I’ve been messing around with watches for a while, and let me tell you, the Patek Philippe Golden Ellipse has always been a dream. So, I decided to try and remake the 5738R model, you know, the one you see on their official site. It’s a classy dress watch, really something special. I just wanted to see if I could get close to that kind of beauty.
First off, I spent a ton of time just staring at pictures of the real deal. The official website, forums, you name it. I really wanted to get a feel for the shape and that rose gold case. They say it’s inspired by the Golden Ratio, some old-school math thing, 1 / 1.6181 or something. Anyway, it looked amazing, so I started sketching.
I found some rose gold-colored material that seemed like it would do the trick. It wasn’t real gold, obviously, but it had a nice shine. Then, I started shaping it. This was the tough part. I don’t have fancy tools, so it was a lot of careful filing and shaping by hand. Took forever, but I was determined to get that elliptical shape just right.
- Sketching and design: I made sure my sketches matched the proportions I saw online.
- Material selection: Getting that rose gold look was key, even without using real gold.
- Shaping the case: This was a real test of patience. Hand-filing everything took time.
Next up was the dial. I found a dark, glossy material that kind of looked like the one Patek uses. Cutting it to the right shape and size was another headache, but I managed. Then, the hour markers. I used tiny bits of the same rose gold-colored material and carefully glued them on. My hands were shaking the whole time!
For the movement, I cheated a bit. I just used a cheap quartz movement I had lying around. No way I could make a real automatic movement, not yet anyway. I fitted it into the case, attached the dial, and then added some simple hands that looked similar to the original.
The Final Touches
Finally, I got a leather strap that looked pretty close to the one on the real watch. Attached it to the case, and boom! There it was. My homemade version of the Patek Philippe Golden Ellipse 5738R. It’s nowhere near as perfect or valuable as the real thing, which goes for like, 39 grand or something crazy, but I’m still pretty proud of it. It was a fun project, and I learned a lot about watchmaking in the process. Maybe one day, I’ll try to make a real automatic movement, but for now, this little guy will do just fine.
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