Let’s continue the series of tinkering projects completed in the last couple of months, by switching to watchmaking instead of electronics.
Watchmaking as well? Yep!
I’ve always liked mechanical watches, from simple Flik Flaks to Rolex’s family heirlooms. They’ve all had their roles and importance over the years in my life. Most recently I’ve had a small gap when my primary watch became an Apple Watch Ultra, but I guess at the back of my mind, there was always the bug of mechanical watches.
Not sure how, but I guess YouTube doing what YouTube does best, I came across Marshall’s Wrist Watch Revival channel, finding it so relaxing and satisfying to see watches taken apart and brought back to new life! The algorithm then took it up a notch, by starting to serve videos of people actually building their own watches.
Two in particular really struck a chord with me – Marcus O’Brien and Elliot Coll. Both described themselves as watch enthusiasts, but neither is a “professional” and they both put out contents building their own “dream” watches, making it look doable.
So guess what? I took the plunge! To get things started I’ve actually followed the tutorial from Marcus, as I found it super easy to follow, plus he also listed all the basic parts needed to get started.
The very first watch I built has already been taken apart and upgraded, but all in all, it was really super easy and accessible – and not really expensive as well.
But of course this was just the start of what has now become a full-fledged hobby, with friends and family requesting their own custom builds!
My custom watch collection now consists of 3 watches, all based on NH35 movement, but dressed in 3 very different ways. In the image below you can see two of them (the one on the left is actually my very first – with the upgraded parts and 3D printed inner rings).
But these are not the ones we are to talk about. We are here to talk about my “dream” build as per the title of this post: the Mickey Mouse Rolex Datejust.
This has been my most complicated build so far and I’m so proud of how it came out. I know it may be a controversial build for the purists out there, but I’ve embraced this hobby from the point of view of using it as an avenue for creativity even if that means upsetting the Watch Order out there!
Here it is in all its glory!
Let me walk you through all the parts used for this:
- NH35 movement (affiliate)
- Nautilus style case
- Mickey Mouse Rolex Datejust dial (bought from eBay)
- Dial dots (affiliate) to attach the dial to the movement, given the dial feet were in the wrong position for the NH35
- White Roulette Date Disc Wheel Overlay for Datejust – the date window of this dial of course doesn’t match the NH35 date wheel, so I’ve used this overlay and attached over the existing one of the movement and it works perfectly (from eBay – the specific one I bought is no longer available)
- Golden Hours and Minutes hand (affiliate)
- Red seconds hand (I can’t find the link anymore to this!!)
The trickiest part of the build has been for sure aligning the date wheel overlay with the date window. Took a few tries, but result work great, everything moves as it should and I love the roulette scheme with the alternating red and black date.
The case as well feels great and it gives the right weight and importance to the build. I went with the Nautilus style not really because I didn’t want to “rip-off” an Oyster case, but simply because I liked the style and thought it was going to look more unique in the end, which is does!
The colour combination of gold and red for the hands was chosen to mimic Mickey’s colours of yellow hands and red pants and I’m also super proud of how that came out. Plus there is a bit more contrast with the silver dial and makes the watch easier to read.
I find myself many times during the day just staring at it, not to tell the time, but simply to enjoy the build and the result.
It will be a tough one to beat, but who knows when the next inspiration will struck??