Okay, so I got into this whole watch thing, right? And not just any watches, but those super fancy ones that cost more than my car. Specifically, I got it in my head to remake a Patek Philippe Calatrava, the 5227R-001 model. Yeah, the one that’s like, old-school style but shiny and new.
First off, I started by just staring at pictures of this thing online. I looked and looked. It’s 39mm, which is a decent size, not too flashy. And it’s got this 18K rose gold case, which, let me tell you, is a pain to try and match. The dial is this ivory color. Not white, but like, an old, classy kind of off-white.
Then I got to the parts. I found out the real one has like, 212 parts or something crazy like that. I mean, who even needs that many parts in a watch? The movement, the thing that makes it tick, is only 3.3mm thick. And the automatic mechanism is thinner, 2.55mm with 164 parts. So I started hunting down gears and springs and all that tiny stuff. Let me tell you, it’s a whole world of its own. I spent hours on these forums and websites, trying to figure out what I even needed.
- Diameter: 27 mm (that’s the movement, not the whole watch)
- Thickness: 3.3 mm (again, just the movement)
- Number of parts: 212 (for the main movement)
- Jewels: 30 (these are little bearings, I think)
- Automatic mechanism thickness: 2.55 mm
- Automatic mechanism parts: 164
I ordered a bunch of parts from different places. Some were okay, some were total junk. I learned the hard way that you can’t just buy any old watch parts and expect them to work together. After many attempts, I successfully assembled them together. Then came the case. I tried to find something that looked like rose gold, but wasn’t, you know, actual gold. I settled on this gold-plated thing that looked pretty close. And the strap? Don’t even get me started on the strap. The real one is alligator, which is way out of my league. I ended up with a brown leather one that looked decent enough.
Putting it all together was a nightmare, to be honest. I bent some parts, scratched the case, and almost gave up a bunch of times. But, I’m stubborn, so I kept at it. And you know what? Eventually, I did it. I made my own version of the Patek Philippe Calatrava 5227R-001.
The Result
It’s not perfect, not by a long shot. But it looks pretty good, if I do say so myself. It ticks, it tells time, and it’s got that classic vibe. Would I wear it every day? Probably not. It’s more of a “look what I did” kind of thing. Plus, I’m pretty sure it’s not waterproof. Or shockproof. Or anything-proof, really. But hey, I made it. And that’s something, right?
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