Reply With QuoteThat's a nice personal touch. I guess if you're going to keep the watch then why not.
Great design too
Ok so not an incoming in the true sense of the word but a new enhancement to my collection nonetheless. Now I know there are mixed views on this kind of stuff with the majority of people not in favour of any kind of watch modification and that’s totally fine by me but this is something I've had in my mind to do for some time and since this particular watch is simply never leaving my collection (well I hope not anyways!) it doesn't really matter. Secondly this kind of mod is pretty easy to reverse and a new caseback can be replaced without breaking the bank.
By way of background, how did we get to this position in the first place? I got married 2 summers ago and my wife knowing how into watches I was getting very kindly cemented our special day by buying me a watch (Rolex Datejust II) that I wore for the first time as I was standing at the aisle. A special occasion and a special gift; I wanted to commemorate that moment in a way that served as a constant reminder so what easier way than a caseback engraving. That was the easy part - the hard part of this process however was a). working out what to put on it and b). finding someone trustworthy enough to do it.
Part a). proved to be the trickiest part of the process and the one that took the longest to complete, quite simply because I had no idea what to put on it. The caseback of the Datejust II has 3 distinct parts, a brushed outer ring, a polished centre ring and a brushed centre circle. The outer ring was an easy one to fill, our names and the date of wedding (no reason to forget anniversaries ever again!). I decided to keep the centre circle polished which left the inner circle…..and to cut a long story short this is what I ended up deciding to put on it. I’d like to say there was some deep inner meaning and connection to this picture but there isn’t and simply put I just liked it.
Part b). by comparison wasn’t too difficult in the end. Having spent some time unsuccessfully talking to AD’s and various local engravers I just happened to stumble across this ladies work whilst browsing another forum but having seen what she could achieve it was a no brainer. Now before we go any further I should just point out that I have no affiliation to Joanne.
http://www.artemiswilddesign.co.uk/4.html
The process itself was about as pain free as I could have hoped; we talked about the commission over a couple of months (my work was really busy at the time and proved to be a bit of a distraction) and once agreed I put down a deposit, had the caseback removed and this was on its way to Joanne. She sent across a rendered picture of what the final engraving would look like (below) and once agreed she set to work.
Joanne was as professional in the service she provided as the work in her pictures suggests. Extremely engaging throughout the process, offered up plenty of opinion and suggestion and most importantly did a fantastic job - I would have no doubt recommending her work to anyone.
Well that’s enough waffle from me, let’s get some pics on the go….so this is what we started with, it’s a stock Rolex Datejust II (model reference 116334) with rhodium dial and arabic numbers.
Next it’s time to remove the caseback.
Whilst that's off we may as well have a look inside. Admittedly not the most aesthetically pleasing of movements, but there are worse sights out there than the calibre 3136.
The caseback off and sent to Joanne, fast forward a week and this is what popped back through the letterbox. The level of details she has achieved exceeds all my expectations.
And some more pics.
And my favourite, showing how meticulous the level of work put into this. The bit most endearing to me is that when you look at the work this close up you really get a feel for the personal effort gone into it and is exactly what I wanted to achieve. To put the size into perspective, the diameter of the face is approximately 9mm.
All that now done, time to get the caseback back on the watch.
Well it's taken a long time but I finally got there and the results are better than I expected. I’ve taken something that was already special to me and added some personalisation that now serves as a constant reminder to that special day and hopefully means I have something special to hand down to my children one day.
Thanks for taking the time to read and I hope you enjoyed my journey.
That's a nice personal touch. I guess if you're going to keep the watch then why not.
Great design too
Good work that is !
B
Impressive result, I like it and it's good food for thought...
Well done!
That's amazing work - how much did it cost, if you don't mind saying?
Stunning work - especially when you consider the small scale involved.
The first thing I did after reading this was to open the box hiding the '76 Tudor Princess Oysterdate I've bought for my wife's 40th next year. It's sitting there (well hidden) waiting for me to send it away for re-plating and a thorough service, so you can guess what I was thinking! Unluckily (luckily?) the caseback just doesn't seem to lend itself to something like this.
Very impressive work.
That looks great. It's a really nice design and amazes me that people have the skill to do this by hand on such a small scale.
I've had a look at her site and there is some fantastic work on there. I'm not fussed on the full case/strap engravement but can still really appreciate the artwork and skill involved.
Great design, and fantastic execution.....makes a special watch even more special... Nice one.
Impressive!
Very nice way to make a watch unique and personal. Great!
Best! Glenn
Fabulous….nuff-said.
I really like that Darren. It's nice to have something so personal, plus the work done seems to be incredibly professional. I'm amazed someone would create the Patek on her website but I'm sure the owner will be happy.
