Okay, here’s my story about trying to remake a Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711:
So, I’ve always been into watches, you know, the fancy kind. And there’s this one watch, the Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711, that’s like the holy grail for watch guys. It’s super classy, but it’s also, like, crazy expensive. We’re talking six figures for a used one! I thought, “There’s gotta be a way to get that look without, you know, selling a kidney.”
I started digging around online, checking out forums and watch blogs. I was looking for people who had tried to “remake” this watch – basically, finding a cheaper watch and modifying it to look like the Nautilus. It’s a thing, apparently!
First, I needed a base watch. Something that had a similar shape, but wouldn’t cost me an arm and a leg. After looking at tons of pictures and reading a bunch of reviews, I finally settled on a pretty decent-looking watch.
Next up was the dial. This was the tricky part. The Nautilus has this really unique blue dial with horizontal lines. I found a guy online who makes custom dials, and he said he could make one that looked pretty close to the real thing. I sent him some pictures, and a few weeks later, I had a brand-new dial in my hands. It wasn’t perfect, but it was close enough for me!
- Ordered a base watch with a similar shape.
- Commissioned a custom dial that mimicked the Nautilus’s signature look.
- Sourced a set of hands that closely resembled the originals.
The hands were another challenge. I ended up finding a set of hands that were pretty similar. They weren’t exact replicas, but they had the right kind of vibe, you know?
Then came the scary part: actually putting it all together. I’m not exactly a watchmaker, so I took it to a local watch repair guy. He was a bit confused at first, but once I explained what I was trying to do, he was actually pretty into it.
Putting it all together
He carefully took apart the base watch, swapped out the dial and hands, and put it all back together. It took a few hours, and I was sweating bullets the whole time, but when he finally handed it back to me, I was stoked!
It wasn’t a real Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711, not by a long shot. But it had that same kind of look, that same kind of feel. And it only cost me a fraction of the price. Plus, I had the satisfaction of knowing that I had kind of, sort of, built it myself.
I’ve been wearing it for a few months now, and I gotta say, I love it. It’s not about fooling anyone into thinking it’s a real Nautilus, you know? It’s more about having a watch that I think looks cool, and that I had a hand in creating. The original is crazy expensive, with waiting lists stretching for up to 8 years for this watch.
So, that’s my story of remaking a Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711. It was a fun little project, and I learned a lot along the way. If you’re into watches and you’re looking for a fun, relatively cheap way to get a high-end look, I’d definitely recommend giving it a shot!
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