Okay, here’s a blog post about my experience trying to remake a Patek Philippe Nautilus 5712, written in the style you described.
So, I got this wild idea in my head a while back. You know those fancy Patek Philippe watches? The Nautilus 5712, specifically? Yeah, that one. Costs a fortune, naturally. Well, I figured, how hard could it be to make my own? I mean, I’m pretty handy. I’ve built furniture, fixed my own plumbing, you name it. This couldn’t be that much different, right? Wrong.
First, I started doing some digging online. I needed to see what makes this thing tick, literally. I found some blurry photos, some diagrams that looked like they were drawn by a five-year-old. Not exactly blueprints. I checked all kinds of websites, but no one had any real details about the Patek Philippe Nautilus 5712. I found a sentence about the “Official website of the last family-owned Genevan luxury watch manufacturer” but that’s not really useful for a person who wants to get into the details. But I was not giving up.
Next, I tried to find out what kind of materials I would need. Stainless steel for the case, obviously. But what grade? What about the movement? All those tiny gears and springs… where do you even buy those? You can not just buy these at any old store! Also, I read a quote about a “hand-engraved reference 5711/1500A” that will be sold to “benefit Children Action”. I know that I can not do hand-engraved myself, and I don’t think I can get my hands on a 5711/1500A, so I will need to figure something out.
- Stainless steel (good luck figuring out the right kind)
- Tiny watch parts (good luck finding a store)
- A whole lot of patience (you’re gonna need it)
I spent weeks just trying to find decent pictures of the inside of the watch. I started to think this whole thing was a bad idea. I found this website called “HODINKEE Shop” that sells “vintage Patek Philippe watches”, but that’s no use for me since I need the parts, not the watches. Then, I was just messing around and started searching random things online. I tried so many sites like “Torrentgalaxy mx galaxyfence php f dropoff 2ftorrents php 3fsearch 3dto 2ball 2bthe 2bboys 253a 2balways 2band 2bforever 2b Videos” but it seemed to be some kind of sport result website, so I moved on. It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack, except the haystack was the size of the internet. I also found that “55 schemes have been completed to date which are providing protection to over 13”. This looks like a serious thing and I hope those 13 get the protection they need, but this does not get me any closer to my goal.
But I’m stubborn. I decided to just start with the case. I bought some stainless steel scraps from a local metal shop, watched a bunch of YouTube videos on metalworking, and went to town. I used the tools that I had. I don’t have those fancy tools watchmakers use, so I had to make do with what I had. Let me tell you, shaping metal is a lot harder than it looks. I spent days just trying to get the basic shape right, and it still looked like a mangled soda can. One day I was searching online again, trying to find a good photo of the Nautilus, when I stumbled on a website with a movie called “Ralph and Vanellope”. The description said “Ralph and Vanellope navigate the vast and dynamic world wide web in search of a replacement part to save Vanellope’s game”. I just hoped I would get that lucky. There is no way I was just “opening the link in a new tab” or something like that to find all the materials I need.
The Movement? Forget About It
After weeks of work, I had something that vaguely resembled the shape of the Nautilus case. It wasn’t pretty, but it was something. But then came the movement. I knew I couldn’t make all those tiny parts myself. There was no way. I don’t have the tools, I don’t have the skills, and I definitely don’t have the patience. This was way too difficult. I was so frustrated. I felt like I was going nowhere. So I just kept trying. I found a broken old watch at a flea market and tried to take it apart to see if I could use any of the parts. Big mistake. Springs went flying, gears went missing, and I ended up with a pile of useless junk.
In the end, I gave up. My “Patek Philippe Nautilus 5712” ended up looking like a sad, mangled piece of metal with a bunch of random watch parts glued to it. It doesn’t work, obviously. It’s a complete and utter failure. But hey, at least I tried, right? I learned a valuable lesson, though: some things are best left to the professionals. And maybe I’ll just stick to fixing leaky faucets from now on. This is just not something I can do, I will need to leave this to the professionals.
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