About

Northern Lume is a one-person workshop. I built my first mechanical watch about two years ago, and it started the way most hobbies do: a YouTube video, then another, then a rabbit hole. That first build was a homage to the Rolex GMT-Master II "Batman".

About a year ago I started modding Casios, and that is when I started filming. The watches on this site are the ones I thought were worth keeping a record of.

I write the tutorials because the information is scattered. Most of what I picked up came from forum threads that are ten years old now, half of them with broken image links. The guides here are the version I would have wanted: the order to do things in, which tools actually matter, and where the job tends to go wrong.

When I take on work for other people, original parts go back to the owner in a labelled bag, and every stage gets photographed. There are jobs I turn down: refinishing precious metal, servicing chronograph movements, and anything on a bracelet I can't find a replacement for.