CHEAP THRILLS: Mr. Jones Watches will brighten your day every time you look at your wrist

D.C. Hannay

Welcome to Cheap Thrills, where we highlight offbeat watches that are pure fun, at prices that won’t sear a hole in your wallet. Today, we’re taking a look at the unique, artsy offerings from Mr. Jones Watches. When you first see one of the quirky timepieces from London’s Mr. Jones Watches, you may be thinking, “Uh, okay, so what time is it?”. And that’s exactly the point. Well-priced little objets d’art for the wrist that don’t obviously shout the time, but encourage you to linger on the art itself. Yes, you can read the time, usually in a unique, roundabout way, but the joy of Mr. Jones’ ever-evolving lineup requires you to throw away preconceptions of what a watch “should” be, and celebrate being in the moment.

Mr. Jones Watches is the brainchild of Londoner Crispin Jones, the founder, who also designs many of the watches (Mr. Jones Watches also collaborates with a rotating cast of designers). And although movements are off-the-shelf and some components outsourced, assembly and dial printing is in-house (in their two London workshops), which makes the lineup a great value proposition considering the time and effort involved. There are always plenty of choices to catch your fancy, but if you see something that really speaks to you, it’s advisable to jump on it, as most models are limited editions.

One of my favourite variants is the new “Ricochet”, designed by artist Ryan Claytor, which finds three retro-looking robots enjoying a friendly game of pinball. The robots are printed in three different colours of metallic foil, and the rest of the colour layers are also printed separately, as they are with the entire lineup. Timekeeping is via an automatic Seagull jump hour movement, cleverly integrated into the pinball machine’s scoreboard. The stainless 37mm diameter case makes it a perfect fit for a wide range of wrists, and I personally love the lug design, which recalls automotive struts, of all things. The Ricochet comes strapped to a stainless mesh bracelet, and retails for $365 USD.

One of the more unique offerings is the “Ascendent”, designed by Marion Labbez, which shares the same case dimensions and movement as the Ricochet, but takes a languorous, contemplative view of timekeeping. Not immediately apparent, the time is again shown by way of a jump hour movement, with the hour visible in the palladium-gilt tree’s branches, and the minutes represented by the rotating stars and moon in the sky.

It’s a complete rethink of the way we track time, and a welcome respite from the non-stop lives most of us lead. A black PVD case and leather strap further emphasise the nocturnal aesthetic. Retail is $365 USD.

“The Last Laugh” is a cheeky reminder that life gets us all in the end, so make the most of it. The grinning skull on the dial shows the time by way of the hours on the top row of teeth, and the minutes on the bottom. The case comes in your choice of stainless or black, and the hollow portions of the skull are palladium-gilt. I’d advise going with the black case, a perfect punctuation of the design’s gallows humour. Retail price is $295 USD.

For pure fun, it would be hard to beat the “Number Cruncher”, designed by artist Onorio D’Epiro, which finds a charming blue monster rampaging their way Godzilla-style through a hapless metropolis. With this one, you just can’t help but smile at the colourful creature gleefully laying waste to the landscape, stopping to pop another morsel in his mouth (the hour) before it joins the minutes churning around in his belly. Size and movement are as above, and this one comes on the same stainless mesh as the “Ricochet”. The Number Cruncher is priced at $295 USD. To see the full lineup of the currently available models, check out the Mr. Jones website here.