Okay, so, I’ve been messing around with watches lately, and let me tell you, it’s been a wild ride. Today, I wanna share my little adventure trying to remake the Patek Philippe Gondolo 7042/100R-010. Yeah, that super fancy, diamond-studded watch. I mean, who wouldn’t want that beauty on their wrist, right?
So, first things first, I spent days just staring at pictures of this watch online. I was looking everywhere. I found some info that said it’s got this manual winding thing going on and a caliber 215, whatever that means. And the diamonds? 251 of them, all sparkly and stuff. I even found a listing for like, $266,151! I found all these different sites, all talking about the rose gold, the diamonds, you name it. It was a lot.
I started by gathering all the stuff I thought I needed. I got some tools, some cheap metal to practice on, and a whole bunch of those fake diamonds. I mean, I’m not made of money, so real diamonds were out of the question. I got myself a magnifying glass thingy, you know, the ones real watchmakers use. Then I looked for some rose gold. I found that the real watch is 31 x 34.8mm in size. I made sure my materials matched that.
First, I practiced making the watch case. This watch is rectangular, which is kinda different from most watches I’ve seen. Took me a bunch of tries, but I finally got something that looked kinda like the real deal. I found this thing online where you can buy watches, it listed the watch at 214 whatever that means. Then I tried working on the dial. That’s the part with all the diamonds. Man, that was tough. I tried sticking those fake diamonds on in a circular pattern, just like the original. It was super fiddly, and I messed up a lot, but I kept at it. I think I went through, like, a hundred of those tiny fake diamonds. The real watch has them “paved” in some kind of pattern, but I just did my best, okay?
The winding part was another headache. I watched a bunch of videos, tried to copy what they were doing, but it’s way harder than it looks. The original has a “manual” movement, and I tried to replicate that. Let’s just say I have a newfound respect for watchmakers now. There are different collections out there, and some of them are not rectangular. I think they are called “tonneau” or “cushion-shaped.” I decided to stick with the rectangular one, though.
After weeks of trial and error, I finally had something that resembled the Gondolo 7042/100R-010. It wasn’t perfect, not by a long shot, but I was pretty proud of it. I even made a strap out of some rose gold-colored metal and a piece of pearl. I even put it on, it felt so cool.
Here are some tips I picked up along the way:
- Patience is key: This stuff takes time, so don’t rush it.
- Practice makes perfect: Don’t expect to get it right on the first try.
- Fake diamonds are your friend: Unless you’re a millionaire, then go for the real ones, I guess.
- Watch videos: There are tons of videos out there that can teach you a lot.
- Don’t be afraid to mess up: It’s all part of the learning process.
So yeah, that’s my story of trying to remake a super expensive watch. It was a fun, frustrating, and ultimately rewarding experience. Would I do it again? Probably not. But hey, at least I can say I tried, right? And I got a pretty cool-looking watch out of it, even if it doesn’t tell time very well.
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