Custom watch building: is it for everyone?
Hi everyone, first of all thanks a lot for stopping by. I'm Plamen, and I've been into and wearing watches ever since I can remember.
Two years ago I started buying my own watches instead of waiting for someone to gift me one, and this is my (very) humble collection:
Recently I've sold 2 of my watches (a Timex Expedition North and a Seiko SRPH33K1) and now I have 300€ around that I'd like to reinvest into a new one for my collection. I've been browsing watches from different brands, but none of them seems to catch my eye. The Rolex Explorer II (white dial) is one of my grail watches, but I'm totally aware that I'd never spend that amount of money on a watch since it's WAY WAY WAY out of my league, so I've been thinking on either buying an already assembled Seiko MOD watch (homage to the Explorer II) or trying to give it a go and build it myself. I know there are hundreds of videos/posts talking about the how-to process, but I'd like to know from your personal experience: can anyone build a custom watch? I'm not very good with precise operations, so I don't know if I'd end up messing up and wasting my money.
A bonus question: do you consider a modded (not branded with the real name) watch lookalike to a luxury watch to be a fake watch?
So, there it goes. Again, thanks a lot for your time! 😊
Hope you have a great weekend!
Personally I don't consider a modded watch to be a fake or clomage, but a homage in the true sense of the word. There's some proper skilled people on here who make some awesome stuff.
Im sure some of them will chirp in soon 👍🏻
Good luck mate 🤞🏻
I’m not into modding, but you’ll find several talented people here. But I want to give you a few alternatives on top of the modding route;
Alpha Explorer GMT
Seiko Sportura Kinetic GMT
Timex 3-GMT reference T2P426
Pagani Design PD-1682 Explorer II Men’s GMT
Hope one of those can tickle your fancy 🤣
No, it's a real watch that has a movement and tells the time. It is exactly what you see. Some design elements may be familiar, others may not be. It's not any worse that what is going on between popular models of established watch brands. (Many design elements are also much older and not necessarily tied to a specific watch model than many brands will make you believe.)
The watch is only fake if you are trying to sell it as something that it is not, or is purposely built to deceive.
Or let me show you a watch that I just worked on:
Bezel Insert, dial and hands are clearly patterned after the Sinn U1. This type of watch hand shape is however much older, you can find it on Art Deco clocks, for example. The case is patterned after a Seiko SKX, and not a Sinn U1. Neither one of these companies can claim to have come up with the original dive watch concept. (This is not limited to aesthetics, you can tell the lineage of watch movements also, and with the exception of drastic changes, such as the introduction of the quartz movement, you can tell what existing designs a new movement is borrowing from.)
And yes, virtually anyone who can follow instructions, has a clean desk, about $100 to spare on tools, and halfway-decent eyesight can mod a watch. Depending on the skill level it may take a while, but it's more a question of determination.
If you’re going to build your own watch, I think the hardest part is setting the hands. If you can set the hands then you’re good to go. Also I have a Seiko “submariner” it runs +2 a day and I wear it a lot. I don’t consider it a fake because the movement is Seiko and the dial is Seiko so it’s a Seiko … that looks like a submariner. Good luck and you’re collection is Awesome! 🌈
I’m not into modding, but you’ll find several talented people here. But I want to give you a few alternatives on top of the modding route;
Alpha Explorer GMT
Seiko Sportura Kinetic GMT
Timex 3-GMT reference T2P426
Pagani Design PD-1682 Explorer II Men’s GMT
Hope one of those can tickle your fancy 🤣
This is a sweet reply! Good stuff 🌈
I’m not into modding, but you’ll find several talented people here. But I want to give you a few alternatives on top of the modding route;
Alpha Explorer GMT
Seiko Sportura Kinetic GMT
Timex 3-GMT reference T2P426
Pagani Design PD-1682 Explorer II Men’s GMT
Hope one of those can tickle your fancy 🤣
Hey @sfreak, thank you very much for sharing those watches, the Alpha and the Timex really caught me off guard, didn't have them on the radar and I've really liked them! 🤯
No, it's a real watch that has a movement and tells the time. It is exactly what you see. Some design elements may be familiar, others may not be. It's not any worse that what is going on between popular models of established watch brands. (Many design elements are also much older and not necessarily tied to a specific watch model than many brands will make you believe.)
The watch is only fake if you are trying to sell it as something that it is not, or is purposely built to deceive.
Or let me show you a watch that I just worked on:
Bezel Insert, dial and hands are clearly patterned after the Sinn U1. This type of watch hand shape is however much older, you can find it on Art Deco clocks, for example. The case is patterned after a Seiko SKX, and not a Sinn U1. Neither one of these companies can claim to have come up with the original dive watch concept. (This is not limited to aesthetics, you can tell the lineage of watch movements also, and with the exception of drastic changes, such as the introduction of the quartz movement, you can tell what existing designs a new movement is borrowing from.)
And yes, virtually anyone who can follow instructions, has a clean desk, about $100 to spare on tools, and halfway-decent eyesight can mod a watch. Depending on the skill level it may take a while, but it's more a question of determination.
Thank you very much @hbein2022, that's a very good point you've made there. By the way, the watch you shared looks astonishing! ✨
If you’re going to build your own watch, I think the hardest part is setting the hands. If you can set the hands then you’re good to go. Also I have a Seiko “submariner” it runs +2 a day and I wear it a lot. I don’t consider it a fake because the movement is Seiko and the dial is Seiko so it’s a Seiko … that looks like a submariner. Good luck and you’re collection is Awesome! 🌈
@nicely that's one of the parts I'm most afraid of, because I've seen they can be easily bent. If I end up trying to build it myself, I'll have to be very careful with them 😂. By the way, the Seiko submariner is another watch I've always liked, who knows If I'll end up getting it too 🤤. Also thank you very much for the comment on my collection!!
@nicely that's one of the parts I'm most afraid of, because I've seen they can be easily bent. If I end up trying to build it myself, I'll have to be very careful with them 😂. By the way, the Seiko submariner is another watch I've always liked, who knows If I'll end up getting it too 🤤. Also thank you very much for the comment on my collection!!
Very welcome! If you do decide to go ahead try to get a watch hand press off Amazon for maybe $15 and put something soft under the movement then if you have an old watch you can practice on just start taking em’ off and putting em’ back on. Good luck my friend! 🌈