Okay, so I’ve been wanting to do this for a while now, and I finally got around to it. I’ve always been a huge fan of the Patek Philippe Golden Ellipse, but let’s be real, the price tag is a bit out of my league. So, I thought, why not try to remake one myself? I’m not talking about making a fake, just creating something inspired by the classic design.
I started by doing some research. Turns out, the design is based on the “golden section,” some ancient Greek math thing. It’s a ratio, 1 / 1.6181 or something like that. They say it’s the basis for a bunch of famous art and architecture. Who knew, right?
Getting the Shape Right
The first big hurdle was getting that iconic elliptical shape. I messed around with some cardboard cutouts at first, trying to get the proportions right. It’s not a perfect circle, not a regular oval, it’s somewhere in between. The watch also has these little “ears” on the sides, kind of like a hybrid with their Nautilus model. I used a ruler and some string to trace out the shape on a piece of paper, then transferred it to a thin sheet of metal. I cut it out with some tin snips, which was a bit tricky. Filing down the edges to make them smooth took forever!
Finding the Right Material
Patek uses rose gold for their 5738R model, but that was obviously not an option for me. Instead, I found this brass sheet at a local hardware store that had a decent weight and a nice warm color. It’s not gold, but it gives a similar vibe, you know? After cutting the shape, I spent a good chunk of time polishing it up to get rid of scratches and give it a nice shine.
Putting It All Together
Next up, the movement. I’m not a watchmaker, so I just grabbed a cheap quartz movement from an old watch I had lying around. It’s not fancy, but it tells the time, and that’s good enough for me. I had to make a little holder for the movement out of some scrap plastic to keep it in place inside the case.
- Cut the elliptical shape from the brass sheet.
- Polish the brass to a high shine.
- Fit the quartz movement inside the case.
- Attach a strap.
For the strap, I just used a plain black leather one I had. Honestly, the whole process took way longer than I expected. There were a lot of little steps, a lot of trial and error. But in the end, I had something that, at least to me, looks pretty cool. It’s not a Patek Philippe, but it’s my own little tribute to the Golden Ellipse. And hey, it was a fun project. Might try to make another one someday, maybe with a different metal or a different strap. Who knows?
Anyway, that’s my little watchmaking adventure. Hope you guys enjoyed it. It’s not perfect, but I’m proud of it. Let me know what you think! I have been wearing it for about a week and it makes me feel like a million bucks, although the whole thing just cost me about 20 bucks and some spare time on the weekends. Not bad, not bad.
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