Niton – PRIMA Jump Hour Platinum and Gold Edition 2026
Niton Prima Renaissance of manufacture
The renaissance of manufacture des montres Niton
- Only 19 timepieces embody the opening chapter of the manufacture’s contemporary revival.
- Only platinum or rose gold expresses this vision through noble, enduring materials.
- Only the Geneva Seal affirms the calibre’s compliance with the most demanding standards of haute horlogerie.
Niton announces the official relaunch of one of Geneva’s most distinguished watchmaking names from the 1920s, marking the rebirth of Manufacture des Montres Niton S.A. with the introduction of its first contemporary timepiece.
Crafting Continuity
with Meaning
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Each watch is conceived to surprise, move, and offer a fresh perspective on watchmaking. Guided by conviction rather than trends, the creation follows a design language guided by purity in which every detail has a purpose and where simplicity becomes a signature. Craftsmanship is never ostentatious; it serves emotion and meaning. Niton aims to builds a coherent, enduring brand, one capable of creating lasting value. This vision is realized within a close circle of trusted partners and collaborators who share the same standards and the same passion for excellence.
Marking the first chapter of the new Niton era, PRIMA is a strictly limited collection of 38 timepieces, 19 in platinum and 19 in rose gold, a symbolic reference to the year of the Maison’s founding. Each watch features a refined jump-hour complication, a historical hallmark of Niton and a defining expression of its creative and technical identity.
Registered in 1928, Niton’s signature jump-hour display offers a distinctive decomposition of time, blending digital and analog indications in a composition that is both artistic and precision-driven, evoking the clarity of regulator displays. The architecture is organized around a central totem structure: a digital hour aperture positioned at twelve o’clock, a rotating central disc for the minutes, and a sweeping seconds hand at six o’clock, a layout designed to maximize legibility while emphasizing mechanical rhythm.
designed to create emotions
The design of the timepiece is governed by a precise and coherent visual language encapsulated in the brand’s signature “ART+PRECISION”. Mechanical rigor defines the watch’s proportions, constraints, and chronometric performances, while artistic sensibility creates volumes and emotion.
Extending the dialogue between mechanical rigor and aesthetic expression, the movement embodies a clear “form follows function” philosophy. In line with Niton’s legacy of form calibers, the movement was developed specifically for this timepiece, adopting a rounded rectangular architecture that responds precisely to the design and proportions of the case. The result is a movement of strong visual identity, characterized by innovative bridge geometries, a clean construction free of visible bridge screws, and traditional Geneva details including a black polished blade ratchet click.
and chronometry at the heart
The Geneva Seal is a state-controlled certification established in 1886 to safeguard the authenticity of local watchmaking, with exceptionally strict regulations, requiring that all components be designed, manufactured, assembled, adjusted, and registered in the Canton of Geneva, while strictly prohibiting any raw or unfinished machined parts. Every element must be fully finished according to defined criteria.
Enhancing the user experience are two discreet yet meaningful complications: a hour-striking mechanism that produces a subtle mechanical sound at each hour change, achieved by a hammer striking a hand-soldered copper gong integrated into the inner flank of the case, and a stop-to-zero mechanism that halts the seconds hand at the end of its revolution during time-setting for precise synchronization.
Born in 1919
Originally established in Geneva in 1919 by watchmaker Auguste Jeannet and former Vacheron & Constantin employees Alfred Bourquin and Edouard Morel, Niton quickly became renowned for its exceptional craftsmanship and innovative movements. The company built a reputation for artistic mechanical excellence, specializing in ultra-thin calibers, form movements, and elegantly finished watches that embodied art and precision.
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In the 1920s and 1930s, Niton served as a trusted movement supplier to some of the most respected names in watchmaking, including Patek Philippe, Cartier, Chopard, Van Cleef & Arpels, Gübelin and others alongside producing complete bespoke timepieces for prestigious jewelers throughout Europe and the United States, a testament to its technical pedigree and aesthetic vision.
