Okay, so, I got this wild idea the other day. I’m gonna remake a Patek Philippe watch. Yeah, you heard that right. Not just any Patek, but the Gondolo 7042/100R-010, the one they only sell at their special stores. This thing is a beauty, all rose gold and diamonds. It is so cool.
First things first, I spent hours online just staring at pictures of this watch. I checked out every angle, every little detail. The Gondolo, I learned, is named after some fancy retailer in Rio, Gondolo & Labouriau. That’s the story of its origin. It’s not round like most watches. This one’s got a rectangular shape, which is pretty unique. And the diamonds, oh man, 251 of them, all set in this cool circular pattern. It features a 31mm X 34.8mm 18k rose gold case set with baguette diamonds along the bezel and lugs. This watch looks really expensive.
So, I started sketching. I’m no artist, but I tried to copy the shape and the way those diamonds are laid out. It was tough. Getting the proportions right, making sure it looked like the real deal, at least a little bit.
Then came the fun part – picking out the materials. I couldn’t afford real rose gold or diamonds, obviously. I’m not made of money! So I went with some gold-colored metal for the case and shiny little stones for the diamonds. It took some time to find stuff that looked somewhat like the real thing.
- Sketching: Drew the watch design multiple times to get it right.
- Material Gathering: Found affordable alternatives to rose gold and diamonds.
- Case Shaping: This was the hardest part. I used some basic tools to bend and shape the metal. It wasn’t perfect, but I got it close to that rectangular Gondolo shape.
- Stone Setting: Glued the shiny stones onto the case where the diamonds should be. I tried to follow the circular pattern from the pictures.
- Movement: I found a cheap watch movement online and made sure it fit inside my homemade case. It is a manually-winding mechanical watch.
Steps I took:
Putting it all together was like a puzzle. I had to be super careful not to mess up the metal or lose any of those tiny stones. The trickiest part was getting the watch hands to move smoothly. I had to adjust them a bunch of times.
After days of work, it was done. It’s not a perfect replica, not even close. But, you know what? It looks pretty cool. It’s got that Gondolo vibe, and it actually tells the time. I wore it around the house, and I felt like a million bucks, even though it probably cost me less than fifty to make.
This whole project was a blast. It taught me a lot about watches and how they’re made. Would I do it again? Maybe. It was a lot of work, but seeing the finished product made it all worth it. Plus, now I can say I kinda, sorta made my own Patek Philippe. How many people can say that?
Click to consult