Anybody built their own watch from scratch?

[pistonheadforum]

I don't mean mod a Seiko I mean like they used to do in the old pocketwatch days. Pick a movement, pick a dial, pick a case and a watchmaker puts them all together for you.

I love the under £200 thread and while it's great to see the "cheaper" watches available I have a hankering to build the whole thing myself. Seems like it makes it be a bit more rewarding than that dopamine hit of just hunting down the latest Aliexpress darling to flip later.

I guess it's just a logical process.

- Find a movement (loads avaialble from ebay or watch suppliers)
- Find a case you you like (many options on Aliexpress and ebay)
- Pick some hands (I guess these are tied to the movement?)
- Pick a dial that fits the case size (plenty of options)

The bit I'm not sure about is how you get a smaller movement to fit snugly in a larger case. Some kind of shim or something but are they dependant on the movement or case etc?

I know there are kits you can buy with all the parts but they are a bit generic and it would be good to pick a decent movement (I'm kind of done with Seiko NH35 and similar movements). Be nice to stick a SW200 or an ETA clone or maybe a Miyota 9000 series.

Anybody done this and been on the journey?

[pistonheadforum]

I should say I appreciate this requires tool etc - already have a broad range of tools including microscope and timegrapher.

[nikaiyo2]

No, but this looks interesting

https://www.ablogtowatch.com/initium-kairos-do-it-...

[the-norseman]

Just built one on their website, it came to £3100 with the tool kit.

[gregs656]

I have - there are a ton of parts for seiko movements.

[pistonheadforum]

gregs656 said:

I have - there are a ton of parts for seiko movements.

Great! How do you go about doing it? Do you choose the movement first and how to you get dials etc?

Thanks in advance.

[gregs656]

pistonheadforum said:

Great! How do you go about doing it? Do you choose the movement first and how to you get dials etc?

Thanks in advance.

The typical movements are NH3x movements which are either no date, date or day/date. There are tons of parts available for these movements - there are specialised companies (if you search Seiko mod companies you will find them) as well as lots of stuff available from aliexpress etc.

The movement is dictated by whether you want no date, date or a day/date - some times people have a particular type of case they want to use and go from there, you might find a dial you particular like - there isn't a 'best' place to start in that respect.