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Niton V Shaped Movement - Credit Musée d’Art et d’Histoire de Genève
Over the years, Niton stood among the manufactures submitting the highest number of movements to the Geneva Seal certification, proof of its commitment to precision and quality. The brand consistently ranked among the top three performers in chronometry competitions, affirming its technical excellence. In parallel, Niton began signing its own Montres de Genève, notably distinguished by a registered jump-hour display introduced in 1928, a complication that combined mechanical ingenuity with avant-garde design and would become a defining hallmark of the brand.
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Niton Jump-Hour Wristwatch - Credit Bonhams
The Niton name itself is deeply rooted in Swiss heritage, deriving from the Pierres du Niton, iconic rocks in Geneva’s harbor that serve as a national geodetic reference point, symbolizing stability, precision, and Swiss identity.
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Patek Niton QP - Credit Patek Philippe
Like many Swiss manufactures of the era, Niton faced economic headwinds during the global crises of the late 1930s and mid-century industrial shifts. In 1938, production rights were sold to Ébauches S.A., formerly known today as ETA, part of the Swatch Group. In 1957 the brand was acquired by Carlo Sarzano, founder of Sarcar S.A., who continued production of quality gold-cased watches. In 1971, Niton merged with Sarcar, leading to the brand’s quiet disappearance from the global market, yet its legacy endured among collectors and historians.
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Niton Pocket Watch - Credit Adam Victor
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Niton Jump Hour Wristwatch - Credit Hôtel des Ventes Piguet
As the brand gradually receded from the market, Niton entered a long period of dormancy, its name no longer present in contemporary production yet far from forgotten. Over the decades, original Niton timepieces became increasingly rare, their presence limited to a handful of auction appearances and the private collections of the most discerning connoisseurs. Today, Niton watches are regarded as true collector’s grails, celebrated for their mechanical originality, historical significance, and aesthetic purity, preserving a sense of uniqueness and prestige that has only intensified with time.
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Patek Philippe P1406 QP - Credit Patek Philippe
Yvan Ketterer
Co-owner and Product Director of Niton
Curiosity, creativity and authenticity have shaped Yvan Ketterer’s path in the world of fine watchmaking. Today, as co-owner of Niton alongside Leopoldo Celi, he places three decades of experience at the service of his brand.
Born in the canton of Neuchâtel, Yvan Ketterer grew up in an environment where watchmaking was a common thread. His family history is closely tied to the discipline, so much so that the invention of the cuckoo clock is attributed to a Ketterer. On his father’s side, both a great-grandfather and a grandfather, themselves watchmakers, introduced him early to the pleasures of precision mechanics. His father, passionate about electronics and working on atomic clocks, opened his eyes to a more contemporary, technical understanding of precision, leading Yvan in 1985 to study electronic device design at technical school. On his mother’s side, a great-grandfather who was an alpinist and a grandfather who was both a physician and historian shaped his imagination, reinforcing his attraction to a profession where applied effort could never be separated from meaning and substance. This orientation became a commitment following a serious car accident, an event that proved decisive and prompted him to join the world of watchmaking, guided by a deeply held conviction: “if life is so short, it might as well be spent living one’s passions.”
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“Not a designer, but a creator,” a master builder rather than a product manager, Yvan Ketterer conceives, orchestrates and delegates the execution of the objects he imagines. For the past fifteen years, he has explored a wide range of projects as an independent, developing watches for other brands. This freedom followed a twenty-year career that included ten years at Girard-Perregaux as Director of Creation and Product, and similar roles at Tissot, Jean Richard and Valgine, following his early beginnings as a watchmaker at Zenith. At Valgine, he notably collaborated with Richard Mille during his tenure at Mauboussin. A graduate of WOSTEP (Watchmakers of Switzerland Training and Educational Program), he studied alongside figures such as Kari Voutilainen, the Grönefeld brothers and Stepan Sarpaneva. Over the course of these experiences, he refined his signature: functional restraint, a taste for purity, and volumes capable of evoking emotion “because it is through restraint that truly lasting creations are born. An insatiably curious mind, he later complemented his technical background with a degree in marketing. Passionate about the Roaring Twenties, Bauhaus ideals, vintage automobiles and architecture, he continually balances his high-end philosophy with the constraints inherent to creation. From concept and development to manufacturing, subcontracting and assembly, the entire watchmaking process holds no secrets for him.
