Jewelry can be made from old recycled objects for a one of a kind design that will definitely become a conversation piece. The pieces pictured here are all made from old watch parts and the featured image includes an antique button.

A great source for old watches, parts and found objects is Ebay. I always look for mechanical as opposed to quartz based watches in order to obtain gears and other parts and many which include small rubies jewels. Obtaining old watches from Ebay is a fun treasure hunt in itself as there are so many styles of old watches! The variety of watch faces alone can be fascinating! Flea markets and garage sales are a great source as well. 

Once I won a bid for a bulk lot of old “broken” watches on Ebay. When I received the package I went through them and tried winding them up to make sure they really didn’t work (before taking them apart). A beautiful gold plated woman’s Bulova watch was in the pile and started working as soon as I wound it up! I contacted the seller but he said I should just keep it. What a great find! I still wear it today! 🙂

Back to the watch parts……The watches can usually be opened with a small screwdriver and all parts including the watch faces can be used in different ways to create a unique piece. 

The parts are secured with glue, solder, or metal jump rings. They can also be embellished with other bling such as Swarovski crystals.

This necklace is made by putting random watch parts in a special copper pendant and then adding ICE resin (or any self leveling clear two part resin). Just add a vintage chain and you are done. Very nice chains and pendants for resin jewelry can be purchased on line or at one of the craft store chains such as Michaels, Joanne’s or Hobby Lobby.

The possibilities are endless for creating a truly special piece of jewelry. Imagine the excitement of finding an old treasure and turning it into something beautiful and new that will be admired for years to come!

Have fun!