The other thing as well is the watch your wife chose. It's stunning. The silver dial with the blue markers look fantastic... I think I'll have to take a closer look at one in the future!
that's absolutely stunning. Congrats. How much is a new caseback on a DJ2? Am tempted to do that on mine now
Fantastic results, and just a great personalization of the watch, IMHO. As for the design, you may have inadvertently chosen something with great symbolism - my life was aimless and without direction before I met my wife. She has been my compass rose. Hopefully Kathryn serves the same purpose for you.
Great design choice and really good engraving. I'm not keen on the overly engraved watches on the site - some of them look like Rolexes with tattoos, but yours in excellent.
Looks fantastic, great work, definetely something to consider for myself.
What a great idea and well executed.
Looks great Darren, your wife must be pleased with it too. A really nice idea
cheers
Alan
I think that looks great and certainly adds to the heirloom nature of a watch that marks a milestone in your life.
Well done, looks really good!
Thanks for the words and the photos!
I think Rolex movements look good; and they're certainly higher-quality than most of the stuff I see behind a gimmicky display back. Their finishing is flawless, it's just about function rather than decoration.Originally Posted by ~dadam02~
[...]Whilst that's off we may as well have a look inside. Admittedly not the most aesthetically pleasing of movements, but there are worse sights out there than the calibre 3136.
[...]
Anyway, I enjoyed the read and the result looks top-notch! Nicely done.
What a lovely idea, and as you say if you're never planning to sell the watch, which as it's a wedding present, I assume you never would, who cares anyway. Lovely job all round.
I really like that! And she's done an amazing job.
Once I find my "keeper" I would love to get it engraved in some way. Looks like I've found the person to do it!
Enjoy your very special watch.
that is very skillfully done, i love how crisp it looks. a very nice way to commemorate the event. im sorely tempted to come up with something for the back of my explorer now!
nice one that's some high quality work, fantastic work on her website
Great idea and congrats on having your own customized rolex!
Very nice!
Im also quite partial to the look of rolex movements. Sometimes they're the best bit...
I also like to see stuff like that engraving - good to see a watch being treated like an object of sentimental value rather than an object for resale.
Not normally a fan of caseback engraving but that looks fantastic and what a lovely way to commemorate a special day.
Congratulations you have created a lovely family heirloom.
A great job and a nice memento.
I think that's a great idea, and it has been done really well.
regards,
Nick
I'm thinking an aftermarket display back with names around the outside would work well.
That looks really good and a lovely way to mark a very special day.
Molto bene, Dad.
I think that is very impressive work... I have an engraving tool and have used it in the past to put my name on expensive tools and the like, but can't imagine how one goes about producing something so delicate :)
A snip at $12,500.
Thanks all, as most have alluded to this is now firmly in the family heirloom camp and one i hope is handed down for generations to come.
tIs it expensive? Yes I guess but when I saw the standard of her work it was a no brainer and I was more than happy to pay for the quality of execution. The other thing they say, buy cheap, buy twice. I did spend some time looking at having Rolex do something but at the time I didn't have an idea of what I wanted so I couldn't get it costed up and secondly there were no examples of their custom engraving at hand so I didn't feel confident commissioning something from them.
This exactly, I did say to her at the time that I won't even try to work out how someone goes about doing this on such a small area, with such precision but the results are simply fantastic.
Thanks W44NNE, yes I agree some of the full scale engravings are a bit of an acquired taste but like everything to do with watch collecting, its good that we all have differing tastes as it keeps things interesting. I bet those full scale engravings cost a bomb.
No more than £100 including fitting I believe so no biggie. Look forward to seeing how you get on and whether you take the leap!
How nicely put, when you say it like that I guess I do see my wife as my compass route too....now maybe this does have some meaning, thanks!
Excellent, look forward to seeing whether you push forward with that idea. If you want ideas for an Explorer engraving, this one always stuck out as a well thought out and excellently executed engraving on an Explorer II.
Yikes!
Last edited by ~dadam02~; 2nd June 2016 at 09:20. Reason: Price removed at request of vendor
Very nice engraving but how did you get it centered?
Did you mark the caseback before taking it off?
a thing of beauty and very well executed.
Understated against a lot of the engraving on her website!! I like the personal touch and would consider putting it on my wifes Rolex!!
Exactly that, just a biro mark where the top centre of the caseback was prior to having it removed. I popped into Rolex St James Park to have the caseback put back on and they did say that the majority of times they see people getting custom caseback engravings the mistake they make is not taking care to ensure they line up correctly when they go back on.
Some very good work - especially OP's watch back.....
What you have is pretty nice and tasteful but some of the others on her website are gastly, admittedly still very skilled though.
Great idea and have been discussing something similar with my wife also. Thanks very much
Very nice indeed. My contrats
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
That's absolutely stunning, and I think the engraving is extremely tasteful. Particularly the placement of the text. A job *very* well done!!
I'm always in two minds on caseback engraving, but that is a beautiful piece of work - both the design and the implementation. Really lovely - I hope your wife also approves!
This piece of work has, like me, exceeded her expectations so she is over the moon.
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