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building a watch

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

I'm going to build a watch from parts that I ordered from Ebay in the US and Aliexpress in China. I'm building a faux Rolex Datejust, the watch after which my trusty Lorus was modelled. The Lorus was a gift from my parents when I graduated from high school: it cost $85 and lasted fifteen years. This watch will cost about ¥10,000. $US80 for the case and movement (including a stem) and ¥800 for the dial and hands.

(Ah! Now I get to buy a watch strap!)

Why anyone buys multiple mechanical/automatic watches at retail, I'll never understand. You see comments from people like spring-driven movements "have soul" but the reality is that the movements are made by a machine in under thirty seconds and are never seen by any human between the time they're made and when they go in the landfill. 99.99% are never once even regulated, meaning people are walking around with watches that every single day gain or lose the better part of a minute.

As with everything else on God's green Earth, the action with watches is with software. We now have two watches and a clock in this house that are controlled by a radio signal. I can set the alarm on my Casio from my phone. There are watches with e-ink interfaces.

If this build goes well, I'll try my hand at assembling a quartz watch as well.