Collection
Nino Automatic Digital

Nino

Nino Automatic Digital

A 1970s Swiss automatic jumping hour from the little-known Nino brand.

Movement
A. Schild AS 2072, likely
Year
c. 1970s
Condition
Good
Gender
Men / Unisex

Condition

Used condition with visible scratches and wear across the case. The dial and mechanical digital display appear well preserved. Fitted with a metal bracelet.

Why I bought it

I like collecting the different interpretations of the mechanical digital watch that appeared during the 1970s. This Nino caught my attention because of its very narrow horizontal display, automatic movement and typical period case design.

Nino was not simply a name printed on an anonymous watch. Montres Nino SA was a registered Swiss watch company based in Peseux, in the Neuchâtel watchmaking region. The Nino trademark was registered in 1972, placing the company directly in the period in which watches such as this one were being produced.

Like many smaller Swiss brands of the era, Nino appears to have used movements supplied by established Swiss ébauche manufacturers rather than producing its own calibers. Surviving Nino watches are known with A. Schild movements.

This example is an automatic mechanical digital watch, with the hour displayed in a separate aperture at the left and the minutes shown on a rotating disc. The time is read against the fixed arrow-shaped marker extending from the right side of the display. The dial is marked “DIGITAL-AUTOMATIC” and “SWISS MADE.”

The movement is very likely an A. Schild AS 2072. The display arrangement is consistent with other AS 2072 mechanical digital watches, and Nino is known to have used A. Schild movements. However, I have not opened this particular watch to verify the caliber, so I prefer to keep the attribution as likely rather than confirmed.

The design is very much of its period. Most of the front is occupied by the large brushed case, leaving only a narrow horizontal window for displaying the time. It is another example of how the same basic mechanical digital concept, and often the same movements, appeared under numerous Swiss brand names during the 1970s.