By 2024, London-based watchmaker Mr. Jones Watches finally released a larger version of one of the brand's most intriguing collaborations.
The Ricochet "Pinball Playing Robots" watch, designed for Mr. Jones Watches by artist and scientist Ryan Claytor, was previously available only in a smaller 37mm version. Now it has been updated and enlarged as the Ricochet XL, measuring 45mm, which I review here.
As "art on the wrist," this watch is a beautiful composition and a nod to a certain facet of fandom culture. As a watch, it has some limitations, but for its price and "wow value," it is a very fun timepiece. Mr. Jones Watches specializes in collaborative products, allowing the British company to print unique dials in-house using standard cases and affordable movements. Claytor designed the Ricochet (and later Ricochet XL) dials, which were printed by Mr. Jones Watches using an interesting gold leaf foiling technique. The result is bright, rich, and visually very attractive.
Ryan Claytor is a professor and comic book artist living in the USA. One of his passions is analog electronic (often coin-operated) arcade machines, the most famous of which are pinball machines. Claytor even created a comic titled "Coin-Op Carnival," aimed at telling the history of pinball machines. I would really like to check it out. For the Ricochet XL, he created an expanded dial that, thanks to its larger size, includes a completely new robot character on the right side of the dial. There are other small differences, such as the background color, which was changed from aquamarine blue to lavender purple.
Each of the robots is "gilded" with gold or palladium foil of different colors, creating an appealing metallic effect that also sparkles a bit, which suits such wristwatches well. But don't worry, these are not flashy watches; they do attract attention. I think most people will be impressed by how the Ricochet XL dial looks. The XL case from Mr. Jones Watches has a width of 45mm and thickness of about 13mm, with a lug-to-lug distance of about 53mm. The case is water-resistant up to 50 meters without a screw-down crown, and there is a flat sapphire crystal over the dial.
The XL case is indeed large, yet it is as compact as possible and fits my small wrist. One of the advantages of the Ricochet XL over the original model (which is still available and noticeably cheaper) is the use of sapphire crystal (while the 37mm Ricochet model has mineral glass, as well as a different case design).
On the back of the watch, there is a nice illustration where Claytor gave himself the quirky name "Ryanator Claytorbot," reminiscent of a robot. This sounds like an odd remark in an era when artificial intelligence can be asked to make art, but this design was created before the advent of AI-generated graphics. How do you tell time on the Ricochet XL dial? As in previous Ricochet models, you can read the time by looking at the pinball machine screen on the dial and reading the time "in digital format." Indeed, these are mechanical watches, but instead of hands, the automatic movement moves two discs to indicate the hours and minutes, respectively. The hour disc "jumps," meaning instead of moving gradually like the minute disc, it "jumps" to the next full hour position when it triggers. It is worth noting that the movement can be adjusted both forward and backward in time.
You might have noticed that the Ricochet and Ricochet XL watches use the same movement. I somewhat lament this, although I fully understand why. The real issue is that despite the larger proportions of the Ricochet XL watch, the display for indicating time is the same (small) size. Thus, despite the larger dial, reading the time on the Ricochet XL dial remains quite a small task. Why is this so? Mr. Jones Watches couldn't find an available mechanical movement with "digital" jumping hours and wandering minutes. All the company found was a Chinese movement known as caliber TY2709. Since this same movement had to be used in the Ricochet XL, the time display could not be expanded.
Mr. Jones Watches does not discuss the movement's performance, which is quite normal, as you don't buy these watches for their horological characteristics. The watch likely shows time with an accuracy of 10-20 seconds per day. Mr. Jones Watches describes the movement's condition quite accurately when discussing the warranty on these specific watches on its website: "12-month warranty - if problems arise after, we will be happy to help." This is essentially a subtle way of saying: "We know these movements are not the most reliable in the world, but we want you to be confident that if something happens to one of them, we will make its replacement free or not too much of a problem." You won't find such promises from most other watch brands, that's for sure.
Mr. Jones Watches equips the Ricochet XL watch with an adjustable mesh metal bracelet, similar in style to the original Ricochet bracelet. Such a bracelet may not suit everyone's taste, but it fits well with the "metallic" theme of the composition. Fortunately, the 22mm wide bracelet ends are equipped with quick-release springs, and I have a feeling that fans of these watches will find many interesting straps and bracelets that will match the symbols and colors on the dial.
The Ricochet XL watch scored high marks for originality, fun, individuality, and appeal. If you want to know the exact time or have difficulty reading small details on dials, this is not what interests all watch users. These watches have already earned enough positive attention on my wrist for me to forgive the need to squint to see the time. If only I had robot eyes. The price for the Mr. Jones Watches Ricochet XL is £ 695. Learn more on the Mr. Jones Watches website.