Okay, so, I’ve been messing around with watches lately, and I got this idea to try and imitate a really fancy one – the Jaeger-LeCoultre JLC Master Ultra Thin Perpetual Calendar. It’s a mouthful, I know, but it’s a really cool watch that I saw at one of their specialty stores.
First off, I did some digging online. I typed in things like “Jaeger-LeCoultre First Copy Watches” and “The Master Ultra Thin Moon,” just to see what was out there. I even saw a post about a guy who got one of these as a wedding gift. Lucky him, huh?
Then I went to one of these fancy Jaeger-LeCoultre stores, pretended I was some big shot, and tried on the real deal. Man, it felt nice on my wrist. It’s super thin, really classy, and has all these little dials and windows showing the date, the day, the month, and even the phase of the moon. I was really into that moon phase thing, it was neat. I was really focusing on it.
After I left the store, I started thinking about how I could make something that looked like it. I grabbed one of my old watches, took it apart, and started playing around with the insides. I tried to add some extra gears and stuff to make it look more complicated, but it ended up being a huge mess. I did not make it better, I did not make it look like the real one, and now it is just broken.
Here’s what I learned:
- Making a watch that looks like a Jaeger-LeCoultre is way harder than it looks.
- These Jaeger-LeCoultre watches are super expensive for a reason. I heard someone say they are similar to Vacheron Constantin, which is apparently really expensive, so that makes sense.
- You can find the serial number on the movement, which is pretty neat. But, apparently, the case can be made a year or two after the insides, which I thought was interesting.
- Don’t take apart your watch unless you know what you’re doing.
In the end, I failed miserably. My watch is a wreck, and it looks nothing like the Jaeger-LeCoultre. But hey, at least I tried, right? And I learned a lot about watches in the process. Maybe one day I’ll have enough money to buy the real thing. For now, I’ll just stick to looking at pictures of them online.
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