Over the subsequent few weeks, members of the Worn & Wound workforce will supply their very own private reflections on their 12 months in watches. Right this moment, photographer Garrett Jones on turning his enthusiasm right into a full time job within the watch trade, and buying his grail watch.
The final 12 months has been a wild trip, from assembly and becoming a member of the workforce right here at Worn & Wound, reaching new heights among the many Canadian Rockies, and even shopping for my very long time watch grail, the Omega Speedmaster. I believe it’s protected to say that every of those occasions on their very own have been main milestones, however the truth that this all occurred inside the final 12 months is really thoughts blowing.
In December of 2023, I flew from NYC to Austin, TX to hang around with some mates, and meet the Worn & Wound workforce. Unknowingly, this journey to Texas would start a months-long journey leading to me becoming a member of the workforce full time, one thing I couldn’t have dreamed of in my wildest creativeness. Nearly a month after this assembly, I’d have my first article revealed on the weblog, and a number of other extra would come out earlier than I joined the workforce fulltime in Might. Whereas most individuals may really feel nervous as they begin a brand new job, I’ve by no means felt so excited (and nervous) as I did, particularly since my “first” day was flying out to San Francisco for the Windup Watch Honest. At that time, I’d already met a lot of the workforce, and even labored with just a few of them, however this is able to be the primary time I bought to really “dive in” and work alongside everybody. Regardless of being a “honest of firsts” (my first honest as an worker, our first honest in a brand new house, our largest honest but), it went splendidly and was an eye fixed opening expertise to the dimensions of issues that have been on the horizon. I assumed I used to be excited to hitch the workforce beforehand, however I used to be completely buzzing with pleasure popping out of San Francisco.
After getting back from California and moving into the swing of issues, I discovered myself obsessive about studying every thing I may concerning the micro-brand watch trade and what made it so particular. I’ll admit, I’m nonetheless engaged on memorizing the entire particulars, however my general data of watch actions, problems, and basic tidbits has drastically improved. Alongside this studying expertise, I’d discover myself working with a lot of manufacturers on numerous initiatives, pushing me to study new abilities and really grasp current ones within the realm of pictures. Since becoming a member of the workforce, I’ve traveled internationally for press protection, wrote a number of articles, and produced numerous property for the Windup Watch Store and our associate manufacturers, a lot of that are nonetheless in use. I’ll incessantly see one among my photographs on numerous social media websites, and it places a smile on my face every time I do.
As I’m writing this text, there’s nonetheless just a few weeks left in December, however the spotlight of my 12 months has already been decided: lastly acquiring my grail watch. The journey to amass this watch started years in the past, whereas I used to be working in direction of my faculty diploma (and dealing full time). I promised myself that if I caught by means of every thing and graduated, I’d exit and purchase my grail watch to mark my achievements and function a reminder of all of the onerous work put in. As a few of you may know, this “grail” was the historic Omega Speedmaster. Regardless of working full time, I wasn’t in any place to purchase a luxurious watch then, particularly not one with a price ticket hovering round $5,000 for the precise reference I used to be searching for.
