If you asked creative director and Newport resident Josh Jacob what he does in his free time, he might wryly explain his talent for making “fake watches.” But his watches are very real—and way more interesting than most of what you’d find in a jewelry store.
Faux Wrist, the timepiece brand Jacob created for his project, can make you the watch of your dreams. Everything about his watches—from obvious components like the bracelet or the hands of the clock to tiny details like the indices, the dial, and the crystal—is fully customizable to your liking.
He sources his watch components from the same manufacturers that major brands do, but without the hefty price tag that comes with a brand name. It’s part of his goal to make affordable watches that are “just as good, if not better” than the ones crafted by well-known names, but fully customized to fit anyone’s look.
“In my opinion, it’s cooler than wearing a Rolex, because you’re not just flexing that you own an expensive timepiece,” he said. “I like to think the person who wears the watches I make is more interested in curating their own personal aesthetic, not just choosing what someone else thinks is cool.”
It all started when a friend of his won an Instagram giveaway for an Omega Speedmaster, a watch that normally retails for close to $8,000. Jacob became enamored with the mechanical construction of the watch, citing a prior love for analog technology in an age where everything is digital.
Eventually, he started learning “as much as I possibly could about watches and watch culture,” found a DIY watch kit online, and decided to try his hand at making his own timepiece. The box said it could be built in an hour, but it actually took him closer to four or five.
“Setting the [watch] hands requires a really steady wrist. You’re operating off feel. Unless you’ve got a really good magnifying lens, you can’t see what you’re doing,” he said.
Over the course of his research, he discovered that his favorite watch brand, Seiko, sells its movements (the engine inside a watch that powers the clock) wholesale, and realized with time and effort that he could make his own retail-quality watches from the same parts.
Finding the hobby came at exactly the right time for Jacob. Over the previous seven years, his mother was dealing with Alzheimer’s but it affected her differently than most. His mother initially suffered from aphasia, a disorder that removes the ability to speak, write or communicate, although it does not affect intelligence.
“You could see her eyes get wide during conversations like she wanted to participate, but she literally couldn’t talk… I like to think it’s similar to when something’s on the tip of your tongue, but you’re like that forever,” he said. “Her voice was taken away from her, but her mind was very much still there. It was heartbreaking.”
Over the “soul-crushing” period where his mother was at the end of her life, he got to a mental state where he “didn’t do anything but work and drink, constantly.” It reached a breaking point where he realized if he didn’t make some drastic changes, and fast, he wouldn’t “have anything to live for.”
He went sober, started making watches to occupy his time, and then got hit with a triple whammy: the COVID-19 pandemic, the death of his dog, King—who he’d owned for 14 years—and the death of his mother all in a few short months. Watchmaking became a “vehicle for grief” for Jacob and a distraction to keep his mental health in check.
“It was extremely important to have something to do when I was—what is the term now, crashing out? You have to give your brain something to focus on so you’re not just thinking about how everything sucks,” he said. “I literally made like seven watches based just off my dog, and called it the King series. The black dials on the watches reflected how I felt, like when people wear a black armband to acknowledge tragedy. It almost felt like I was paying homage to him.”
But then people started noticing his work. They’d find him online and send over pictures of their dad’s old watches, or a style of watch they like but couldn’t afford, or even just send over some art they like and ask for a watch based on it.
“It’s evolved into this cool thing now where I have a client base of family and friends and people I’ve never met who reach out and go, ‘Hey, can you make me a watch?'” he said. “It’s extremely rewarding, because I never even cared if it became that. I just needed it to be a distraction, right?”
Realizing that he’d have to “put some kind of brand” on this if he was going to turn watchmaking into a real hobby, he combined his B.A. in graphic design and dry sense of humor to come up with the logo for Faux, a tongue-in-cheek name that he knew “absolutely nobody would copy.”
“It was almost like, what is the worst possible name you could give a watch brand, and how can you take ownership of it to make it so cool and interesting that the name wouldn’t be a factor?” he said.
Jacob’s biggest goal for the future is to create parts himself instead of sourcing them from other countries so he can fabricate a watch entirely from scratch—a goal he’s made headway on, as he’s already in talks with manufacturers. It’ll be a higher-end version of what he does now, and these watches will tout the name of his “insanely amazing” new dog, Scout.
He knows that your average Rolex or Omega-obsessed watch fiend probably won’t care for his products, but that’s okay, as “there’s a really big gap in the market” for people who are interested in well-crafted timepieces but don’t want to drop thousands of dollars on one. For him, it’s all about making watches that reflect their owner.
“I would say it’s for people more my speed, who like the music I’m into, or the style of design I’m into, or things that are just interesting and cool… what would that look like if a watch brand did that?,” he said. “Overall, my goal is to continue to share this with people because they genuinely want to be a part of it.”
You can learn more about Faux Wrist by visiting the website.