I have a four year old daughter that will occasionally present me with works of art. To some, they might seem like junk, but to her they are her world. The profound sense of accomplishment and pride of a job well done fills her soul with delight and joy. I now can relate with the feeling she gets. When I finished screwing on the case back and attaching the black leather strap to my namoki watch building kit, I laughed and smiled in delight. I had assembled a wearable work of art that gives me not just a sense of satisfaction, but performs a function as well. Sit back and take a look at our journey of building our namoki watch kit.

We chose this one over the other watch making kits out there, due to the subtle, almost sterile dial and simplicity. This watch, much like the Grand Seiko and Patek Calatrava it emulates, is about simplicity and elegance.

The kit arrives in some really cool blue tin containers that contain all of the parts for the watch build. Let’s put on the rubber finger thingies (known as cots in the watchmaking community) from the tool kit and get to work! You will also want to used the hand held bellows and blower that is included. quite often. It is crazy the amount of dust that will accumulate over the course of the build. That and the sticky ball of rodico putty will be your best friend along the way

-shoutout to namoki for providing us with the watch making kit and tools to get the job done! head over to namoki to take a look at what all they offer.

Step One

Our kit has the cream color sterile dial that is reminiscent of a grand seiko or patek calatrava. The cream enamel look is simply beautiful. Understated, yet elegant. Grand Seiko makes a dial this color, but it also reminded us of the Seiko SARB035, which was unfortunately discontinued.

We removed the movement, a workhorse movement from seiko and placed it in the movement holder that is provided in the tool kit. Not that our dial does not have a date window, but there are available ones on the namoki web site.

Setting the dial

In order to place the dial, we needed to trim off some of the prongs that allow proper placement for the movement. We simply got some wire cutters and snipped them off. These were incredibly easy to get off, but we do suggest filing the stubs down with a filed in order to set the dial flush with the movement.

That was easy! Now that we have the dial placed and looking good. Now we move on to …

Setting the hands

To be honest, I think I underestimated this part. I will let you know that this is the most tedious of the tasks you will do. Make sure that you have some time carved out to get this done. Take your time, be patient and prepare properly. There are quite a few videos on youtube to help you along with this.

There are three tools provided with the kit to do the hand setting. Black tool for hour hand, silver tool for minute hand and red tool for second hand. Like i said earlier, take your time. Use the provided monocle and tools to set them. make sure they are even and don’t be afraid to use the bergeron dial protectors to help you adjust the hands. You have to make sure that the hands won’t touch each other when they are moving. Use the wooden tool to adjust as needed to make sure all the dials are at 12 o’clock.

Ond great tip is to use the rodico (sticky ball of stuff) provided to help you place the hands. The hands will bend very easily and you have to be gentle with them. Once this is done, you are int the home stretch!

Setting in movement/Trimming Stem

This is pretty straight forward remove the stem from the movement, and prepare the new one. There were two stems included. Both of them were too long, so you are required to trim down the stem so that it will fit. Screw on the crown to the stem, place the movement and dial in the case and get ready to place the stem in. When you do this, you will see that the stem will stick out and you won’t be able to screw down the crown. There are ways to precisely measure this out, but we just eyeballed how much we needed to trim off and did it. We did us pliers to grip the stem while screwing in the crown after trimming. That helped since the trimming of the stem can mess up the threading a little. once that is done, we are on to our last steps!

Placing Gasket, Caseback and Band

After setting hands and trimming the stem, these last steps feel like the easiest thing in the world! The gasket fits easily with a little help from the provided wood tool. We like the wooden tool since it prevents scratched to any of the metal parts on the watch. Adjust the caseback tool and tighten it up.

Putting on the strap

One last step! The provided strap is black calf skin with springbars that don’t require a tool. We really like these quick change straps for dress watches, since it allows for easy strap changes and customization. The suede backing to the strap is a very comfortable touch! Here are pics of the standard band it comes with and the custom brown alligator strap we picked up as well. This is a testament to the versatility of this cream colored dial.

Final Thoughts

Take a look at our final product! As mentioned at the beginning of the article, the sense of pride a watch nerd will get out of completing this build is incredible! Much like my daughter’s works of art are no rembrandt, or picasso, this watch is not patek philippe or grand seiko, but it doesn’t have to be. I can wear this watch with pride, knowing that I had a little sweat equity and a hand in making it come to life. To me, there seems to be a vast difference in the namoki watch kit, and paying someone to mod a watch the way you want it. namoki makes it possible for you to have a hand in creating something that you will take a great pride in wearing.

Namoki offers a large variety of options that truly give you the option of creating your own grail watch at a fraction of the price. The shipping was fast, communication was great and the website makes it really easy to find what you need. The included instruction could be a little more descriptive and it would be nice if these kits came with an extra set of hands in case you end up butchering them in the process of setting them. As a whole though, we can’t recommend this watch kit enough, specifically the one we got. It is truly amazing the quality and style you get for the price. I plan on getting numerous straps and making this watch as verstaile as possible. And as far as size, this thing hits it out of the park. most 37.3mm wide and 11.33mm thickness is about as perfect as a dress watch can get. This thing will fit easily under shirt cuffs and isn’t too bulky.

Here is the link to the watch, along with the specs. Head on over to Namoki and check out their offerings!

NMK-WK14 DIY Watchmaking Kit: GS Dress Watch

specs:

Watch Dimensions:

• 37.3mm Case Diameter

• 44.3mm Lug to Lug Diameter

• 19mm Lug Width

• 11.3mm Thickness

• Water Resistance: 50m when installed properly

• Case: NMK940 GS Dress Watch Case: Steel Finish

• Caseback: Sterile Slim Caseback

• Bezel: Integrated Bezel

• Dial: GS Dress Dials (Available in 5 color options)

• Crystal: Vintage Style Top Hat Box Glass Crystal - Clear AR

• Hands: Pitched Dauphine Style Hands

• Crown: Bundled sterile crown with pre-cut movement stem

• Movement: NH35A from SII - Hacking and Winding movement

• Bracelet: 19mm Black Leather Strap