Prestex is heading to Bangkok for the very first time.
From 25 to 27 September 2026, Prestex will make its debut at WELA Bangkok, bringing British independent watchmaking to Thailand and giving collectors, enthusiasts and watch lovers an opportunity to experience the Prestex collection in person.
At the centre of our first appearance in Bangkok will be one of the most distinctive watches we have created: the Prestex Marcato Jumping Hour.
For visitors to WELA, this will be an opportunity to go beyond photographs and specifications. You will be able to see the Marcato up close, try the different versions on the wrist and experience for yourself the mechanical complication that inspired its creation.
Four dial options. A choice of strap combinations. One distinctive new way of reading time.
DISCOVER THE MARCATO COLLECTION
A First for Prestex in Bangkok
Watch events have always been about more than displaying watches behind glass. They give us the opportunity to meet the people who wear them, collect them and share our enthusiasm for mechanical watchmaking.
That is what makes our first visit to WELA Bangkok particularly exciting.
Prestex has met collectors at watch events around the world, but every new city brings a different community, different conversations and a new opportunity to introduce people to the story behind the brand.
Bangkok will be no exception.
WELA brings together independent watch brands and enthusiasts with a shared interest in watches that offer something different. For Prestex, it provides the ideal setting in which to introduce both our history and the direction in which the brand is moving today.
And there could hardly be a better watch with which to make that introduction than the Marcato.
The Marcato Story: A Watch Decades in the Making
Although the Marcato is a new Prestex watch, the idea behind it reaches much further back.
For Prestex founder Neil Duckworth, the fascination with jumping hour watches began decades ago.
During the late 1980s, while working as the UK agent for Maurice Lacroix, Neil encountered the brand's Heure Sautante jumping hour watch. It was an unusual complication and one that remained in his memory long after.
Unlike a conventional watch, a jumping hour does not use a traditional hour hand. Instead, the hour is displayed as a numeral through an aperture in the dial. At precisely the right moment, the mechanism releases and the numeral changes instantaneously to the next hour.
It is a wonderfully mechanical way of displaying time.
For most of an hour, everything appears calm. The minute hand continues its journey around the dial while the hour remains unchanged.
Then the minute hand reaches 60.
The mechanism releases. The numeral jumps. A new hour begins.
That brief moment stayed with Neil.
Years later, when considering what a Prestex jumping hour watch should be, the objective was not simply to reproduce an existing idea. The complication already had more than a century of history. The challenge was to find a way of interpreting it that felt purposeful, distinctive and unmistakably Prestex.
The result became the Marcato.
Why Put the Jumping Hour at 9 O'Clock?
The first thing most people notice about the Marcato is the position and scale of its jumping hour aperture.
Rather than placing the hour display at 12 o'clock, as seen on many jumping hour watches, Prestex positioned it prominently at 9 o'clock.
That decision was not made simply to make the watch look different.
Neil approached the layout from the way we naturally read time.
We read from left to right. We also say the hour before the minutes: 8:30, 10:15, 3:45.
Placing the hour on the left of the dial and using the central hand to indicate the minutes means the eye can follow the same sequence.
Hour first. Minutes second.
The arrangement also allows the Marcato to retain a long, elegant central minute hand without that hand repeatedly passing across and obscuring the jumping hour aperture.
There is a visual reason too. The large aperture on the left creates a natural counterbalance to the prominent crown on the right of the case.
The result is deliberately asymmetric, yet visually balanced.
It is a defining feature of the Marcato and one that makes the watch immediately recognisable.
Why Marcato?
Even the name has a connection to the complication.
Marcato is an Italian musical term meaning marked or with emphasis. In musical notation, it instructs the musician to give a particular note or chord additional emphasis.
Neil saw a natural parallel with the behaviour of the jumping hour.
For 59 minutes, the mechanism waits quietly while the minute hand progresses around the dial.
At the top of the hour, everything changes.
The mechanism activates and the hour numeral jumps instantaneously.
One moment in every hour is given emphasis.
Marcato.
It is a name that captures both the mechanical action of the watch and the sense of anticipation that makes a jumping hour complication so engaging.
Mechanical Theatre on the Hour
At the heart of the Marcato is a Swiss Sellita SW300 automatic movement, paired with the Prestex JP1 jumping hour module.
The module transforms the conventional automatic calibre into an instantaneous jumping hour display.
