Man builds his own Apple Watch from scratch in just one week while in the world's largest electronics market in China

Having spent a long time building fake iPhones and other tech products, this man has undergone his trickiest project yet: building his own Apple Watch.

YouTube creator Strange Parts went to China with the hope of bringing back some neat tech when he returned to the US.

But to take home one final present from the electronic metropolis in Shenzhen, he decided to undergo one of his trickiest builds yet.

With the clock counting down until the plane departed, he decided to attempt to build an Apple Watch to see the seconds tick.

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Man attempts building his own DIY Apple Watch

We’ve seen people craft their own Chinese mock-ups of Apple products using parts sourced on online marketplaces.

However, they’ve all fallen short of the real deal, whether that be through major hardware tells, or the user interface being sloppy.

While in Shenzen, this creator had access to the world’s smartest products and collaborated with a team to build the hardware of an Apple Watch as true to the real thing as possible.

Documented on YouTube, the man partnered with a team called Nest Works to reverse-engineer the leading tech product to combine an aluminum frame, battery, and screen, before sourcing a working logic board.

Quite effortlessly, with help from 3D printers and some clever machinery, the casing and strapping for the watch was formed, and the pieces slipped into place like a glove.

However, without a working watch yet, they ran out of time.

Instead, Strange Parts had to ship the final shell home to continue working on it there.

Back in the US, using Apple’s iFixit guide, he configured the logic board and constructed what he hoped to be a fully-functioning smartwatch.

Did it work?

The end product was a resounding success.

Not only did the interface look exactly like that Apple Watch you’d get directly from the store, the apps, such as the heart rate monitor, worked seamlessly.

So, why was this all necessary?

Well, he claims it’s all about where he can take the product next.

“This project wasn’t just about building this watch, it’s about building the next one that has some cool modification or is made out of some new material,” he said.

“Doing this is the stepping stone to the final version.”

With more Apple products than ever before coming in 2026, this project is set to get a ton of inspiration.

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