Okay, so, I’ve been wanting to try my hand at recreating a classic watch for a while now. I finally decided to go for it and chose the Patek Philippe Gondolo 7042/100G-010. You know, the one with the fancy, old-school vibe. It looked like a good challenge.
First thing I did was to gather all the pictures and information I could find about this watch. I scoured the Patek Philippe official website. Man, they make some beautiful timepieces! After that, I started sketching out the design, trying to get all the details right. The rounded octagonal bezel, the fancy case – it all had to be perfect. I spent days just staring at pictures and sketching.
Next, I began hunting for materials. It wasn’t easy finding stuff that looked similar to the original. I spent hours on different websites, just looking for parts. I had to make a few compromises, but I think I got pretty close to what I wanted. I got some white gold-looking material for the case, and some good-looking leather for the strap.
Then came the really tricky part: putting it all together. I started with the case. I had to cut it into that weird, eight-sided shape. I messed up a couple of times, but finally got it right. I did the same thing for the movement. I took a cheap one I found and tried to make it look like the real deal. The dial was also a pain. I printed out a design that looked similar to the original and glued it on. It took forever to get it straight! I spent most nights on it, really focused.
- First step: research and sketch.
- Second step: find the materials.
- Third step: put it all together.
Finally, after weeks of work, it was done. It’s not a perfect replica, of course. It doesn’t have all the fancy features of the original, like the annual calendar or the flyback chronograph. And it’s not made by some master watchmaker in Geneva. But, you know what? It looks pretty darn good. I wore it out the other day, and a couple of people even asked me about it. I’m pretty proud of it, not gonna lie.
What did I learn?
This whole project taught me a lot about watches and how they’re made. It’s way harder than it looks. It was a real pain to learn all this stuff. But it was also a lot of fun. I’m definitely going to try this again with another watch. Maybe a simpler one next time, though. Or maybe I’ll really go crazy and try to remake the Grandmaster Chime! Just kidding… unless?
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