Watch Box

Deep Thought

https://www.massdrop.com/buy/wolf-stackable-watch-tray?mode=guest_open

blue5000

18 months ago if you told me I'd be interested in a watch box I'd have walked away shaking my head, now I'm not so sure it's such a bad idea:o

Clareman

I bought a box like this http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Durable-Elegant-PU-Leather-Watch-Box-With-12-Inset-Grids-And-Removable-Pads-Jewelry-Display-Box/32592872925.html?spm=2114.30010308.3.100.ztKBNE&s=p&ws_ab_test=searchweb201556_0,searchweb201602_5_10038_10017_10021_507_10022_10020_401_10018_10019_101,searchweb201603_1&btsid=76842d2c-eef4-462a-9dd9-92e5b6358117 before, it does the job and is less than €20.

Clareman

I don't have a picture of it closed, if anyone wants me to upload a few pics just let me know

blue5000

Clareman wrote: »

I don't have a picture of it closed, if anyone wants me to upload a few pics just let me know

Yes please, closeups of all the watches too:cool: Is it faux leather on the outside? Was thinking of making a wooden one, I like the wolf stackable idea.

Clareman

blue5000 wrote: »

Yes please, closeups of all the watches too:cool: Is it faux leather on the outside? Was thinking of making a wooden one, I like the wolf stackable idea.

I like the idea of a wooden option as well as stackable, but I don't know if I could bring myself to spend that much money on a box.

CarltonBrowne

I've made a few attempts to post this but it seems our fantastic new forum software is not what it should be. One more attempt with 5 images per post.

I've done a couple of DIY watch box projects before. One was a rather straightforward bit of sewing:
http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.php?101429-Latest-watch-box-project-Rimowa

And then there was this renovation of an old leather writing case:
http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.php?76646-DIY-Watch-Box-old-writing-case

At the end of the latter thread you will see mention of this old gun case:



It has only really come back to me whilst I've been working on this that I bought it at a market in Dublin over Christmas 2000 (probably Mother Redcaps) and presumably for a pittance. I then flew to Berlin and as you can see I've done feck all with it in the intervening period - I'm amazed that SWBO tolerated it being propped up against the wall in various corners of the flat.

The first task was to treat the leather and it took a couple of weeks of occasional treatment with leather balsam (and the remains of a tin of Mars leather oil that I found in my parent's garage - I had originally bought it about 30 years previously in Callaghans). The other thing was to get some brasso on the lock but that didn't take very long at all.

I had a vague idea about how I'd kit out the internals but this very much adapted as I went along. For reference here's a few more pictures as I began work:

CarltonBrowne

I don't seem to have taken pictures between the treatment of the leather and start of work on the internals. I had intended to keep as many of the internal partitions as possible and work around them to somehow make space for watches - several of them crumbled into splinters almost immediately on contact with the enemy (me) and some had to go, in the end, just to make way.

The first bits of raw material are a set of balsa wood sheets from Bauhaus - the German equivalent of B&Q.


Nice and easy to cut freehand with a blade as long as you're working along the grain. Normal wood glue and various clamps and right angles mean that we get some trays to work with very quickly.

CarltonBrowne

The observant amongst you will see a bracket from a Cisco rack mounting kit being used to good effect. I could probably have done with more of these and I will probably raid my mingi box* at work should I ever have the bravado to do something like this again.


And finally we have two complete trays for dress watches on leather or NATO straps.

One of the side benefits of this exercise was to discover a magical little hardware shop in the basement of a local shopping centre. Some of the work needs access to a craft/handiwork shop and, as already stated, I needed a few bits from a more conventional DIY place. The shop that I found has a bit of both and was really useful, particularly as it's a less-than-ten-minute walk from home. The component that prompted the search for this local retailer was green baize felt. This stuff:

And we start to line the boxes.

CarltonBrowne

Unfortunately I don't seem to have taken a photo at the stage when both trays were covered so we'll have to wait for that. I then found some felt to cushion the bottoms.



The next challenge was how to make a compartment to house watches on bracelets. I contemplated buying some Ebay cushions and trying to find a way to fit those in but ended up with a different idea - a padded wooden bar suspended, or rather resting, in another tray.

CarltonBrowne

Wooden bar and foam (from an old Peli case)

CarltonBrowne

There was a last bit over in the right-hand corner where I decided to add a little strap compartment. This is the only picture I seem to have taken of that. The second bracelet watch compartment doesn't seem to have any photo record. More assistance from Cisco.


And now it's finished. Well, pretty much.

CarltonBrowne

CarltonBrowne

Here's the strap box. I'm assuming the cylindrical well to the right of this is for a bottle of gun oil - I may see if I can find something that fits in there and fill it with silicon grease to ease squeaky bracelets or perhaps some Loctite to do the opposite effects to the screws.






Further work will include trying to get a key for it - it's unlikely that I can get one cut. With the writing case in the link above, I took it to a locksmith who said that they would only be able to get one made if I was able to remove the lock from the case - that's not going to happen. I suspect the lock isn't that high spec so I'm hoping, rather optimistically, that a locksmith may have a couple of jars of keys and that we'll find something. You'll note that in the original photo there is one external luggage strap - that's been renovated but it looks a bit silly with only one. I could try and find somebody, on Etsy for example, to make me a duplicate but as that will make it a pfaff to open the box when I want to pull a watch out I'll probably do without.

I also bought some leather to attempt to patch some of the tatty finishes but left it out, in the end. I couldn't make it match the patina of the case and decided to keep the shabby chicness and general air of genteel neglect - a perfect match for myself.

I have an idea that I will try to keep this case just for the Universal Genève watches in my collection and on that basis I think it's already full - I've got a couple away for minor repairs and battery changes so I'll do the arithmetic when it's all back.

So, if somebody turns up at the next Dublin GTG with a shotgun case you don't need to fret. It's only me.


* Mingi box. This was explained to me by a sadly deceased friend who was an Irish cavalry subaltern in the Congo in the sixties. A mingi box was a converted ammunition tin that an officer used to transport his mobile office - there would be compartments for stationery, paperwork and, vitally, always the makings of a brew. Frank would pull up in a village and the mingi box would be the first thing to come out - mainly to get the kettle on but he might also have to write a sitrep, produce boiled sweets to give to children or whatever - whereupon all of the locals would gather round, point and shout "mingi, mingi!". Mingi is Swahili for many things - I'd love to know if the term lives on in the PDF. I believe that a similar sort of box is used by officers in the British Army but known, not so exotically, as a battle box. Unfortunately my mingi box at work is an old, and probably stolen, British Telecom toolcase and nothing quite so interesting.

Wibbs

:eek::eek: That is a great set of posts about a fantastic watch box. :eek: *bows*.

art

Yeah, that's a terrific job converting that, looks really well and practical to boot. The pics really tell the story well too. I think CarltonBrowne should be referred to as "Clamps" from now on though ...

CarltonBrowne

art wrote: »

I think CarltonBrowne should be referred to as "Clamps" from now on though ...

You may have a point there - the green springy ones were bought for this job and they really were a revelation. You can never go back, I tell you...

Deep Thought

Lovely...


Is that Tutima ?

CarltonBrowne

Deep Thought wrote: »

Lovely...


Is that Tutima ?

Oh yes.