Alright, guys, so I had this crazy idea the other day – I wanted to remake a Patek Philippe watch. You know, those super fancy, expensive ones? Yeah, I know, it sounds nuts, but I was like, why not? So, I picked the Patek Philippe Gondolo 7042/100G-010. Man, this watch is a beauty. It is all shiny and has this 18K white gold and diamonds. I just had to try and remake it.
First thing I did was look up everything I could find about this watch. I mean, I needed to know what I was getting myself into. I found out it’s a manual mechanical watch, which means you have to wind it yourself. Fancy, right? It’s got this thing called the Caliber 215 movement. And get this – the bracelet has 78 Akoya pearls on it! I was like, “Pearls? On a watch?” But hey, it looked amazing.
So, I started thinking about materials. I couldn’t afford real gold or diamonds, obviously. I went with stainless steel instead. Some places say they use 316, others 904L – I just picked one that looked good and was strong enough. It has a fluted bezel, which means it’s got those little ridges around the edge. I found a way to copy that using some tools I had at home. It wasn’t perfect, but it looked pretty close, I think.
The hardest part was probably the dial. The real one has all these diamonds, and I obviously couldn’t do that. So I had to get creative. I thought about using some fake stones, but they just didn’t look right. In the end, I decided to just focus on the shape and the overall design of the dial. I made a template based on the pictures I found online and carefully cut it out of a thin sheet of metal.
- Finding Pictures: Scoured the internet for detailed images of the Gondolo 7042/100G-010.
- Material Hunt: Settled on stainless steel for the case and bracelet.
- Bezel Replication: Used home tools to mimic the fluted bezel design.
- Dial Design: Created a template based on online images for the dial.
- Bracelet: Skipped the Akoya pearls, opted for a simple stainless steel bracelet.
The bracelet on the original watch is insane with all those pearls, but I knew I couldn’t replicate that. I went for a simple stainless steel bracelet instead. It was way easier, and honestly, it still looked pretty good with the rest of the watch.
Putting it all together was a real challenge. I had to be super careful not to mess anything up. It took me a few tries to get everything aligned just right. But in the end, I had something that looked like a Patek Philippe Gondolo 7042/100G-010. At least, I think it did. Maybe not as shiny or fancy, but it was mine, and I made it.
What I Did
I started by gathering all the information and images I could find. Then, I sourced the materials – mostly stainless steel. I worked on the bezel, trying to replicate that fluted design. I made a template for the dial and cut it out carefully. I opted for a simple stainless steel bracelet. Finally, I assembled all the parts, and voila! My homemade Gondolo was ready. It was a long process, took me weeks of on and off work, but so worth it in the end. You should have seen my face when I finally put it all together. I felt like a real watchmaker, even though it is far from perfect. What do you guys think? Should I try another model next?
Click to consult