Mr Jones Watches had this watch designed by Ryan Claytor, a comics creator, and this is the second collaboration between the two.

Diameter: 37mm

Lug-to-lug: 46.3mm

Thickness: 11.2mm

Lug width is: 18mm

The watch has 50 meters of water resistance.

Looking at the face of this watch one can see it is very creative. Mr Jones Watches lists watch in their Unusual or Unconventional section so it is less about the time-telling and more about the creativity. The main creative highlight are the three robots on the left-hand side of the dial. Each is gilded in a different metallic foil. The foil itself not only adds a texture to the robots but plays quite well with light resulting in a very eye-catching effect.

Depth is further expressed via the purple background elements which are behind the robots and the pinball machine. Speaking of the pinball machine, the time-telling feature of the watch is quite contained, occupying a space on the pinball backbox where score reels would be contained on many conventional electromechanical pinball machines.

The hour is the left-hand dial and it is a jump hour, meaning it instantly turns over to the next hour when ready, so that actually imitates how a score reel functions. The minutes do not jump but slowly turn on a dial and are displayed in five-minute sections. The lack of any individual minute markings may frustrate some but it is important to remember just how limited the real estate is on a dial in this position. The movement used in this watch supports a small-seconds feature but instead of using that to convey time a disc spins around creating a subtle effect at the pop bumper and inserts on the pinball machine, allowing them to appear as if they are flashing. It’s not particularly noticeable unless you are looking for it but serves as a nice Easter egg to pinball fans. The watch is time-only and features no complications. The crystal is sapphire and the watch has no lume.

The case consists of high-polished surfaces. The crown does not screw-down and features two positions. In position zero the watch can be wound. The crown is difficult for me to grip and wind. Position one allows the time to be set.

The watch has a closed caseback. Mr Jones Watches offered a variety of band options but the default was a grey mesh. This is my first mesh band. It is far more comfortable than I was expecting. I find the aspect of hooking the clasp before locking it into place a bit odd but when locked down it feels secure and I’ve had no issues with it.

This watch features the Seagull ST1721 movement. It was difficult to find a lot of details online about this movement, in part because I think sometimes it is listed as the TY2709. Regardless, it is a 20-jewel movement that beats at 3 Hertz. It is an automatic movement that does feature hand-winding, and it has a power reserve of approximately 42 hours. I am unclear if the rotor is unidirectional or bidirectional but you can definitely feel the rotor spinning, which is not something I am fond of.

I saw no expected specifications regarding the movement’s accuracy. According to my timegrapher the watch has an average gain of 4.17 seconds/day across six positions, with a positional range of -2 seconds/day to +8 seconds/day.

My overall thoughts:

The positives:

• Great integration of the pinball theme into the watch

• Excellent use of foil for visual effect

• Reasonably accurate

• Affordable

The negatives:

• Watch may be a bit small for some

• Hard to grip the crown for winding

• Rotor movement is quite noticeable

• Not ideal for important time-telling functions

I bought this watch direct from Mr Jones Watches for $325. It was limited to 100 units but the company has since then released a non-limited model (the small seconds Easter egg is missing and the background color is different so there are changes). I was quite surprised at how accurate the movement was for an automatic watch at the sub-$500 price-point. But the real reason to own this watch is for the theme and its integration into a timepiece.

I think the watch diameter will put people off with larger wrists but as can be seen the lugs go out a lot further than the dial so I think the wrist presence on this watch is a lot more substantive than the dial diameter conveys. I think most people will find this wears well. As is often the case in my reviews I have to call out the rotor because it’s just too easy to feel and I don’t like that. Finally, I think it’s important to note this is more about the style than the substance. Very little of the dial is occupied for time-telling so it can be hard to read. The jump-hour in particular, because that disc is even deeper into the watch than the minutes, I struggled with in low-light conditions, and there is no lume to assist with that.