Okay, so, I’ve been wanting to try my hand at making one of those fancy Patek Philippe watches for a while now. I finally got around to it and picked the Calatrava 6119G-001 as my project. This thing is a beauty, all white gold and sleek looking.
First, I started by gathering all the info I could find about this watch. I looked at a bunch of pictures, especially from the official shop. I read up on the specs, like how it’s made of white gold and the size is 39mm. It’s called the Calatrava 6119G-001, and apparently, it’s a pretty big deal in the watch world.
- Gathering Intel: I found out that this watch has a hand-wound movement, called the Calibre 30-255 PS, and it can run for about 65 hours without winding. Fancy stuff.
- Design Details: It’s got this cool charcoal gray dial, and the hour markers are made of white gold, just like the case. The hands are this dauphine style, which I learned is a type of watch hand.
- The Case: I noted down that the case is round with a screw-down crown, and it has a see-through back, which I thought was a nice touch.
Next, I started getting all the materials together. This was a bit of a challenge, I’m not gonna lie. Getting the right kind of white gold wasn’t easy, but I managed. The movement was the trickiest part. I had to do a lot of searching to find something that was similar to the Calibre 30-255 PS.
Once I had everything, I started putting the watch together. I used a sapphire crystal for the glass because I read that’s what the real one uses. It’s supposed to be scratch-resistant, so that’s good. I tried to copy the dial as closely as I could, making it charcoal gray and adding the white gold markers. It was painstaking work, but I think it turned out okay.
The Assembly
Putting together the movement was the hardest part. I’m not a professional watchmaker, so this was all new to me. I took it slow, following the info I found as best as I could. I even managed to make the back transparent, so you can see the movement working. It’s not perfect, but I’m pretty proud of it.
After a lot of sweat and a few swear words, I finally finished it. The watch is running, and it looks pretty close to the real Calatrava 6119G-001. It’s not an exact replica, of course. I’m sure a real watch expert would spot the differences right away, but I’m happy with how it turned out. It was a great learning experience, and now I have a pretty cool watch to show for it.
This project was definitely a challenge, but it was also a lot of fun. I learned a ton about watchmaking and got to make something really special. I might try my hand at another model in the future. Who knows?
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