The New and Creative Itay Noy Time Quarters

Creativity is key in watchmaking, and in life. We regularly advocate the fact that watchmaking should primarily be about fun. Watches should be a joy to look at, and generally put a smile on your face every time you take it out of the box or watch roll. But what that “fun” element is may vary from person to person, which makes full sense as otherwise, it would all become pretty bland. If you’re looking for fun, colourful displays of the passage of time, Itay Noy is definitely a name to consider. This Israeli independent watchmaker is devoted to creative expressions of time, with a new collection presented each year. His latest creation is the amusing Itay Noy Time Quarters.

If we go through the basics first, we see a 44mm wide stainless steel case with a reasonable height of 12mm. This case is fully brushed and has an offset crown at 4 o’clock. On top, there’s a flat sapphire crystal, with a sapphire crystal caseback on the reverse side of the watch. The water-resistance is rated at 50 meters so don’t take this one with you on an impromptu dive.

The Itay Noy Time Quarters’ party trick is its dial, as with pretty much every creation by Itay Noy. It comes with four different dial options, three with a black dial and one with a quartet of colours. The discs for the black dial can be yellow, red or green, while the full-coloured dial shows a red, yellow, green and blue section with corresponding discs underneath. The dial is divided into segments with a crosshair and a small central dial section for the regular indication of time.

The unique feature of the Time Quarters is the revolving disc underneath each quarter of the dial. This indicates the passing hours for each specific segment of the dial. The top right corner is for the hours 12 to 3, the bottom right for the hours 3 to 6, the bottom left corner for the hours 6 to 9 and finally the hours 9 to 12 are in the top left corner. As time progresses, one disc will gradually “hand over” the hours to the next hour disc in the adjacent segment. This sounds a little complicated at first but is a unique and fun addition to the central hours and minutes.

Inside the Time Quarters ticks the Calibre IN.AR automatic movement, which comes from Alfred Rochat et Fils, a movement manufacturing company in the Vallée du Joux. The architecture is based on the ETA/Unitas 6498, with an in-house made module on top for the dynamic display of the hours. It runs at a frequency of 21,600vph and provides 38 hours of autonomy. Itay Noy adds the four revolving discs as a complication, next to the central hours, minutes and seconds. The movement can be seen through the sapphire crystal caseback.

The Itay Noy Time Quarters is a numbered edition limited to 24 pieces only and is worn on either a handmade leather strap with a folding buckle or a stainless steel mesh bracelet. The price is set at USD 6,800.

For more information, please visit Itay-Noy.com