Very nice Paul, the case and the collection! I did a very similar thing with a case I brought from Maplin Electronics. It already had foam fitted inside which was pre-perforated so allneeded to do was cut out a slot where I needed it and do as you did, cut down the removed piece to use as an insert. I don't unfortunately have 33 watches to fill it so I only cut out slots where I needed them, 11 in total so I can add more when I get more watches.

I'd post a pic but it looks a bit feeble compared to youd!

David H

: Inspired by some posts on TZUK I got it into my head that I needed
: a suitable watch storage case. I started with 3 small aluminium
: cases bought off ebay that carried 12 watches each but then I
: found a really cool bigger case so as one does, I replaced the 3
: smaller ones with one big one. So here is a quick guide to
: making a watch storage case.

: Find a case. This one is 34cm x 62cm x 10cm deep (all outside
: dimensions)

:
:

: Measure the inside and buy polyethylene foam. The base of this case
: is 50mm deep so I bought 20mm and 30mm thick pieces. The thicker
: the foam the harder it is to cut. I find 30mm is the maximum.
: The top of this case came with foam.

: The tricky bit is the layout of the watch holders. I made a jig out
: of mat board with a cut out of 21mm x 80mm for each watch
: separated by a 34mm gap on the horizontal plane and 21mm
: vertical gap. There is a 20mm boarder all round the outside. The
: gap between the watches (34mm) is important to maintain
: separation especially with large watches with crowns and pushers
: on both sides but this is the variable when setting out.

:
:

: Here is an example of the smaller case.
: regards
: Paul
: www.heuerworld.com

:
:

: I pinned the jig to the foam and started the laborious job of
: cutting out the watch holders using a hobby knife with a new,
: deep blade for the long cuts and a shallow blade for the short
: cuts.
: As the jig is smaller than the foam I moved it along but only after
: finishing all the cuts first.

:
:

: The cut outs for the watch holders are 21 x 80mm from 30mm deep
: foam. I trip this down to 21 x 75 x 16mm to allow for the
: bracelet or strap. This is variable depending on your wrist size
: (in the case of bracelets). Fit the foam to the case and the
: watches to the holders – job done. The only thing missing is
: the chain and wrist cuff but that would give the game away.

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: Here is an example of the smaller case

: regards
: Paul
: www.heuerworld.com

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