Interrobang ‽ (Limited edition)

This watch was a limited edition and is no longer available.

The Interrobang ‽ watch was designed and printed with American artist Chris Fritton.

The hour and minute hands are made of the question mark and exclamation mark, when they overlap at 12 o’clock they form the interrobang ‽ character.

This combination of exclamation and question mark expresses disbelief and surprise at the end of a sentence.

Chris saw this watch as an opportunity to create a wonderful visual pun:

“Anytime anyone looks at their watch, they’re asking the question: “what time is it?” But this question is often asked with some sense of urgency, or replied to with disbelief. “It’s that late already‽” A watch is a perfect place for an interrobang.”

The Interrobang edition is produced in four colour-ways with just 25 pieces of each available. Choose your favourite colour from the dropdown menu above.

Each individual dial was printed by Chris himself in New York. The disc hands were printed and the watches were assembled by us, here in our London workshop.

How to read the time:

• The minute hand is an exclamation mark !
• The hour hand is a question mark ?

Chris talks about the inspiration:

“The interrobang was invented in 1962 by Martin K. Speckter, a journalist and advertising executive who balked at using multiple punctuation marks at the end of a sentence.

Speckter thought the interrobang could contribute “nuance and clarity” that could imply incredulity or enhance written gestures like rhetorical questions. It’s a fascinating piece of punctuation that has a unique history and I think deserves attention.

A lot of my work centres on visual poetry — deconstructing and reconstructing letterforms to create new geometries.

I love to explore those permutations — in this case, the interrobang is an elegant marriage of two simple pieces of punctuation, but what happens to them when they’re separated, then recombined? What do they look like at different angles to one another, or as they approach unison, then pull away from each other again?

The results were curious and whimsical, and much to my surprise, also well-suited to telling the time.

The colour-ways are reminiscent of much of my printing as well: bright rainbow rolls that shift from one hue to another that often create one-of-a-kind pieces”.

This watch is limited to just 100 pieces worldwide, available exclusively from Mr Jones Watches.

Please note: as this watch is limited edition, orders of Interrobang are strictly limited to one per person.