alligator-embossed leather on a deployant buckle positions it formally; the tang-buckle leather option reads more casually; the steel bracelet is the choice for those who wear their complications daily without ceremony.

A jumping hour that snaps, a guilloché surface that rewards close attention, and a movement story tied to one specific town in the Swiss Jura — the M02 HS2 is a focused proposition from a house that knows exactly what it is making.

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