Okay, so, I got this wild idea the other day. I decided to try and remake a Patek Philippe Gondolo 7042/100R-010, you know, the super fancy watch they have in their flagship stores. Yeah, I know it sounds nuts, but hear me out. I’ve always been into watches, and this one, it’s just a beauty.
I started by looking up everything I could find about this watch. It’s called the Gondolo Haute Joaillerie, and it’s a 31mm by 34.8mm 18k rose gold piece. Seriously, it’s stunning. The bezel and lugs are covered in baguette diamonds – 78 of them, to be exact. And the dial? Oh man, it’s set with another 108 diamonds. It’s a manually-wound mechanical watch, with a caliber 215 movement.
Getting the materials was the first big challenge. I obviously couldn’t use real diamonds or rose gold, so I had to get creative. I found some decent cubic zirconia that looked pretty close to the real thing, and for the case, I used a rose gold-plated base. I also managed to find a cheap mechanical movement that I could tinker with.
- First, I carefully measured and cut the cubic zirconia to fit the bezel and lugs. This took forever, and I definitely messed up a few times. But, you know, practice makes perfect, right?
- Next, I worked on the dial. I found a small piece of metal that I could use as a base and started setting the smaller cubic zirconia on it. This was even more tedious than the bezel. My back was killing me.
- Then came the assembly. I disassembled the watch case I bought and started fitting my homemade diamond-studded parts onto it. Let me tell you, this was nerve-wracking. One wrong move and I could scratch the whole thing.
- Finally, I put the movement in. This was actually the easiest part since I didn’t really modify the movement itself. Just had to make sure it fit snugly in the case.
After hours and hours of work, I finally finished. And you know what? It didn’t look half bad! Sure, it’s not a real Patek Philippe, and anyone who knows watches would spot it as a fake in a second, but I was pretty proud of myself. I wore it around the house for a day, feeling like a million bucks, even though my creation was probably worth like fifty.
It was a fun project, and I learned a ton about watchmaking. Would I do it again? Probably not. It was way too much work. But hey, at least I can say I tried to remake a Patek Philippe. That’s something, right? I took some photos of my frankenwatch, they look kinda cool. I’m even thinking of making a display case for it. It’ll be a good conversation starter, like “Hey, check out this crazy thing I made.”
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