There are watches that are too hard to explain. Then there are watches that are too hard to get. “Five Weeks in a Balloon”, a new piece from the French exquisite jewelers is inspired by the world famous fictionalist Jules Verne and his extraordinary voyages novel by the same name. The beauty of this watch is its presentation of the theme. The fascia depicts a hot air ballon taking flight into the air of Zanzibar. The retrograde hours and minutes are displayed with help of the moving balloon’s anchor and a flying bird. The dial of the watch features a rendition of that balloon soaring above the clouds. A cloud conceals the source of the hands - one being a bird to indicate the hours, and another, being an anchor on a rope to indicate the minutes. The last decade or so has seen more and more brands coming out with watches with no hands, but which tell the time via wandering, jumping, retrograde, digital or rotating hours. They are often seen as modern and groundbreaking. Watchmakers have always tried to find alternative ways of displaying time other than using two hands for a long time.