When, I was a kid, I was a big fan of the show Sesame Street and my favorite character was Ernie. He used to sing a song in the bathtub about his rubber duck. That song immediately got in my head when I stumbled across someone wearing A Perfectly Useless Afternoon watch by Mr. Jones Watch, because when I asked him why he got it, his response was "It's got a rubber duck, I mean come on, does it get any better." We talked about watches a little bit more and it turns out, the watch was a gift from his parents and has a personal engraved message on the back. He considers it his Sunday dress watch. We got to talking about watches and it was just fun to hear a young man's perspective on watches. He told me he really wishes he had a Casio digital watch and described it. It was fun for me to hear because this young man was not into it for the nostalgia. He really just liked the style, the shape, the display. My kids all showed him their digital Casio watches.
We made plans to meet up again on Sunday. When I saw him from 50 feet away, he smiled and he immediately pointed at his watch on his wrist. When I got to him, we exchanged pleasantries and I ask him if I could take some pictures of his fancy Sunday best watch for my blog. He said yes, and so we grabbed a counter and I snapped some quick picks. I didn't get a lot of time with the watch, but it was enough time for me to appreciate a couple of things about it. According to the manufacturer's website the watch is:
Size: Medium/ unisex
Band: 18mm silver stainless steel
Crystal: sapphire (hard-wearing)
Mechanism: Swiss made single jewel quartz mechanism
Waterproof: Yes! 5ATM
Guarantee: 12 months - any problems after, we’re happy to help
Width (3 o’clock to 9 o’clock): 37mm
Height (from lug to lug): 46mm
Case: 316L stainless steel - polished silver finish
Largest band diameter: 205mm
Smallest band diameter: 150mm
What I noticed about it is that it invokes a few contradictory feelings in me. It looks thin and possibly fragile but it hand it feels solid and has a weight to it, I was not expecting. The strap is thin like a nylon strap but feels solid because it is stainless steel. The lugs look delicate but the case feels quite strong being made from 316L stainless. The polished silver finish seems quite pleasing and durable. After having my hands on it, I was confident it is a solid watch. Even more so than I was from just looking at pictures of it. I usually prefer 20mm or 22mm wide bracelets. 18mm seems too skinny for my big wrists. But this densely woven bracelet made me think twice, and the proportions of 18mm lug width to a 37mm width seem perfect to me. I like a strap to be about half the case width or more. The steep polished bezel helps allow for a nice large dial while also enhancing the perfect proportions. This watch also seemed thin and tall at the same time thanks to the angle of the lugs and the thinness of the strap. The contradictions are what made it really interesting. It is a really well designed time piece.
The more I looked at it , the more details I found. The clasp has the MJW logo on it, as does the false crown at 9 o'clock. Nice details that are not over done or in your face. As I have said before, it is the details not the dollars that decides happiness. There are so many details to take in. Underneath the sapphire crystal, which inspires confidence and is clear as water, is an outer ring that looks like the edge of a pool. The pool edge tile dividers serve as hour markers. The extended leg of the figure in the inflatable pool toy serves as the hour hand. The owners favorite part, the rubber ducky floats around as the minute hand. There is no seconds hands which invites relaxation. The dial is sunk enough that you can see shadows around the edge of the pool, under the floating figure and under the rubber ducky which further reinforces the visual effect of floating in a pool.
The back of the watch included a personal engraving from parents to their son. I did not get a picture of that in order to respect and protect their privacy. You could tell that the owner was very please with his watch, and was grateful to his parents for it. It was obvious that it held a special place in his heart and I was honored that he let me do an impromptu photo shoot. This was such a fun watch. It made my kids smile. It made me smile.
I had been aware of Mr. Jones Watches because I saw their watch called Colour Venn online many times. It has a a similar case but with a display case back and an automatic movement. It has a white dial with three transparent colored discs to serve as the hands, A cyan disc serves as the hour hand, a magenta disc serves as the minute hand, and a yellow disc serves as the seconds hand. Where ever the discs cross over each other, new colors are formed, creating areas of orange, purple, and green, for a constantly shifting palette of six colors. As an artist, it caught my eye and had me intrigued. I was so focused on the colors that I failed to notice the tiny white hash marks the point to the time. It has no hour markers so you have to guess a bit, and if you check the time you will probably get distracted by how cool and fun it is that you end up late anyways. But at least you will show up in style.
So needless to say, I am a big fan of Mr. Jones Watches. They have a whole bunch of fun watches on their website. A lot are watches that make you say "Why?", while at the same time knowing the answer is simply "Because!" and then wanting to get one for yourself. Now that I have had a chance to see one in person I am hearing that "Because!" much louder. If you are on the fence, don't be. The smiles are worth it.
I knew before I met him on Sunday that if I saw him wearing it ever, I was going to ask to get a few photos. The guy who owns it is 6'-3" and is not a little guy. So when he said he wanted a Casio, I ruled out a F-91W. The more I thought about what he described and his size, the more I thought a Square G Shock might be up his alley. But he described more of a classic Casio. So I headed over to the local Walmart to see what they had available. Not much, but luckily on the bottom shelf I found the perfect watch for him. I bought it and brought it with me on Sunday.
The watch I picked for him is the Casio W217H-1AV. Classic styling with the advantage of big digits and a little more wrist presence than an F-91W. He was super excited to get a fun watch to wear during the week. I was excited for the opportunity to see a watch I was interested in and hear about it from someone who loves it. That is what this hobby is to me. A chance to enjoy something cool and fun and learn from others.
So the next time you see a cool a watch in the wild, ask them to tell you about why they picked it and what they love about it. For this guy, it was the rubber ducky that made it the one. It makes the watch, a lot of fun. He loves his rubber ducky, just like Ernie.