Make a faux No Time Watch in no time at all! Let me show you how!
I have to admit I feel a little dirty doing a project about how to make a knock-off of someone else’s jewelry, but I just keep telling myself that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If I were to meet Mr. Tom Binns I would flatter him silly I am such a huge fan of his work plus it’s not like I am going to start selling these on Naughty Secretary Club. Diamonds and cameos combined with neon colors and words like chaos, how could I not love his style. When I kept seeing the No Time watches in magazines like Elle and Blogs like Fashiontribes (image via Schmashion/Elle) I kind of fell in love a little bit and cut a picture of the watches out of a magazine and stuck it up on my handy dandy inspiration board and waited for something to cook. Last week at the mega flea market I kept spotting all these broken men’s watches for prices like $1 and it came to me. I knew Krylon had some bright as all get out Floursent spray paint that would work on metal and paint pens called Brights . I snagged myself a few cans plopped down the 5 bucks for a handful of men’s watches with interesting shaped faces and got busy.
1) CLEAN – I hate the cleaning part, but it is a necessary evil. After all the watches came from a flea market so they were kind of nasty dirty. I used a scrubber, warm water and soap and gave them a good once over to make sure all the grease came off. You want your spray paint on the metal, not dirt. Make sure the watches are completely dry.
2) PREP – Lay out some newspaper outside and set your watches on the paper.
3) PAINT – You are thinking duh I know how to spray paint something. I thought I did too. Ya know all those old sayings that your grandmother would tell you like “Impatient boys sometimes miss dessert” or “Good things come to those who wait”? Well she was right. Don’t get too heavy handed with your spray paint right off the bat. The key is several thin coats to build up an opaque look. I wanted the watches neon right then and I didn’t want to wait and I ended up having to scrape off thick paint and start again. If you go overkill with the paint you loose the definition of the watch and that is the fun part.
4) WEAR – After your several thin coats of paint have dried slap those babies on your wrist and sport them around town. I have a hot dinner date and art viewing with my lady friends this evening and I fully intend to work these bad boys into my outfit. I think I might even wear all 3 at once because I am crazy like that.
But wait you didn’t use the Krylon Brights paint pens? Oh yes I did. Hope and I got a little crazy with 3 of the watches and the paint pens. I added stripes to one that had lost some of its definition. There was a second watch that had a few spots of newspaper stick to it so I covered the whole thing (including those spots) with polka dots! I did a double layer with hot pink dots and a tiny green center. Hope being the artist in the family took the watch to a new level with leopard print on the watch band and a rendition of her Tijuana Donkeys on the face! She used Sakura Souffle Pens for the detail. If only I had some waterslide decals on hand I would have put pictures of Hope’s new neon Blood Thirsty animals on the watch faces.
So there you have it, if you can’t afford a real No Time watch you can easily make yourself one in no time at all. I’m excited to have all this extra neon spray paint; nothing in my house is safe. Check out this super old Naughty Secretary Club DIY project called If It Ain’t Broke Spray Paint It also set your DVR to tape the episode of Stylelicious called Spice It Up where I spray paint a blue jean jacket. I am seriously debating using a can of the spray paint and my white jacket to whip out my own version of the Moschino Cheap & Chic Spring 2008 line! Wish me luck. Hell maybe I will blog about it.
Yep I made it to Round Top in one piece =P. Boyfriend actually had to stop and double check on directions (he left the printed map at home). I didn’t shop much, but I was full of Mmm Mmm flea market food. Thanks for introducing Round Top!=)
love these. You are so clever. Love the neon bright pens as well. I was eyeing those in Hobby Lobby a couple of days ago. I just need to break down and buy some. I just love neon with a passion.
these are so fun and summery!
what a great way to spruce those watches up too
Anh so glad you made it to Round Top!
Alexa I bet you could use those Krylon Bright pens to color the entire watch if you didn’t want to use spray paint.
CBT they are good for summer. Since no one wears a watch anymore due to cell phones we have to do something with all the old watches out there. It’s like upcycling.
These totally rock! (BTW, thanks for the tip this morning.)
oo, those would look so cute with pictures glued on them or crytals outlines too! cute project!
Ah Jennifer, only you would take things like nasty broken watches and decorate them so perfectly then wear THREE of them all at once. I adore you sweetie. 🙂
wow those are fantastic!!!! i cant wait to try it. thanx for the inspiration!!
That´s just horrible! Such a shame for nice watches.
Hey lookie there is a whole hot discussion about this project going on over at BoingBoing. Be sure to chime in there too.
warning killjoy ahead…
1) Make sure the paint is non toxic or lest it will be absorbed through the skin
2) If possible remove the batteries from the watch. If it leaks it will be poisonous
3 I would apply a layer of clear coat so that it will be protected from scratches
That’s really cool and deserves to be added http://www.dictionaryofwebcontent.com
Now you’re invited to add all your posts
Wow – that looks absolutely great!
I also have a question though, is it safe to wear spray-painted clothes? I love how it looks but never did bc I was always sure there was something toxic about it..no?
Also, how would washing care go? Or would you just not wash it?
(this may be a second repeat post- wasnt sure if it went through!)
these are so fun!
its such a great idea, they are so summery too! I’m a sucker for anything neon.
I made these neon hair bows like clip bows and they are like so so amazing!
Anyways,
Great idea!!
and take pics tonight so we can see how they look 😀
Thanks for posting,
Lynda
Does the paint stay on the band after it has moved around a bit? Super cute!
Wonderful article, very well explained. I glad to see this blog, such an informative article, Thanks for share this.
ha! Yours are BETTER! I love this!
My 6 year old would love this. Hip colors and fun.
Oh my goodness! I like your blog theme, I wanna appreciated you for being such kind ! Thank you so much for your post.