Taking photos of watches is hard. I’ve been trying for months to get better at it, and only occasionally do I end up with a photo that I think “works” in any meaningful way. The degree of difficulty in shooting these little objects is kind of off the charts. They are, of course, reflection machines, with light bouncing off of cases and crystals in ways that, for an amateur, can be difficult to control. And as any watch lover knows, the magic of this stuff is in the details, and it just takes a lot of skill to capture things that are so vanishingly small. So, I have a lot of respect and admiration for my colleagues and peers who make something so difficult look relatively straightforward. Atom Moore, for as long as I’ve been in the hobby, has been near the top of my and many other’s lists of top watch photographers in the game. His approach is completely unlike any other watch photographer I’m aware of, and the results, as they say, speak for themselves. 

Atom, by now, has dedicated his career almost exclusively to watches. He’s been at it since 2015, and has worked with brands like Grand Seiko, Autodromo, and J.N. Shapiro. While some of his work with brands is what many of us in the industry would call “product photography,” it tends to be executed at a higher level. His photos for J.N. Shapiro’s Resurgence launch are a great example – the crisp macros reveal all of the detail you’d hope to see in Shapiro’s immaculately finished cases, dials, and movements. 

Photo of JN Shapiro Resurgence by Atom Moore

But where Atom really sets himself apart is his artistic approach to watch photography. His new series, Second Nature, continues his experimentation with photographic “mashup art,” as he calls it, by expanding his subject matter from watches into the natural world. 

“I was inspired by macro images I was taking at the beautiful garden in the Bronx called Wave Hill,” Atom explained to me via email recently. “I saw the potential to use plants as the ingredient to combine with my macro photos of watches that I have taken through the years. In creating the pieces I definitely ‘play’ with how things might fit together.”

The images in the Second Nature series are a lot of fun to examine as a watch enthusiast because of the way they recontextualize watches, and small components of watches, in new and unexpected ways. The iconic three dimensional globe on a Gruebel Forsey GMT becomes an echinacea plant, for example. The tip of a hand on a watch by J.N. Shapiro morphs into a hibiscus leaf. Playing with shape, color, and completely unbounded by relative size, Atom mashes up watches and plants in all kinds of ways. Sometimes the watch is the focus and you have to search for the plant, and sometimes you swear you’re looking at a macro of a plant standing alone, before you notice the fusee and chain has replaced a branch. 

“When adding the elements of one or the other to the main base image it was not often straightforward,” Atom explained. “I played with many options and ideas when test fitting plants into a watch image, for instance.” 

One of the striking things about viewing Atom’s pieces in person is the effect that comes from the printing method he uses. Atom has been working with aluminum printmaking for about ten years, and it makes a lot of sense for watch photography specifically, given that watches are (almost always) made of metal. There’s a certain amount of coherence there, and it can subtly trick your brain into thinking you’re looking at an actual watch. The end result, according to Atom, creates a unique and almost three dimensional effect when you view the image in person, thanks to a dye sublimation process that allows the highlights to shine through as the surface metal below. Beyond achieving a particular visual impact, Atom’s reasons for using aluminum come down to personal preference and a certain practicality. “I very much enjoy the tactile rigidity of the aluminum prints,” he says. “You can touch them with little consequence and they look fantastic frameless.” 

I had a chance to see Atom’s new pieces in person at a reception at Fitchburg State University, his alma mater. I’ve known Atom for several years now and see him pretty regularly at Windup and other watch industry events around New York, but I didn’t know he was a Fitchburg graduate until he sent us the press pack for this new project. I’m pretty familiar with this part of Massachusetts and the campus is only about an hour’s drive, so I jumped at the chance to attend the opening reception recently. 

Atom’s work displayed at Fitchburg State

One of the cool things about the way the Second Nature pieces are displayed at Fitchburg is that Atom has included not just the final “mashup” images, but the reference images used to create the final piece. It’s a bit of a cheat code for viewers of the art who might not be as familiar with the specific watch components featured, which are at times well hidden in the final composition. It also provides some clues to how these pieces came together. Atom told me that most of the watch imagery was culled from his archives, going back as far as five years. The plant imagery is all new, and shot primarily at Wave Hill. Finding the right watch/plant combinations took time, but Atom explained he allowed things to take shape naturally. “I wasn’t photographing the plants with the idea that I would combine them with a specific watch, that came later,” he explained. “I wholly enjoy the process and difficulty of macro photography and focused on that with the plants. Shooting plants is new to me, something I’ve only begun to explore.”

The original fusee and chain macro image on the left, integrated into the larger image on the right

Atom’s work will be displayed publicly in a space in a high traffic area of a university administration building for the next several months. As you’d expect, it’s quite meaningful for Atom to have the support of his university. “It was wonderful to be asked to exhibit my work at Fitchburg State,” he told me. “I had a very positive experience at Fitchburg where I was allowed and encouraged to spread my photographic wings under my professor, Peter Laytin.” Atom went on to explain that he hopes his work can have an impact on current photography students. “If I can show the current generation of students something about photography, whether through my exhibit or in class, that inspires them it will be very fulfilling.” Atom will be giving a lecture on his work to Fitchburg State students in the spring, and expects that he will also teach a course in macro photography at the university. He also teased that there are more images in the Second Nature series to come, and that a book is possible in the future. 

Having a chance to see Atom’s work up close is always a treat, but it was particularly nice to see him so warmly received by his alma mater, and in particular by the current and former photography students and faculty in attendance. Walking through the exhibition space I was able to speak with several Fitchburg State students and staff, and I didn’t encounter anyone who described themselves as a member of the watch community – they came to this event to support an alum and as appreciators of art more generally. This was refreshing, and it’s always meaningful to see little slices of our watch community appreciated outside their specific niche. It also underscores Atom’s talent not just as a watch photographer, but as an artist who is capable of transcending that same niche.  

More information about Atom and his work can be found on his website here.