Customer Reviews

Design Your Own Charm Watch [With Craft Supplies] (Klutz)

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Being a fan of charm bracelets, I quickly picked up this book when I saw it. I had a great time using the jump rings to attach charms, beads, and my own doodads to the watch to make a fun, chunky accessory. The instructions are clear and easy to follow, as are the accompanying pictures.

The one complaint that I have is that the metallic parts of the watch itself, chain, jump rings, and charms are less durable than I would have liked. Within about two weeks after I completed my watch and started wearing it, most of the silver finish on the chain had worn off, revealing the copper base metal underneath, and that quickly tarnished, too. Whatever silver finish didn't wear away isn't real silver, so it turned dingy gray and wouldn't clean up with a silver polishing cloth. The same went for the charms and watch face. I don't know what the jump rings were made of, but they had tarnished pretty badly and were practically black after two weeks. Given the price of this project package, I didn't expect sterling silver or stainless steel, but I thought that the metal parts wore out a bit too quickly for my liking, especially since I don't have a watch "wardrobe" and pretty much wear the same watch day after day.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed this project enough to buy another one of these books so that I can get another watch to play with (Klutz should make extra watches available the same way they make extra supplies available for some of their other projects), and this time, I have a can of clear varnish to use on the metal parts before I get started. Despite my gripes about the quality of the metal parts, I think that this is a great project for the budding jewelry designer.