Hey everyone, today I’m gonna talk about my little project here – remaking the Patek Philippe Calatrava 5227J-001. I’ve always been a huge fan of watches, and Patek Philippe, well, that’s like the holy grail, right?
So, I saw this 5227J-001 on one of those fancy watch sites, Chrono-something. Man, the prices were insane! 28 grand, 36 grand, even over 40! I thought, “There’s gotta be a way to get that look without, you know, selling my house.”
First thing I did was dive deep into research. What makes this watch tick? It’s got a self-winding mechanism, which is pretty neat. And a shock absorber, because, let’s face it, I’m clumsy. I found out that the real deal Patek Philippes have these little marks on the back – “750” for 18k gold and “950” for platinum. I kept all this in mind, obviously I wasn’t gonna use real gold or platinum. My wallet said “no way, buddy”.
Now, the fun part – actually making the thing. I got myself a decent movement, nothing too crazy, but it gets the job done. The case was tricky. I wanted that classic Calatrava look, so I spent hours looking at pictures, trying to get the shape just right. Ended up using stainless steel, it is cheaper and easier to get, polished it up real nice to give it that fancy shine.
- Movement: Got a basic self-winding one.
- Case: Stainless steel, polished to a mirror finish. It is cheap.
- Dial: This was tough. The 5227J-001 has this clean, simple dial. I tried a few different things before I was happy. It is simple but hard to get.
- Hands: Found some hands that looked pretty close to the original. Not perfect, but hey, close enough.
- Strap: Leather, of course. Black, to match the classic look.
Putting it all together was like a puzzle. A really, really tiny puzzle. I broke a few parts, cursed a lot, but eventually, I had something that resembled a Patek Philippe Calatrava 5227J-001.
Is it the real deal? Of course not. But does it look good on my wrist? Heck yeah! And the best part? I didn’t have to take out a second mortgage to get it. The only pity is that I can not get the real Patek Philippe marks on it.
This whole project was a blast. Learned a ton about watches, and got a cool timepiece out of it. If you’re thinking about trying something like this, I say go for it! Just be prepared for a challenge, and don’t expect to fool any serious watch collectors, haha.
Anyways, that’s my story. Hope you enjoyed it. Catch you guys later!
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