Talking with Car-Mod Authority Jonathan Ward About His First Official Watch, the ICON Duesey
Above all, Jonathan Ward is a gearhead. His Los Angeles-based company, ICON4X4, produces what some believe are the highest caliber SUVs in the world. He tears vehicles apart and puts them back together in new and unexpected ways, elevating utilitarian machines into a purified expression of mechanical ability. Last year, the news broke that Ward was entering the watch business with the ICON Duesey, a timepiece inspired by classic Duesenberg automobiles from the early-20th century. Like the souped-up and customized Toyota Land Cruisers that emerge from his workshop, the ICON Duesey is not only an ode to mechanical creations of decades past, it’s a symbol of a man’s passion for creation and individuality.
Recently, I sat down with Ward in a crowded Manhattan coffee shop to chat about the ICON Duesey which is now available for purchase. Read on to learn about Ward’s creative tendencies that lean toward what he describes as “bespoke utility,” his experiments with VantaBlack, and a hint of what his next timepiece might look like.
Logan R. Baker: So what attracted you to watches in the first place"
Jonathan Ward: I was a goober as a kid, taking apart my piece-of-shit electric alarm clock. And geekin’ on the gears and seeing if I could put it back together and make it work again, which, was rarely the case. And my grandad, I remember, we’d get really bored, my sister and I, when we’d go visit my grandparents in remote Virginia...
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