It’s not often you find yourself at a launch party for a new line of finely engineered watches and look up from the trays of canapés to see none other than Paul Simonon, the legendary bass player of the Clash, manning the turntables. But that’s exactly what happened last night as the eminently British watchmaker Bremont took over the stunning World of McIntosh Townhouse on Lafayette Street (it’s where Beyoncé shot the video for “Halo”), set Tom Parker Bowles (the food writer and son of the Duchess of Cornwall) to providing the comestibles, and filled the place with everyone from punk couturier Jimmy Webb to Sienna Miller. We grabbed Simonon before he took over the illuminated McIntosh MT5 (dubbed "the turntable of the gods," which seemed apt) and pulled him into a spare library for a few questions.

I’m dying to know how Paul Simonon ends up deejaying a watch party in downtown Manhattan.

Well, a friend of mine helped organize the events in London and here, and they wanted somebody to play some tunes, and so he suggested me. He thought it would be interesting because, in a way, the watches are quite traditional, and I suppose what I play is sort of traditional—I only play vinyl rather than use [inaudible].

Wait—did you just say beat sticks?

No, USB sticks. Ah—beat sticks! [Laughs.] You’ve just invented something, baby! There you go—now we just have to start it. Beat sticks—what, you haven’t got one?

Do you have one of Bremont’s watches?

I’ve got one now. It’s funny—about two weeks ago, the watch I did have stopped working. And then suddenly my friend asked if I’d like to do this DJ thing for Bremont, and I said, “Yeah, sure, tell me more.” And he said, “Well, they’ll give you a watch.” And I said, “Well, that’s really handy, because I need a watch.” Strictly on practical terms, it’s worked out quite nicely so far.

Do you deejay often?

I live in London, and there’s a place I deejay once a month. It’s like a social club, like I guess when you’re a kid you’d go to a pub or someplace. It’s called the House of St. Barnabas—and actually, Dickens used to sit in the garden. Apparently he wrote part of A Tale of Two Cities there. So it’s got a bit of history. And it’s a homeless charity thing—a lot of people who work there haven’t really been schooled in the etiquette of serving people, so they can be a bit rough and ready. They’ve basically just come off the street and are being introduced back into society. We’re the job, so to speak.