So, bear with me on this long story, TLDR... I made a watch for my grandfather.
I'm still about 2 years away from releasing my first hand made watch and my grandfather was asking me if he could purchase one. I know two things about him as of right now.
He doesn't have 2 pennies to rub together.
He'll be with the Lord probably before I finish school.
I'm not saying that because I'm mean or callouse, he's been dying from terminal cancer for the last few years and I can tell he's getting worse.
I didn't want to leave him hanging until I finished, and I don't honestly know how long it might take me to complete an entirely made by me watch.
So I did the next best thing, I ordered a complete movement from Seiko (best option for Australia, not too many Swiss repair guys there) I got a nautilus case also from eBay and I asked a friend to make me a dial (I saw one I liked on eBay but I know those are crap so I got them to make me one but better) all in about $500usd I guess, and a few favours with a couple of friends.
I completely disassembled the movement, skeletonized the mainplate, modified the balance and pallet fork to make the watch a completely open heart movement. Then I decorated it, completely striped and platinum plated everything.
The case was also striped, I engraved a Bible verse on the case back and plated it yellow gold.
The movement was reassembled with an upgraded balance and then everything was brought together.
I have dozens of pictures so I'll pick a few choice ones to show the process and result. I sent it to him for Christmas. He's over the moon, I just thought I'd share a one off watch, nothing fancy just a nice easy workhorse movement. 😊
Cheers guys, hope you're all having a good new year