Alright, let me tell you about this wild ride I had trying to make a knock-off Rolex Cosmograph Daytona Yellow Gold. This wasn’t just any project, this was for the big leagues, the specialty stores.
So, I started by getting my hands on as much info as I could about the real deal. You know, pictures, specs, the whole nine yards. I needed to know this watch inside and out. The specific one I was after was the Yellow Gold on Oysterflex with a Meteorite dial, reference number 116518LN. Man, that’s a good-looking watch.
Then came the hard part – sourcing the materials. I mean, I couldn’t exactly use real gold, right? So, I had to find alternatives that looked the part but wouldn’t cost an arm and a leg. I spent days, maybe even weeks, just looking for the right kind of metal that would give off that same luxurious vibe. Same went for the band, finding a rubber that felt as good as the Oysterflex, not some cheap plastic.
The Dial
- The Meteorite dial, oh boy, that was a whole other challenge. I tried a bunch of different techniques to mimic that unique pattern. I was searching for the perfect look-alike material on Amazon.
- Getting the details right on the dial, the hands, the tiny little numbers, that was tough. I probably went through a dozen prototypes before I got something that looked halfway decent.
Putting it all together, that was another story. I’m not a watchmaker, you know? But I had to learn. I watched tons of videos, read all sorts of articles, basically turned myself into a makeshift expert. It was trial and error, lots of it. I ruined a few pieces along the way, but hey, that’s how you learn, right?
Finally, after all that work, I had something that actually looked pretty good. I mean, you had to look really close to see the differences. I even took it to a few shops, just to see their reactions, and most of them were fooled. Some people even wanted to buy my fake watch on Catawiki, can you believe that?
This whole thing, it was a real learning experience. I pushed myself, learned a ton, and ended up with a pretty convincing imitation. Would I do it again? Probably not. It was a lot of work, and let’s be honest, it’s not exactly on the up and up. But hey, it was an adventure, and I got a cool story out of it, right?
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