October 7th, 2023 | Words and photography by DAHTT
Houston we have a problem.
Why I'm not keeping my Mr.Jones "Beam Me Up".
It isn't you Mr.Jones, it's me.
Perhaps I'm a humourless bore. That's the conclusion I've been edging towards since buying this Mr.Jones "Beam Me Up".
For several years myself and some colleagues have been working on a record called "The Department For Intergalactic Affairs".
One of the engineers on the project coincidentally happens to be a former employee of the great Jeff Wayne and on some late night sessions I've been privy to the original masters of War Of The Worlds. Listening to isolated vocals and live takes of the songs left impressions and memories I'll keep with me forever.
For the first few hours I owned this watch I stared into that dial thinking, this is marvelous. How refreshing. How delightful. Over the next few hours I noticed some other things.
Those lugs, I hadn't noticed on the website but in the flesh they looked, to my eyes, so, awkward. They do at least wrap around the otherwise very plain case, interrupted by a signed crown. But hang on, that isn't a crown. The crown at three o'clock is unsigned, and at nine o'clock there is another crown which is signed, and inexplicably exists without any function whatsoever.
As I study these elements I'm beginning to fall out of love. But am I being too critical? Isn't the point of this watch to have fun? Well, yes...but can't I have fun without a pretend second crown so that I don't descend into an OCD fueled frenzied spiral? And what time is it anyway?
I have no idea looking at the dial, all I know is that the aliens aren't looking at the pig right now, and it'll be another fifty minutes before they are and I'm able to enjoy that fleeting moment again.
Is there anything wrong with this watch? No. The conclusion I've come to is this watch is a brilliantly fun piece of art-meets-engineering. I'm just incapable of enjoying it as it's supposed to be enjoyed.
Some things are best appreciated from afar. On paper, on a website, on somebody else's wrist...I really like what Mr.Jones is all about. Just not on my wrist or in my collection apparently.
My favourite moments in this hobby aren't when I learn about a movement or a reference, but when I learn something about myself. Mr.Jones gave me one of those moments, for which I'm grateful.
Now...if you'd kindly beam me back down to earth...