Okay, so I’ve been wanting to get my hands on a Patek Philippe Nautilus 5726 for a while now. But let’s be real, those things are crazy expensive! So, I thought, why not try to remake one myself? Yeah, I know, it sounds nuts, but I was up for the challenge.
First things first, I needed to figure out what makes this watch tick. I did some digging online and found out that the real deal has this self-winding movement called the caliber 26-330 S QA LU 24H. It’s got like 339 parts and looks super complicated. It also is water-resistant to 30 m. I found the original description: “Self-winding mechanical movement. Caliber 26‑330 S QA LU 24H/441. Annual Calendar. Day“. This is important. I also noticed that Patek Philippe is also called PP, so I will use the abbreviation later.
I started by taking apart an old watch I had lying around, just to get a feel for how these things are put together. Let me tell you, it’s not easy! There are so many tiny screws and gears, it’s like a miniature city in there. Anyway, after messing around with that for a bit, I started looking for parts that I could use to build my own 5726.
I hit up some online stores and managed to find a bunch of watch parts, but finding the exact ones to match the Patek Philippe movement was tough. I ended up getting a mix of different parts, some from old watches, some from new ones. It was kind of a gamble, but I figured I’d just see what worked.
Putting it all together
Building the watch case was probably the hardest part. I wanted it to look like the real PP Nautilus 5726, with that iconic octagonal shape. I ended up using some metal sheets and a whole lot of patience. Bending and shaping the metal was a real pain, but after a lot of trial and error, I managed to get something that looked halfway decent.
- Next up was the dial. I wanted it to have that classic blue color, so I found some blue paint and got to work.
- Painting those tiny hour markers and hands was super tricky, but I think they turned out okay.
- As for the movement, I knew I couldn’t make my own caliber 26-330 S QA LU 24H, so I used a simpler one that I found online.
- It doesn’t have all the fancy functions of the real 5726, like the annual calendar, but it tells the time, and that’s good enough for me.
After hours of tinkering and putting everything together, I finally had something that resembled a PP Nautilus 5726. It wasn’t perfect, but I was pretty proud of myself. I mean, I basically built a watch from scratch! Wearing it around, I got a few compliments from people who thought it was the real deal. Of course, I told them it was a remake, but it was still cool to see their reactions.
All in all, it was a fun project, and I learned a lot about watches along the way. Would I do it again? Maybe. But next time, I might try to make something even more complicated. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll even be able to build my own caliber 26-330 S QA LU 24H. A guy can dream, right?