Instead of gradually moving from one hour to the next, energy is accumulated and released to change the numeral at the transition of the hour.
The mechanical complexity remains largely hidden while the display itself stays remarkably simple.
One numeral tells you the hour. One central hand tells you the minutes.
Turn the watch over and the mechanical character continues through an exhibition case back, providing a view of the automatic movement inside.
It is a watch designed not only to tell the time, but to make you notice the moment when time changes.
Four Distinctive Marcato Dials
The Marcato collection is available in four different dial executions, each giving the watch a noticeably different character.
Mother of Pearl
A refined and naturally individual interpretation, with the centre of the dial changing subtly as it catches the light.
Sky Blue Guilloché
Bright, contemporary and particularly expressive, with the intricate guilloché pattern bringing depth and movement to the centre of the dial.
Silver Guilloché
A more classical interpretation that allows the texture and architecture of the dial to take centre stage.
Rose Gold Guilloché
A warmer and richer execution, contrasting beautifully with the steel case and surrounding white minute track.
Each version retains the distinctive Marcato architecture while creating a very different impression on the wrist.
A range of strap options provides another opportunity to change the character of the watch, from more traditional combinations to a more contemporary appearance.
At WELA Bangkok, visitors will have the opportunity to compare the different Marcato executions in person and discover which combination works best for them.
EXPLORE ALL FOUR MARCATO WATCHES
Designed to Be Worn
Complicated watches do not have to be oversized.
The Marcato is housed within a 39mm stainless steel cushion shaped case, measuring approximately 11.75mm in thickness.
Those proportions were deliberately chosen to create a watch that feels distinctive without allowing the complication to dictate an unnecessarily large case.
A sapphire crystal protects the dial, while the exhibition case back gives a view of the movement and the mechanical heart of the watch.
The result combines an unusual complication with proportions intended for genuine everyday wear.
A Complication With More Than a Century of History
Although the Marcato is a contemporary Prestex creation, jumping hour watches have a fascinating history of their own.
The principle can be traced back to the late nineteenth century and Josef Pallweber's patented digital display system of 1883. Instead of relying solely on conventional hands, Pallweber developed a mechanism capable of displaying time through changing numerals.
The idea subsequently found its way into wristwatches and became particularly associated with the creativity of the Art Deco period.
More than a century later, the appeal remains remarkably similar.
A jumping hour offers something mechanical watches do exceptionally well: turning a functional action into an experience.
The Marcato takes that historic principle and reinterprets it through Prestex's own design language.
British Watchmaking, From England to Bangkok
Prestex itself is a name built on British watchmaking history.
Neil Duckworth's family business, Prestons of Bolton, was established in 1869, with the Prestex name subsequently becoming associated with watches during the twentieth century.
Today, Neil has brought that history into a new generation of Prestex watches, combining references to the past with contemporary design and modern movements.
The Marcato represents that philosophy particularly clearly.
Its inspiration comes from a historic complication. Its proportions have a vintage influence. Yet its execution, movement architecture and distinctive dial arrangement belong firmly to the modern Prestex collection.
Bringing that story to Bangkok for the first time makes WELA 2026 particularly significant for us.
Discover More Than the Marcato
While the Marcato will be one of the highlights of our visit to Bangkok, WELA will also provide an opportunity to discover more of the Prestex collection and the different ideas that have shaped the modern brand.
From classic dress watches to mechanical automatics, GMT watches and distinctive contemporary designs, the wider Prestex collection reflects more than a century of history while continuing to evolve.
If you are discovering Prestex for the first time in Bangkok, we look forward to introducing you to the watches, the stories behind them and the people responsible for creating them.
DISCOVER THE FULL PRESTEX COLLECTION
Meet Prestex at WELA Bangkok 2026
WELA Bangkok 2026
25 September 2026
26 September 2026
27 September 2026
Bangkok, Thailand
This will be the first Prestex appearance at WELA Bangkok, and we are looking forward to meeting collectors and watch enthusiasts from Thailand and further afield.
Most importantly, it is an opportunity to experience the watches in the way they were intended to be experienced.
Pick them up. Look at the details. Try the different dials and straps. See how the 39mm cushion case wears. And, if the timing is right, watch the Marcato reach the top of the hour and experience the jumping mechanism for yourself.
59 minutes. 60. Click. A new hour.
We look forward to seeing you in Bangkok.
