It’s safe to say that every collector has more than one collection. As a child, for example, one of the things I was into was dolls. Eventually, the dolls acquired their own collections – clothes, accessories, miniature furniture. And if little me could have found a wee wristwatch for my Action Girl, she would have been properly kitted out with a Swatch.

Now I’m more into collecting art, but I haven’t forgotten my old obsessions, which leads me to my current obsession – the @tinyassprops Instagram page.

Pop Props

Robbie Jones is the creative force behind this cult account, which features one-sixth- and one-fifth-scale watch replicas made for action figures (or just straight up for collectors).

Based in Portland, Oregon, Jones has worked in the stop-motion props department of Laika Studios, the makers of films such as Coraline, ParaNorman, and the upcoming Wildwood, which opens on October 23, and he is also a theater professor. However, in addition to all that, he also offers amazingly detailed miniature collectibles through his Tiny Ass Props Store.

Keith Haring once said that “art is for everybody,” and likewise, the appeal of Jones’ work reaches beyond the action figure community. His watches mainly reference timepieces from film and television, so they offer instant pop culture commentary that a broader audience, not just niche watch collectors, can appreciate.

Jones’ attention to detail is a story and reminds me of this famous quote about dancer Ginger Roger’s skills: Sure, [Fred Astaire] was great, but don’t forget that Ginger Rogers did everything he did but backward and in heels.

Well, like Rogers, Jones does what luxury watch brands do (without the movements) but must do so in the extreme miniature. Take, for example, his version of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak’s tapisserie dial; it is just as finished as the real thing, but it’s in 1:5 scale.

To keep collecting democratic, Jones has taken a page from the artist multiple playbook, producing limited-edition batches of one of his miniatures and pricing them around $50–$55 per piece. Though high-demand items frequently sell out quickly.

Artist Proof

Jones’ personal journey has taken many roads. But it starts with the simple desire to make things. “I spent a lot of time in my parents’ garage,” says Jones. “My grandfather was a contractor, so I had access to a bunch of hand tools. I was enthralled with movies like Predator and Alien, and so I was always trying to create stuff from those movies.”

Then Jones decided to study theater in school. “Most people got into theater to be actors or something,” he continues. “But I was literally there just to make stuff. Because I had the experience of just using tools when I got introduced to theater, I was already kind of ahead of everybody.”

“I was a studio art person, but theater gave me resources – materials, money, facilities,” Jones adds. “I just kept doing that until I ended up with a master’s in fine arts in theater. The irony is I don’t even really like theater. But I do like to make stuff, and so that has been my trajectory my entire life.”

Jones was also a watch wearer. He remembers asking his parents for a Timex Ironman when he was 10 or 12. At the same time, he was into collecting GI Joes. Seven or eight years later, he was introduced to mechanical watches and his interest was reignited.

“It was also in conjunction with me starting to make my own watches,” he says. “I started doing research and things like that. And so, my first mechanical watch was a Timex, I think a Marlin.”

Mini Mes

Tiny Ass Props grew out of a mix of Jones’ interests and occupation. While working as a theater prof, he was also making miniature watches for the doll/figure community. “There was one part of the figure doll community that I didn’t see being produced very much, and that was watches. There were other people that did the same kind of work [but with] backpacks or guns or what have you.”

But where did the name “Tiny Ass Props” come from? “The name was just kind of a goofy thing I thought of,” says Jones. “Big Ass – like big ass truck or big ass tree – was a descriptive term that had been part of my world forever. So, I kind of just turned that upside down, and so ‘big ass’ turned into ‘tiny ass.’”

Another conundrum is representing leather watch bands versus metal bracelets. “Not just modeling them but also painting them,” Jones says. “In the beginning, I would try and just create a solid model and then paint it after it was printed. But I found it too difficult to paint with such precision across multiple surfaces. So, I have now switched to individually printing out parts as they pertain to different paint treatments.”

An example Jones offers up is a Hublot Big Bang he just completed: “Because of all the different painted surfaces, I felt it would be more successful if I were to print them out, paint them, and then assemble them into the final watch so things like the case, the buttons, clasp, bands, and all those things printed as separate parts are assembled after painting.”

He continues: “Because of the continuing development of 3D printers for consumer-based buyers, I am now able to capture even more detail than I was able to accomplish even two or three years ago. And the development of different kinds of resin has allowed for all these different applications.”

But, adds Jones, every single one of those applications has to go through a series of development processes to try and figure out the properties and how they all work together. “The Hublot is one of the more challenging but also rewarding watches I’ve done so far,” says Jones. “Development, problem-solving, that’s the most rewarding.”

Final Thoughts

If you’ve been following his work for a while, one of the most addictive things about his Instagram is that you also go on an emotional journey watching him create and discovering the delight Jones finds in every step of his productions.

For more information, check out the Tiny Ass Props website or visit Jones’ IG page @tinyassprops.