I recently had the urge to get a fun, colorful summer watch. But I can't justify the expense of even a beautiful, beautiful Tsuyosa right now, so I built my own for less than 70€ :D
Built around a Seiko/SII NH35, all parts (case, bracelet, dial, hands) sourced from Aliexpress. Fit and finish are OK (I'd say a bit below pre-reboot Seiko 5), but these are very cheap parts anyway.
I "branded" the dial by experimenting with toner transfer. It looks like shit up close, but at wrist-length, it's fine.
I silenced the cheap-ass, rattly-as-fuck bracelet by thoroughly soaking it in bike chain grease.
Wrist shot: https://i.imgur.com/iIiJCwW.jpg
Oh wow, I much fuller reply than I expected. Thank you! I did read up on some stuff already and saw the nh35 suggested so I started looking for parts with that listed in the title. There's no gotchas if I stick with those? Or do i need to make sure the parts fit together?
Haha yeah I can't do concise, thanks ADHD.
Just make sure the case either fits a 28.5mm dial or takes a standard chapter ring. That's probably the only caveat. Parts from the reputable shops are guaranteed to fit so it might be more reassuring to start there. Parts on AliExpress need careful examination of the listing and customer pictures.
Also, grab a couple extra stems just in case.
Awesome, thank you so much!