Remember back at the very beginning of the year when I went to a huge vintage fair? While there, I picked up a BUNCH of vintage items (I spent more money than I’m willing to admit), including a vintage timepiece.

I bought it with the expectation that I’d turn it into a necklace, so that is exactly what I did! This was the first time that I had ever made jewelry before, so I didn’t know what to expect. I definitely hit a few setbacks during the process but I kept improvising, so I’ll outline exactly what I did and what I’d recommend you do if you choose to make one of these!

Supplies:

• Jewelry chain w/ jump rings and clasps [Mine is from Wal-Mart]
• Large jump ring for the pendant
• Vintage Watch to use as pendant [Vintage Faire]
• Needle nose pliers [You can find these in the jewelry section of craft stores or you may already have them in your toolbox]

Directions: 

1. Purchase or salvage a vintage watch. Clean it up to your liking, so leave it a little dirty if you like the vintage look, or polish it to perfection to make it look brand new. I kept mine looking a little dirty because I think it adds a lot of character to the piece, especially the green tint.

2. Get your chain ready. Make sure your chain is at the desired length. My chain already came in the length I wanted so I didn’t have to make any adjustments.

3. Using the pliers to open and shut the rings, add a jump ring to each end of the chain, fully closing one of them and leaving one open for the clasp. Then add the clasp and secure closed with the plier.

4. You should now have a necklace with no pendant on it. Fold the necklace in half to find the halfway point, and add the large jump ring and pendant. Then close the jump ring. If for whatever reason the links on the chain are too small to fit the jump ring or the loop on the watch pendant, you can do what I have shown above and just wrap the chain through the loop a couple of times. You could also just loop it through once.

And, you’re done! This project took me about 15-20 minutes, and the most difficult part was just opening and closing the jump rings.