Arcanaut turns Fordite, old automotive paint waste, into unique watch dials

I first met James Thompson at a drinks party during the erstwhile Baselworld watch show back in 2015, a time when he was establishing a name for himself – under the pseudonym ‘Black Badger’ – as a maker of unusual, glow-in-the-dark composite jewellery.

But it wasn’t until four years later that he found recognition in the watch world thanks to a collaboration with JCB scion George Bamford’s Bamford Watch Department, with which Thompson had collaborated on an edition of 10 TAG Heuer Carreras, each with a unique dial made from Fordite.

Fordite, also known as Detroit agate, was never invented, deliberately manufactured or intended to be a material in its own right. It is, in fact, a waste product created over many decades at Ford’s Detroit manufacturing plants.

Although the name suggests Fordite might be a type of rock, stone or mineral, it is formed from hundreds, even thousands of layers of automotive overspray which, over time, built up into solid, three-dimensional slabs.

Created at a time when automotive spraying was a good deal less efficient than it is today, Fordite accumulated on the tracks, racks and skids that transported car bodies from the paint booth to the curing ovens, causing the multicoloured layers of overspray to be baked together.

Eventually the deposits became so thick that they had to be chipped-off in order to prevent them interfering with the machinery, with most of the chunks discarded as waste.

According to Detroit lore, however, some factory workers discovered that cutting through the chunks revealed remarkable, almost psychedelic patterns and began taking them home in large quantities as souvenirs.

Modern electrostatic paint processes, health-and-safety measures and today’s ultra-clean production lines have all but put an end to overspray, meaning Fordite is a thing of the past and, therefore, a finite material.

Thompson, however, managed to procure an unspecified amount from the relative of a former Ford factory worker and discovered that by cutting, slicing, milling and polishing it he could create unique pieces of jewellery – and, even better, watch dials.

Six years ago Thompson – a Canadian now living in Sweden – joined forces with Danish experimental watch brand Arcanaut as its co-owner and head of materials development, bringing with him the Fordite which is now used to create dials for watches that carry names such as Bryce Canyon, Ymir’s Pop and Mutagen Ripple.

By the nature of Fordite, every dial (and therefore every watch) is unique and can never be repeated. And if you happen to own a Ford built in Detroit between the 1970s and the ’90s, there might even be an Arcanaut dial that contains overspray from your very own car. Although proving it could be tricky.

Arcanaut Arc II – Fordite, from £3105. arcanaut.watch