Time of your Life with Mr. Jones Watches

Summissus

If time is relative, Mr. Jones is your creepy Uncle Bob.

'Mr Jones Watches' are a line of seven conceptual yet functional timepieces designed and built by UK Critical Designer Crispin Jones. Created to explore new cultural expressions, technologies of timekeeping and how they relate to contemporary life. The creations are most hauntingly documented in each model's promo video. The 'Summissus' watch (above), symbolic of the Memento Mori, a philosophical expression preaching humility and the mortal timeframe is reduced to a mirror-finished dial (for self-awareness) and LCD display (for the real time).

Adsiduus

Auto-suggestive 'Adsiduus', with repetitive displays of positive or negative mantras with each time display, intended to produce personality change of the wearer.

Fallax

The 'Fallax' quoting Mr. Jones himself, "projects the wearer’s status to the people around them. Whilst many watches aim to project a sense of the wearer’s wealth and style, Fallax projects the wearer’s honesty. The watch contains a lie-detector which is attached via a pair of finger straps. If the watch detects a lie then the display flashes up the word “LIES”.

Fallax LED Display

Docilis

Made up of skeletal material, the 'Docilis' is intended to train the wearer to internalize the time with regular intervals of electric shocks.

Tag Heuer's Concept 'Monaco V4 ' Belt Drive Watch

The 'Monaco V4 '. Built by the renowned Swiss DMC Group for Tag Heuer. They have thrown out the traditional pinion based mechanics and invented a new method of automatic timekeeping, the first patented belt transmission wristwatch. Powered by an oscillating linear weight that falls back and forth within the central shaft - transmitting the energy to the four ball bearing barrels. All part of the mechanical revolution in watchmaking where everyone is trying to reinvent the wheel - but this time with belts.

Originally inspired by the 1969 Heuer (pre-Tag) Monaco made famous by Steve McQueen in his race car flick 'Le Mans'. They also reproduce the original Monaco more faithfully.

Original 1969 Heuer Monaco

'Dictatorship of Exact Time' Tian Harlan's Chromachron

Original 1973 model
(Time shown is approx half past one)

Tian Harlan, architect, engineer, artist develops the communication system 'Chromachron' (Chroma=Color ; Chronos=Time) in 1971. Timekeeping is approximated with a rotating disk revolving around a colored timezone by mechanical (wind-up) movement. Rotation is gauged by motion without demarcation of minutes or seconds. Each color represents an hour and as the cutaway passes through each - time is visualized, as he hoped, with less rigidity. Detailed in Pieter Doensen's book 'Watch - History of the Modern Wristwatch' as the 'anti-stress watch' freeing us from the 'dictatorship of exact time.'

1973-78 Models
(Left=little past 12 ; Right=9:20ish)

Originally conceived as the 'Colour-Time' clock sculpture at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Tian created over 100 variants of the watch (and clocks) through the eighties.

Christian Dior for Bulova 1971-1972

The Christian Dior House designs 50 ladies watches for Bulova in 1971, mostly asymmetrical in design finished with brushed chromium or goldplated cases and a few very rare solid gold & silver. 

What's Old is New - Seventy from the Seventies

Eero Aarnio Proto Watch - by Sarpaneva

Eero Aarnio, most famous for creating the era-defining Ball Chair of the sixties along with Stepan Sarpaneva, a talented Finnish watchmaker created this one-of-a-kind 2001 'Proto' based upon Eero's original designs (pictured below). And today, they are teaming up to continue a more classic watch as well as further developing variations of this original Prototype for limited production. Will report more about that in 2007!

The case, handmade from brass, rhodium plated and curved to the wrist measuring 55mm long. A partially sheathed dial cylinder is asymmetrically placed off the case and tilted towards the viewer - powered by an automatic ETA 2892 movement.

Eero Aarnio's original designs

1966 'Ball' Chair

Eero himself in 1968 'Bubble' Chair

Stepan Sarpaneva's own 'Oiva' Design
(upcoming feature)

2007 B.R.M. 'Project Birotor' - Shockingly Absorbing

2007 BRM 'Birotor'

Brrrmmm Brrrooom! B.R.M., even the initials of Bernard Richard's relatively new watch company sound like a race car. Their modest credo states, "The superior mechanical performance unites with the human desire to surpass ordinary expectations: to push the outer limits of human indulgence!"

In tune with the rabid trend of high-end sports car themed timepieces, the 30-months-in-development 'Birotor' is actually built with a shock absorber system amidst other automobilistic mechanisms.

Below are part of the current line of B.R.M.

B.R.M. 'MT' Chronograph
Based upon a V8 engine

B.R.M. 'SRC 48 CO Racing'

B.R.M. 'WL-44'

Handball - 1960's Vendome Sphere Watch

Undeniably Verner Panton-esque 1968 ball wristwatch by Vendome. Awkwardly sitting over one inch (25mm) off your arm, this bright orange lucite sphere with Swiss mechanical winding 17 jewel movement was once part of my personal collection - recently rolled onto another wrist.

1961 Hamilton Flight II Electric with Mahogany Wood Dial & Other Prototype Automatic Watches

1961 Mahogany & Mother-of-Pearl Pacer Prototypes

Featured in the recent expanded & revised edition of Rene Rondeau's essential Hamilton Electric book, "The Watch of the Future", are these very rare prototype mahogany and mother-of-pearl dial Hamilton Electrics. Although shown here in the Pacer and Flight cases, they were part of an experiment in the Sherwood wood-dialed series (shown on bottom).

1961 Mahogany Flight II Prototype

1961 Sherwood Automatic

My other Hamilton posts;
2001 Space Odyssey Flight II Prototype
Richard Arbib & The Hamilton Electric
Hamilton Odyssey X-01 Reissue

Kienzle 'Life 2002' Jump Hour from the 1972 Lifestyle

Kienzle - A German company that manufactured everything from early computers to dashboard clocks for VW, Mercedes and Porsche ventured into 'wrist dashboards' with this 1972 'Life 2002' mechanical digital jump hour wristwatch. An enormous asymmetric case with separate windows for 12/24 hours, minute and seconds disks.