A Guide to Watch Band Repair
Sunday, December 13th, 2009A person’s watch speaks volumes about his or her style statement. Almost everyone owns one. And, it is not for purely practical reasons. In this digital age, almost every other person has access to a cellular phone or a PDA for checking on the time. A watch is actually a part of the overall getup. It is more of a fashion accessory. It’s about making the right statement. The burgeoning luxury watch market acts as a testimony to the fact that people are willing to spend exorbitant sums of money in search of that perfect watch.
However, no matter how expensive, an ill maintained watch never speaks well of its owner. Apart from replacement of the battery and the occasional cleanup, the watch band too requires attention since it wears out rather quickly due to frequent use. The whole process of watch band repair though is not that complicated and can be done at home, provided one has access to the right tools. In this article, we give you a step by step tutorial of the whole procedure, which will save you that extra trip to the watch maker’s.
Depending upon the task at hand, a wide assortment of watch repair tools may be required for watch band repair such as link and spring bar removers, mesh bracelet cutters, watch band shears and trimmers and pin-removing kits. If however, all that’s needed to be done is a change of the watch band, a screwdriver or a watchmaker’s knife may suffice.
Step 1: First and foremost, the length and width of the old band must be measured carefully, keeping in mind that the width is measured at the end that connects to the watch body.
Step 2: New watchbands may be bought based on design or color. These may be of metal, plastic or leather. They should, however, be identical to the old ones in terms of dimensions.
Step 3: The old watch band may be removed using a spring bar tool.
Step 4: After the removal of the old watch band, the connection points may be cleaned using a round – headed pin.
Step 5: The new watch band may now be inserted into the lug holes. This process may be completed with or without the help of the spring bar tool.
Step 6: The length of the band can be adjusted by punching holes into the leather band using a staking tool with a concave point. In case of metal bands, links may be added or removed to lengthen or shorten the band.
And, there you go! You have repaired your watch at home by yourself.