Sometimes encouraged to launch a watch brand bearing his own name, Yvan Ketterer consistently declined, remaining faithful to his principles of “discretion, humility and reserve.” Yet the ambition to create a brand of his own had always been there. It took an unexpected encounter, described as a “true love at first sight”, for the project to become self-evident. In 2024, he registered Niton, one of the great names of Geneva watchmaking in the 1920s, reviving the brand alongside his associate and friend Leopoldo Celi. Together, they now place their complementary skills and expertise at the service of this venture, guided by a shared conviction: “I have always approached my projects with the long term in mind, Niton and its iconic timepieces will be no exception.”
Leopoldo Celi
Co-owner and Brand Director of Niton
Entrepreneurial spirit, refined taste and instinctive flair have earned Leopoldo Celi a respected place in the world of watchmaking. Today, as co-owner of Niton alongside Yvan Ketterer, he brings to the brand a clearly defined vision and a positioning.
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His professional journey began at LVMH in 2011, where he worked alongside iconic Maisons such as Moët & Chandon, Hennessy and Veuve Clicquot. There, he developed a taste for challenge and a love of meaningful narratives “stories with heritage and substance can never ring hollow.” A lover of beautiful objects and already a watch collector, he built his expertise across communication, public relations and events. Yet the corporate world could not contain his growing passion for watchmaking.
His first entrepreneurial venture came in 2017 with the launch of Fugue, an ambitious and bold project that plunged him headfirst into the professional watch industry, an unfamiliar terrain at the time. The experience ultimately led him to Switzerland, where he continued to refine his expertise through key roles at Bucherer in 2020, Audemars Piguet in 2021, Girard-Perregaux in 2022, and since 2024 alongside independent watchmaker Dominique Renaud. From retail to brand activations, communication and marketing leadership, he steadily sharpened his perspective, led complex launches, built strategic partnerships and refined his intuition among the very best.
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TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Model PRIMA 18-carat Rose Gold Edition
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Case
- Platinum
- 18-carat Rose Gold
Dimensions : 27 x 35.50 mm
Lug-to-lug : 42 mm
Lug width : 19 mm
Thickness : 7.9 mm
Glasses : Anti-reflective sapphire crysta
Water resistance : 3 ATM
Dial
- Rhodium-plated opaline dial base, with applied blue metallic hour markers
- Rhodium-plated opaline hour disc, with applied blue metallic hour numerals
- Azuré minute disc with a blue metallic applied hand
- Blue metallic seconds hand
- Rhodium-plated opaline dial base or rose-gold plated, with applied blue metallic hour markers
- Rhodium-plated opaline hour disc or rose-gold plated, with applied blue metallic hour numerals
- Azuré minute disc with a blue metallic applied hand
- Blue metallic seconds hand
In-house manual wound caliber NHS01
Striking jump hour mechanism
Hour, minute and second indication
Stop-to-zero time setting function
Power reserve : 72 hours minimum
Balance : Variable inertia 8gr/cm²
Frequency : 4Hz - 28,800 bph
Hairspring : Breguet overcoil
Conception : Geneva Seal and ISO 3159 Chronometer standard
Bracelet
Grained calf leather
Width : 19 mm to 18 mm
Clasp : Pin buckle
- Platinum
- Rose gold of platinum
- 🔴 Price : 47,750 CHF 💰 excl. VAT - Platinum
- 🔴 Price : 44,750 CHF 💰 excl. VAT - Rose Gold
Press release- 2026
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