Okay, so I’ve been wanting to remake that Patek Philippe Gondolo 4962/200R-001, the one they made for specialty stores. You know, the one with all those diamonds and that swanky look? Yeah, that’s the one. I figured, why not give it a shot myself?
First off, I gathered all the stuff I needed. This wasn’t exactly a trip to the local craft store. I needed some decent gold – not the real deal, obviously, but something that looked the part. And diamonds? Forget it, I went with some pretty convincing cubic zirconia. They sparkle just fine for my purposes, trust me.
Then came the actual work. I started by sketching out the design. I had a bunch of pictures of the original watch that I used as a reference. I wanted to get the shape of the case just right, you know? That rectangular, slightly curved thing it’s got going on. Once I was happy with the sketch, I started shaping the gold. This was tricky, let me tell you. Lots of careful bending and hammering.
- Bending the gold was a pain. I broke a few pieces before I got the hang of it.
- Hammering was easier, but still required a lot of patience.
- Setting the “diamonds” was probably the most time-consuming part. Each one had to be placed just so.
After that, I moved onto the dial. I decided to go with a simple mother-of-pearl look, again, just an imitation. I found this material online that looked pretty close to the real thing. Carefully, I cut it to fit the shape of the case and then glued it on.
Putting It All Together
The final step was assembling everything. I had this cheap watch movement I picked up online. It’s not a Patek Philippe movement, obviously, but it keeps time. I fitted the movement inside the case, attached the hands, and then secured the back of the case. Oh, and the strap! I found a nice leather strap that looked similar to the original. I attached that, and boom, done!
It’s not perfect, of course. A real Patek Philippe is a work of art, made by master craftsmen. But, hey, I’m pretty proud of my little project. It looks pretty good, if I do say so myself. And it was a lot of fun to make. Maybe I’ll try another one sometime. There’s a bunch of cool watches out there I want to reproduce!
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