Okay, so, I’ve been wanting to try my hand at remaking a fancy watch face for a while now. I decided to go with the Patek Philippe Calatrava 5088/100P-001, ’cause why not, right? This thing is a beauty, but getting my hands on the real deal? Not happening anytime soon, unfortunately. It seems really hard to remake, but I can do this!
First things first, I needed to figure out what makes this watch tick. Literally. Turns out, it runs on this self-winding Caliber 26-330 S C thing. That’s the engine that powers the hours, minutes, and that smooth-sweeping second hand. Found some info on the official website, those guys really know their stuff, even though I didn’t understand most of it. They’ve been making watches since forever, and it shows.
Next up, the design. Man, this watch is a piece of art. I needed to break it down into something I could actually work with. Since I’m no artist, I figured the best way to recreate it was to go the pixel art route. I found this online tool for creating pixel art, super simple to use. But I needed the right image to start with. That’s where Avi Co. came in handy. They had some high-quality pictures of the watch, including the one I needed. This will be the blueprint of my remake project!
Now, the real challenge was getting the colors right. I learned that a 2-bit per pixel format supports 4 colors. Someone mentioned using a program called Irfan View to decrease color depth. I messed around with the settings, setting it to 4 colors or 2 colors, and saving it as a PNG. It was a bit of trial and error, but I eventually got something that looked decent. After using Irfan View, I got the base design that I need.
With the pixelated image ready, I started filling in the details using the pixel art tool. I used those Avi Co. images as a reference, trying to match the intricate patterns and engravings as closely as possible. It was a slow process, lots of zooming in and out, placing individual pixels. You won’t believe how many times I messed up and had to start over!
After what felt like forever, I finally had a pixelated version of the Patek Philippe Calatrava 5088/100P-001 watch face. It’s not perfect, but I’m pretty darn proud of it. It captures the essence of the original, even in its simplified, pixelated form.
This whole experience taught me a lot about watchmaking, design, and the surprising complexity of something as seemingly simple as a watch face. It’s amazing how much detail goes into these tiny masterpieces. It also gave me a newfound appreciation for pixel art. Who knew placing tiny squares could be so satisfying?
So, yeah, that’s the story of how I remade a Patek Philippe Calatrava watch face using pixel art. It was a fun, challenging, and ultimately rewarding project. I did it! If I can do it, everyone can do it! Maybe I’ll try another one soon. Any suggestions?
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