Okay, so, I’ve been messing around with watches lately, and let me tell you, it’s a wild world out there. Today, I’m diving deep into trying to make a knockoff Rolex GMT-Master II, the one with the “Pepsi” bezel – you know, the red and blue one. It’s a classic, and the real deal is way out of my budget, like, we’re talking over 766,372 Philippine Pesos. Insane, right?
First off, I started by just looking at a ton of pictures online. I mean, I spent hours just staring at these watches. I found some forum posts, and there are a lot of versions of this watch apparently. Some old ones had the red and blue touching in a weird spot in the letter ‘o’ in ‘Rolex’, others had different serial numbers. There were even talks about ‘holes cases.’ What’s that even mean? I just wanted a good-looking fake, man.
Then, I started looking into prices. Apparently, even on the “used” market, these things are crazy expensive. One report said they’re like 48% over the original price! The average price I saw was around $29,421. For a watch! I could buy a decent used car for that. Anyway, that made me even more determined to make my own.
Sourcing the Parts
So, I hit up some, uh, “alternative” online marketplaces to find parts. It was like navigating a minefield. There are so many sellers, and so many different qualities. I ended up ordering a few different bezels, dials, and hands, just to see what would show up. It was a bit of a gamble, to be honest.
The Assembly
When the parts finally arrived, it was like Christmas, but also, a lot of head-scratching. Putting these things together is not as easy as it looks in those YouTube videos. I broke a couple of hands, scratched a dial, and nearly threw the whole thing out the window a few times.
Things I learned the hard way:
- Tiny screws are the devil. I dropped so many, and they just disappear into the carpet.
- Those little watch hands are super fragile. Like, seriously, you breathe on them wrong, and they bend.
- Alignment is everything. Getting the bezel, dial, and hands to line up perfectly is a nightmare.
The UV Test
I read somewhere that you can check if it’s a good fake by using a UV light. Apparently, the real ones have some secret stuff that shows up under the light. So, I bought a cheap UV flashlight and gave it a try. Guess what? My fake didn’t glow like the pictures of the real ones. Bummer.
After all that work, I ended up with something that kinda looks like a Rolex GMT-Master II. It’s not perfect, and a real watch nerd could probably spot it as a fake from a mile away. But, hey, it was a fun project. I learned a lot, mostly about how much patience you need to mess with these tiny little things. Would I do it again? Maybe. It’s definitely cheaper than buying a real one, I guess it was a good experience overall.
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