====== Mystery dial ======
A **mystery dial** is one in which a disc, often transparent, is used rather than visible hands.

===== History =====
The mystery dial dates to [[1839]], when magician Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin created a table clock with a mysterious dial to use in his act. This "mystery clock" inspired inspired the creation of others, including important models from [[Cartier]] in the early 1900s. A series of pocket watches was produced beginning in [[1888]] by Armand Schwob et Frère under the name, Mystérieuse.

The first wrist watch with a mystery dial was the pioneering [[Juvenia Mystère]]. First registered in [[1945]], the Mystère had a [[transparent case back]] of crystal, allowing one to peer straight through the outline of the square case. Rather than [[hand]]s, it used overlapping discs to show hours and minutes.

This became all the rage, with mystery dial watches produced by manufacturers as diverse as [[Rado]] and [[Jaeger-LeCoultre]] in the 1950s. Early models included the [[Ebel]] Videomatic and [[Titus]] TV 60. [[Ernest Borel]] created the [[Ernest Borel Cocktail]] line in [[1953]], with spirals and patterns on the discs, while [[Rado]] created a model with satellites and stars.

===== External Links =====
  * [[http://ahsoc.contentfiles.net/media/assets/file/Juan_Deniz_-_The_first_transparent_watch_wm6.pdf|The first transparent watch]]


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