Okay, so, I’ve been wanting to do this for a while now, and I finally got around to it. I decided to remake a Patek Philippe Calatrava 6119R-001, the one they call “original order.” It’s a fancy watch, that’s for sure. I saw it online, and, man, I just had to try and make one myself. It looked really shiny, with that “Clous de Paris” thing on it, whatever that means. I knew it was gonna be tough, but I was up for the challenge.
First, I gathered all the materials I thought I would need. It was a lot of small parts, and I had to make sure they were the right size and shape. I spent hours searching online, looking at pictures of the real watch. I needed to get a good idea of how it all fit together. The watch is listed for like, $28,000 or something crazy. That’s way out of my league, but I figured I could make something that looked pretty close for a lot less. I saw the official retail price should be like 33,000$. Anyway, I could not afford that, even though I like the rose gold color very much.
Then, I started putting the pieces together. It was like a really complicated puzzle. I had to be super careful not to mess anything up. I used tweezers and a magnifying glass to handle the tiny parts. My hands were shaking at first, but I got used to it. I worked on it for hours every day, slowly but surely making progress. I mean, the original one has a “mechanically manually wound movement” and a “silvery grained” dial, with “gold-applied hour markers.” I just tried my best to mimic that.
Main Challenges
- Finding the right materials was a real pain. I couldn’t just go to the store and buy Patek Philippe parts. I had to improvise and find things that looked similar. I ended up buying a cheap watch that looked kind of like it, and then taking it apart for the pieces.
- Assembling the watch was incredibly difficult. The parts are so small, and it’s easy to make a mistake. One wrong move and you could ruin the whole thing. I broke a few parts along the way and had to start over. But I just kept trying.
- Getting the “Clous de Paris” pattern right was a nightmare. I tried a bunch of different techniques, but nothing looked quite right. In the end, I just did the best I could.
After many days of work, I finally finished it. It wasn’t perfect, but I was pretty proud of myself. It actually looked like a Patek Philippe Calatrava, at least from a distance. I wore it around for a few days, and no one even noticed it was a fake. Okay, maybe they did, but they were too polite to say anything. I even showed it to my buddy who knows a bit about watches. He said it wasn’t half bad, considering I did it all myself. That made my day. I think he may recognize that the watch I remade had a rose gold bezel guilloched with a hobnail pattern.
Would I do it again? Probably not. It was a lot of work, and I’m not sure it was worth it. But it was a fun experience, and I learned a lot about watches. Maybe next time I’ll try something a little less ambitious. Or maybe I’ll just save up and buy a real Patek Philippe, who knows? But honestly, I’m just glad I finished it and it somewhat looks like the real one. I’m happy about that.
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