Behind the scenes: Short Fuse

We’ve started the spooky season with a bang with our explosive new limited edition release, Short Fuse. 

It features a malicious little devil that sits on top of a box of matches, threatening to ignite them all with a stick of dynamite. 

Designed for us by London-based, Romanian Illustrator, Adriana Dincu, Short Fuse is a celebration of her love of comics and the fiery side of the human experience.

Speaking about the inspiration behind her design, Adriana said: “I think the term 'Short Fuse' in and of itself has a time component: you hear short fuse, you can't help but think just how long until it explodes?

“For me it also reflects on the practice of people counting to ten when they get angry in order to calm down. I'd like to think that with this watch you would actually count up to a moment of crazy, cathartic anger, the kind that instantly makes you feel vindicated and weightless."

Once Adriana had perfected her vision, our print team got to work by airbrushing the dials by hand. 

They created the splatter effect with vivid red and yellow inks by pulling back the bristles of a brush, making every single dial completely unique.  

The cartoon matchsticks on the transparent discs were intricately printed one by one, with the two lit matches indicating how to read the time. The larger flame shows you the hours and the smaller flame is the minutes. 

The glass also underwent several layers of printing to create the devilish character, making it one of our most complex and colourful to date. 

Once the printing was complete, our watch assembly technicians got started on hand assembling all 200 watches, one by one ready for our autumn release.

This provocative watch proved to be popular with all 200 pieces going in just under an hour! 

If you just missed out on Short Fuse, don’t worry, you can sign up to our waiting list here to be first to know if it makes a return to our permanent collection.

If you’re feeling smug with Short Fuse on your wrist, remember to tag us in any pictures on social media at @mrjoneswatches.