Okay, so, I’ve been wanting to do this for a while, and today I finally did it – remaking the Patek Philippe Gondolo 7042/100G-010, the one they call “Specialty Stores.” It’s a pretty fancy watch, but I thought, why not try to make my own version?
First off, I started by gathering all the information I could find about this watch. I mean, I really dug deep. Looked at pictures, read descriptions, anything I could get my hands on. This watch is a 31mm by 34.8mm white gold piece, with a hand-wound mechanical movement, and it’s covered in diamonds. Seriously, the bezel, the lugs, they’re all blinged out. It’s a cushion-shaped watch, part of the Gondolo line which has all the non-round Patek watches.
After I felt like I knew the watch inside and out, I moved on to the design phase. I didn’t have any actual blueprints or anything, so I sketched it out based on what I had seen. I wanted to get the proportions right, and capture that whole diamond-encrusted look. My plan was to try and recreate that. And the serial number! Each Patek Philippe has a unique serial number – that’s like the watch’s fingerprint. Tells you when it was made, its history, all that. Super important for knowing if it’s the real deal.
- Drew a bunch of sketches.
- Figured out the size of the case – 31mm by 34.8mm, just like the original.
- Made sure the shape was right, that cushion shape is key.
- Started planning where all those fake diamonds would go.
Then came the fun part – actually making the thing. I decided to use a cheaper metal instead of white gold, you know, to keep things budget-friendly. I shaped the metal into that cushion shape, which was trickier than I expected. Then I carefully set a bunch of shiny stones where the diamonds should be. Not real diamonds, of course, but they look pretty convincing from afar.
For the movement, I just used a simple quartz movement I had lying around. It’s not a fancy mechanical movement like the real deal, but it keeps time, and that’s what matters, right? Plus, it’s way easier to work with.
The Final Result
After hours of tinkering, I finally finished my homemade Gondolo. And you know what? It actually turned out pretty good! It’s not a perfect replica, obviously, but it captures the essence of the original. It’s got that fancy, luxurious vibe, and it looks pretty darn good on my wrist, if I do say so myself.
It was a fun project, and I learned a lot about watchmaking along the way. Maybe I’ll try to remake another fancy watch sometime. Any suggestions?
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