Okay, so, I got this itch to mess around with watches, right? Not just any watches, but those fancy Jaeger-LeCoultre ones. I’m not made of money, so I thought, why not try making an imitation of the JLC Rendez-Vous Moon? That’s the one with the sparkly diamonds and the moon phase thingy. It looked like a fun project, and honestly, who could tell the difference if I did a good job?
First things first, I had to do some digging. I learned that Jaeger-LeCoultre, or JLC for short, is a big deal in the watch world. Apparently, people who wear JLC watches really care about quality, it is not just about the look, but also the reputation. And their most famous watch is probably the Reverso. It’s got this cool rectangular case that was originally designed to protect the watch face during polo matches. Fancy, huh?
Then I dove into the world of imitation watches. I found a bunch of places online selling high-quality fakes. Some of them even had ads for “authentic” luxury watches at crazy low prices. It was all pretty tempting, I gotta say. But I wanted to make my own, not just buy one.
I started by studying the real Rendez-Vous Moon. I found tons of pictures and even some videos online. JLC uses real good diamonds on their watches, so they sparkle like crazy. I wanted to get that right. I also noticed this “three emblematic gadroons” thing on the Reverso models which look like lines on the watch case. I figured I could try to imitate that on my fake Rendez-Vous too.
Next, I had to gather my materials. I found some cheap watch movements online, nothing fancy, but they worked. I also ordered some fake diamonds, some metal for the case, and some tools. I even found a cheap watch with a rectangular case that I could modify to look like the Rendez-Vous.
The process was a lot of trial and error. I messed up a lot of watch cases trying to get the shape right, but each time I learned from my errors and got closer to the look I desired. I spent hours gluing those tiny fake diamonds onto the bezel. My fingers were sore, and my eyes were tired, but I was determined to make it look good. The moon phase was the hardest part. I ended up painting it by hand, which was a real pain, and it took me several tries to get the painting right. But in the end, it looked decent, or at least I think so.
Finally, after many attempts and a lot of frustration, I had my imitation JLC Rendez-Vous Moon. It wasn’t perfect, of course. A real watch expert could probably spot the flaws in a second. But to me, it looked pretty darn good. And honestly, it was a lot of fun to make.
So, there you have it. That’s the story of how I made my own fake JLC Rendez-Vous Moon watch. It was a fun project, and I learned a lot about watches and about myself in the process. Would I do it again? Maybe. But for now, I’m pretty happy with my little creation.
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