Should You Build Your Own Watch?

A lot of you have told me that you have thought of building your own watch, but don't believe that you have the patience/dexterity for it. Well, DIY watch club has created a kit that supposedly makes the process simple. In this week's video, I take a look at what their pilot watch kit. I have some experience building seiko mods, so I feel like I am in a good position to judge the quality of these parts. Plus I give away one of these build kits at the end as a celebration of the channel hitting 30k!

Give-away OFFICIAL RULES:
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[tmdmlgb]

I am 34 years old and I have just assembled my 400th automatic watch as a hobby.

[Velciraptor]

I’ve never used DIY Watch Club, but I have made over 50 custom watches using many different movements from hand wind ETA movements to Seiko and Miyota automatic movements. Also, with the right tools you can adjust even cheaper yet reliable Seiko nh35 movements to be very accurate. Whenever I become fascinated with a watch, it’s always fun to make my own version and make the slight changes to my build that I wish existed in the original models. What I end up with is sometimes even better quality than the original watch I became fascinated with because I color match date wheels to the dial (or find/make a dial without the window), make sure the crystal is ar coated sapphire, make sure more appropriate case size for my wrist is used, make sure case has screw down crowns for water resistance, creating and applying my own logos, etc. I made all my groomsmen custom watches for my wedding and have gifted many other watches to family and friends. It’s the best when someone texts me to let me know they got complimented on a watch I had made for them.

[jonathanlau]

I bought my first DIY watch 2.5 years ago while in Australia. They do a great job of helping you through the process and just going through it increases your enjoyment of that watch. It was a diver and it has worked well without any issues while swimming and only once did I ding it enough to knock off the second hand and have to redo it. I then decided I would buy 3 watches for friends (yes I am fortunate enough to be able to afford to do so). One for my professional mentor, one for a colleague I trained with and one for a family friend who helped me get a bit of a deal on a JLC Ultrathin Moonphase. They all have nicer watches, but also enjoyed the experience. I bought myself the "Explorer" homage with a red dial which was also fun as a second watch from DIY watches. Finally I just recently bought a 6th one for another young man who is into watches and just moved to another place where he has no friend or family (cool skeletonized diver). I think these things are great and are fun and if you have friend or family who are into watches I think it makes a great gift (to split with others or to give on your own should you be able to afford it). Great work Max and DIY watches!

[alandavies]

Hi I bought the same pilot watch kit three months ago which was very easy to use and gave me a great watch to wear for the money. It gave me the confidence to build other watches. I'm now building two for my two grown up sons but using parts from all over the globe with Swiss movements.

[gaziaOG]

I held off getting DIY watch club build kits for as long as I've seen them around no matter how tempting as I wanted something more in-depth rather than placing the movement into the case and putting on the hands. I wanted to work on the movement. I signed up for a full day workshop with Watch Wonderland Singapore (this isn't an ad) and they actually spend the entire day guiding me to dissemble a manual-wind seagull movement and assembling it back up, even learning how to tune the watch with a timegrapher. I was so pumped and satisfied when the day was over. Although some older gentlemen brought home watches that didn't run as they destroyed theirs too much for the instructor to keep replacing. Definitely not for everyone.🙃

[mrguy]

Building a watch is a great way to deepen your appreciation for the art of watchmaking. Particularly if you ever have to do something on a movement, like even just swapping a date wheel.

[markbyrum]

I've built multiple watches. I didn't want to pay the freight for the real ones, so I've built watches similar to Seiko Alpinist, Doxa Diver, and Tudor Black Bay 58. It's fun to imagine what the brand "could" have done, and do it! Good vid
Keep at it!

[edwardbudriss]

I got into this hobby when my son and I built our first SKX style watch’s.
The sickness has only grown over the years. Love your vlog!

[Andrew-J]

Yep! Exactly what I do! I actually enjoy building my own and change it up every 2-3 years for a "new" watch. The model you built is very nice!

[ESUNintel]

My younger nephew is getting into watches and enjoys watching videos of Rolex, Omega, and other nice time pieces being rebuilt; says it’s therapeutic 🙂
…think he’d love one of these kits. Maybe I’ll get one for myself as well cause I depend on the local watch shop a lot, and sometimes I wonder if the 10-minute fix is worth $35. Thanks for the awesome review!! Happy that a company like this exists.

[coreydavidson]

The move videos I see about DIY Watch Club, the more interested I am in trying one of their kits. Awesome video, Max!

[jongkim]

I like the fact that you enjoy all levels of price points on your watches. Enjoyed this video!

[jonbravo]

Great vid & message… it’s worth having a go at self build. Yes lots of things to learn, but the reward can be a watch you cherish because you built it.

[TheCaptain]

Idk about these kits. But I built a Seiko 62MAS last week with components from Aliexpress. Looks great. There are no Seiko or branding at all on the face. But so far, the case is water resistant, it's got an NH35 movement. Steel case, sapphire crystal with AR. I already owned a 20mm waffle strap. So $82.00 shipped, an hour and a half assembly. I have a really cool watch that's my own and unique.

[khronokraze]

Having a decent number of watch mods and building projects myself, doing such stuff doesn't scare me anymore. I've even taken a movement apart to repair myself.. the magic lever system in a Seiko 4R movement was kind of broken.
Having seem the DIY kits.. they seem to offer a lot of bespoke options and the quality of parts, especially the included watchmaking kit, seem overall such a great value for the prices. Lume also seems usually surprisingly pretty good. I think the DIY are great for not only the seasoned watch modder, but great to source a decent base to mod from for the parts. But, also for those who want a good starting point to learn how to mod and build a watch from all the key components one may need to do so.

[bignz]

Built me a Sinn 556A homage out of frankenstein-ing of an old NH35 movement, AliEx dial, hands from an old flieger, & "explorer" case from crystal times. Looks awesome. Only thing missing is the H-link case, which no one sells, but it is a strap monster that is SKX013 compatible. Quite easy to mod your own if you know what you are doing. Yes ... use Rodico to hold the hands when you mount them to the movement.

[ryantinney]

These kits look great and a brilliant gift for watch enthusiasts. I believe these will be wonderful for holiday gifts for my children.

[ManoloVintage]

I personally like the reference number at the logo spot. I think it gives balance with that added text.

[claytonmedders]

I have this exact watch with the leather strap and 8315 movement. For a first time watch build, the one difficult part was setting the minute and second had. Overall very pleased with the watch and seriously considering getting another one.

[AinatMorrissette]

It always amazes me how much beauty and precision are added to the parts of mamacoo's watch 99% of people will never see.