A watch with a retrograde display does not display the time in a circular fashion, as we are used to seeing. Rather, it sets out the time in a linear manner. Instead of the hands going round in a circle, they travel along an arc, and when they get to the end, they jump back to the beginning, and so on.

Here is a picture of a watch we have already featured on this site: the Perrelet Regulator with retrograde hours.

This watch has retrograde hours; this means that the hour hand moves in a linear manner. You can see the hours numbered 1 to 12 in the top part of the dial. The hour hand moves from 1, all the way to 12, and then jumps back to the beginning. In this watch, the minute and second hands both move in a circular manner, and it is only the hour hand that features the retrograde concept.

So what do you think of a watch with retrograde display? I am not all that keen on them. I like the Perrelet Regulator featured in this post, but what caught my eye about it was its general design, and not the retrograde hours concept.