Okay, so, I got this idea the other day to try and make something like the Jaeger-LeCoultre JLC Hybris Mechanica Calibre 362, the classic style one. It looked pretty neat, and I thought, “Why not give it a shot?”
I started by just looking at a bunch of pictures of it online. I mean, I’m not a watchmaker or anything, so I just wanted to get a good feel for how it looked and the general vibe it gave off. I spent a good few hours just scrolling through images, zooming in, and really taking it all in.
Next, I gathered some materials. I didn’t have any fancy watchmaking tools, obviously, so I just used what I had lying around. Some cardboard, bits of plastic, a few metal pieces from old toys, and some glue. It was pretty much a junk drawer special.
Getting Started
- I cut out a basic circular shape from the cardboard for the watch face. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a start.
- Then, I started working on the details. I used the plastic bits to make the little markers for the hours and minutes. It was kind of fiddly, but I managed to glue them on.
- The hands were a bit trickier. I used some thin wire I found and bent them into shape. They weren’t exactly elegant, but they looked somewhat like watch hands.
After that, I tried to add some more details. I found some old gears from a broken clock and glued them onto the cardboard to make it look a bit more like the real watch’s complicated inner workings. It was kind of messy, but it added some texture.
I painted the whole thing using some acrylic paints I had. I tried to match the colors of the real watch, but it wasn’t easy. I ended up with something that was kind of silver and gold-ish, but not exactly right.
Finishing Touches
- Lastly, I made a strap out of some old leather scraps. I just cut them into strips and glued them together. It was pretty rough, but it held the watch face on my wrist.
In the end, my imitation Jaeger-LeCoultre JLC Hybris Mechanica Calibre 362 looked, well, homemade. But, it was a fun project. It definitely wasn’t as polished or intricate as the real thing, but it was my own little version, and I was pretty happy with how it turned out. It was a good way to spend a few afternoons and see if I could make something vaguely resembling a cool, complex watch with just stuff I had around the house. It wasn’t perfect, far from it. But hey, I made it!