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I have a thing for watches, and nicely figured wood, sadly I've only been able to find a couple of wood based watches. It sounded like a lovely weekend project to fab up a new face for a regular watch, so I went for it.
Flickr set of the whole process
You'll need:
a) Some wood stock with a figure that you like. I went with Cocobolo from InternetLumber, their samples are dirt cheap and the perfect size for this project.
b) A donor watch to mercilessly shred to pieces. A bigger face certainly helps to show off your work later, so keep this in mind when shopping. I would also tip any watch you are considering to use at an angle and make sure there is a little room between the hands an the face (the less space now, the more sanding later to make everything fit back together). I settled on a Zane from Fossil.
c) A few common and specialized tools. Outlined within, don't worry, you can fake most of the uncommon tools.
Flickr set of the whole process
You'll need:
a) Some wood stock with a figure that you like. I went with Cocobolo from InternetLumber, their samples are dirt cheap and the perfect size for this project.
b) A donor watch to mercilessly shred to pieces. A bigger face certainly helps to show off your work later, so keep this in mind when shopping. I would also tip any watch you are considering to use at an angle and make sure there is a little room between the hands an the face (the less space now, the more sanding later to make everything fit back together). I settled on a Zane from Fossil.
c) A few common and specialized tools. Outlined within, don't worry, you can fake most of the uncommon tools.
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Signing UpStep 1A bit of prep work
First a little shopping list:
Things you'll need to buy/dig out of your junk drawer
Rough Prep
I couldn't find a saw with fine teeth or most of the sandpaper I would need, so I ran out to Home Depot. The sandpaper was no problem, but they didn't have a saw at a price I was willing to pay, then I remembered that they had a station set up for people to cut their own molding. A few minutes and improvised jigs later I had my stock cut to rough size.
Things you'll need to buy/dig out of your junk drawer
- Base watch (see intro for my source)
- Wood stock - 2"x2" (see intro for my source)
- Sandpaper (100, 200, 400, 800 grits)
- Masking tape
- Spray high gloss lacquer
- Fine toothed saw
- Double sided tape
- Cardstock for face template
- Clean work surface with a bright light so you can track down tiny piece when then spring from your hands and clatter to your bench
- .75mm center punch I chocked a hardened nail up in my drillpress - read: ghetto lathe - and filed it to size
- Watch hand setting tool Taking the guts out of a mechanical pencil and sanding the lead guide off the tip will open a hole the perfect size
- Movement pad A soda bottle cap with a hole drilled in it served well enough for me, but something with a little more grip would be ideal
- Watch hand puller - on eBay for a song
Rough Prep
I couldn't find a saw with fine teeth or most of the sandpaper I would need, so I ran out to Home Depot. The sandpaper was no problem, but they didn't have a saw at a price I was willing to pay, then I remembered that they had a station set up for people to cut their own molding. A few minutes and improvised jigs later I had my stock cut to rough size.
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TopherWiles
http://www.helpsonline.net