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So, I got this wild idea to try and remake a Patek Philippe Calatrava 5227R-001. Yeah, I know, it’s a crazy expensive watch, but I thought, why not give it a shot? I’m not a watchmaker or anything, just a regular guy who likes to tinker.
First, I spent hours looking at pictures of the watch online. I found some info about the movement, which is a self-winding caliber 324. It’s a pretty complex piece of machinery, with 212 parts and 30 jewels. I also read that it’s 27 mm in diameter and 3.3 mm thick. No way I could recreate that, so I decided to focus on the outside of the watch.
I started by trying to find a case that looked similar to the original. I searched online and found a cheap watch with a rose gold-colored case that was about the right size. It wasn’t perfect, but it was close enough for this project.
Next, I needed to make a new dial. I took the dial out of the cheap watch and used it as a template. I carefully drew the hour markers and the Patek Philippe logo onto a piece of thin metal. It took a few tries to get it right, but I finally ended up with something that looked decent.
- Drew the hour markers.
- Cut out the new dial.
- Attached the new dial to the movement.
- Painted the hands.
- Assembled the watch.
The hands were tricky. The original watch has these really fancy, three-dimensional hands. I tried to shape some thin pieces of metal to look like them, but it was really tough. I ended up just painting the hands from the cheap watch to match the rose gold color of the case.
The bezel on the original 5227R-001 has this “Clous de Paris” pattern. It’s a really intricate, textured design. I tried to recreate it using a small file, but it was a total disaster. I decided to just leave the bezel plain.
Putting it all together was a bit of a challenge. I had to be really careful not to damage the new dial or the hands. I slowly assembled the watch, piece by piece, and finally, it was done!
The End Result
Okay, so it doesn’t look exactly like a real Patek Philippe Calatrava 5227R-001. Not even close, really. But it was a fun project, and I learned a lot about watches. And, hey, now I have a watch that kind of, sort of, maybe a little bit looks like a super expensive watch. It’s a good conversation starter, at least! Maybe I’ll try to remake another watch someday. But next time, I might pick something a little less complicated!
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