Graphic designer Margaret Calvert has created a watch for Mr Jones Watches based on the roadsigns she created for the UK's motorway network.

Called M1, the watch designed for Mr Jones Watches is named after one of the UK's first motorways, which was opened between 1959 and 1968 and featured signage designed by Calvert.

As head of signs for Britain's roads, Calvert oversaw the redesign of the road signage system in collaboration with graphic designer Jock Kinneir.

This included the blue and white motorway signage that informed the M1 watch and is still in use today. The circular watch face has a blue background with the hands shaped to look like the signs' direction arrows.

"This watch puts all the emphasis of the design on the hands and that's not normally how a watch is," said Calvert.

"The hands don't usually have that prominence."

The watch's design aims to follow the simplicity of Calvert's roadsigns while adding a depth achieved by the laying of the hands.

"What I like about it is the 3D element of it – because of the build-up of one hand on top of the other you get shadows and richness," she explained. "To strive for absolute simplicity is what it's all about."

Calvert is one of the UK's best-known graphic designers. Along with designing the signage for the UK roads she also designed the Rail Alphabet typeface for British Rail in the 1960s, also with Kinneir, which was updated with the Rail Alphabet 2 typeface in 2020.

The South African-born designer also created lettering and wayfinding systems for NHS hospitals and the British Airports Authority. In 2017 she was awarded the lifetime achievement London Design Medal.

The photography is by Mark Horton.