Wristwatch Shadowbox Jewelry

About 10 years ago I bought two antiquey women's wristwatches from an estate sale. Somehow I thought that I, with no knowledge of clocks or any particular skill at mechanical engineering, could make them work again. Obviously, this did not happen. What happened instead was that I moved the broken watches from box to box each time I reorganized my jewerly making supplies. Suddenly last month I had a brainwave -- I realized that what I like about the watches is their cases, which are ornate gold plate. Without the works inside, watches make neat little shadow boxes. You can put whatever you want inside and hang them from ribbons or chain.

Conceptually, this is fairly simple and doesn't really need step by step directions. Instead, here are some tips to make it easier:

1. Opening the case can be pretty difficult, particularly with newer watches. Usually one place on the back has a divot where watch repairers presumably insert some specially made tool to open the watch. The divot will be on one of the areas that faces the band. Since I don't have whatever this tool is, I've used x-acto knifes (prepare to brake your blade), eyeglass screwdrivers, and a flat hard piece of brass that used to be attached to a key. None of these are ideal. Try not to stab yourself in the hand.

2. A certain style of woman's watch attaches to the band at only one point on either side. These are the best candidates for hanging from a chain.

3. Newer watches or men's watches usually have pins that attach the band. Take off the band but don't lose the pins. Put them back and use them to help attach a ribbon or chain to the watch.

4. Beads are tempting to use as filling for your newly created shadow box. Pearls look nice because they catch light and reflect it back in multiple directions, making them easier to see. Here are some other ideas:

• tiny quartz crystals
• "micro beads" which are extremely small glass spheres that don't have holes in them. Apparently micro beads are used for decorative craft projects where you mix them into paint or glue. You can buy them here
• Undrilled semiprecious spheres. You can get these here
• Bits of the watch works (i.e. tiny gears, springs, etc.)
• Acrylic spheres. Mine came from T&T Plasticland, which is basically just an awesome place you should check out.
• seeds

My first two watch necklaces were very Victorian looking. I made one for me and one for Sweet Tea:



Now I'm working on one made from an old Timex that used to belong to my dad. This seemed not so great hanging from a chain, so I used grograin ribbon instead. I'm not sure what style this is - punk preppy?



You can see more of these at my shop on Etsy.