Okay, so I’ve been wanting to get my hands on a Patek Philippe Gondolo 7041R-001 for a while now. It’s a beautiful watch, but the price tag? Forget about it. So, I started thinking, why not try to remake one myself? I’m no watchmaker, but I’m pretty handy, and I figured I could give it a shot.
First, I needed to gather all the parts. This was a real pain. I spent hours online, looking at pictures of the original watch and trying to figure out what kind of movement it used, what the case was made of, all that stuff. I managed to find some similar-looking parts online and ordered them. A lot of these parts were not cheap, mind you. But still a lot less than the real deal.
Once I had all the parts, the real work began. I cleared off my workbench, got my tools ready, and just dove in. I started by taking apart a cheap watch I had lying around, just to get a feel for how everything fit together. It was a mess, little springs and gears flying everywhere. My wife was not happy with the mess on the dining table.
Disassembling and Reassembling
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Taking it apart was the easy part, putting it back together, well, that’s a whole different story. I spent days just trying to get the movement back in the case, let alone working. It was frustrating, to say the least. I almost gave up a few times, I’m not gonna lie.
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Then there was the dial. Oh, man, the dial. The original Gondolo has this beautiful guilloché pattern on the dial. I tried my best to recreate it, but it’s not easy. I ended up using a small engraver I bought, and it kind of, sort of, looks like the original. You know, if you squint a little.
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The hands were another challenge. I bought some generic hands that were kind of the right shape, but they were too big. So I had to file them down, which took forever. I probably inhaled a good amount of metal dust doing that. Don’t tell my wife that.
After weeks of work, I finally got it all together. And you know what? It actually worked! I mean, it’s not perfect. It loses a few minutes a day, the date doesn’t always change, and the finishing is, well, let’s just say it’s not Patek Philippe quality. It’s a little off, you know? But when I put it on my wrist, it felt pretty good.
So, there you have it. My attempt at remaking a Patek Philippe Gondolo. Was it worth it? I don’t know. I spent a lot of time and money on it, and it’s not exactly a masterpiece. But it was a fun project, and I learned a lot. Maybe next time I’ll try something a little less ambitious. Maybe a simple, three-hand Seiko. Yeah, that sounds about right.
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