Basis Digital | 17 Jewels

Basis is one of the names that appears frequently when looking at affordable Swiss jumping hour watches from the 1970s. The company produced mechanical digital watches under its own name, while Basis movements and related components also appeared in watches sold under numerous other brands.

This example is marked “17 JEWELS” and “SWISS” on the dial. It uses the typical mechanical digital arrangement of the period, with a separate rotating hour display and minute disc viewed through two small openings. The black dial, white numerals and small red markers make the display easy to read despite the relatively small windows.

The case is particularly characteristic of the 1970s, with a large angular shape and a comparatively narrow rectangular display occupying only a small part of the front.

Basis is also associated with dedicated pin-lever mechanical digital calibers such as the Basis 172 and 1030. Without opening this particular watch I would not assign an exact caliber, but its 17-jewel manual-wind construction belongs to the same inexpensive Swiss mechanical digital tradition that made watches like this widely accessible during the period.

I bought this example in an eBay auction in 2026 for $150, a price that also illustrates one of the things I find interesting about this part of the market. These watches are now more than fifty years old and very representative of their era, but examples from lesser-known brands can still be collected for relatively modest amounts.