After spending a rather unpleasant hour trying to get this bracelet onto my 3861, and some rather unfortunate & frustrating scratches on the inner lugs (fortunately kept the carnage to only one side once it became apparent that the endlinks weren't lining up with the lug holes), the Uncle is either full of shit or I got two poorly manufactured endlinks.

Charmed life or at least some modicum of basic skill -- have never scratched a lug until today with many bracelet & strap changes.

Moderately pissed off, not so much at the scratches (even though that's some rookie shit that annoys me even though I tried my best to avoid it -- however it was inevitable while placing the endlink into the lug with the springbar kicking out because of mis-alignment), but because I ordered everything correctly as per the Uncle Seiko website and really wanted this bracelet to fit.

Can anyone else report in about fitting this bracelet with the US approved (ie: Standard) endlinks to their 3861?

 

Are you using the “fat” spring bars that he provides with his bracelets? Those things only fit Seiko’s and a couple others I have. Try slimmer spring bars.

 

Hopefully the springs bars are it. Mine should be here Monday. I will scratch mine in solidarity and report back.

 

I’ve had endlinks I have struggled with for hours and wanted to throw the watch across the room. Lost a spring bar, and grabbed a random other and it snapped right in. Came to realize that the .02-.05mm thickness differences of spring bars can make all the difference with alignment. Always good to have a variety on hand of varying sizes and thickness.

 

Bruh, now you tell me?

Does "he"* also pay for polishing lugs because "he"* doesn't mention the springbar fitment/specificity on his website?

*Uncle Seiko

Feeling like this must make sense because I have -also- never had springbars be so difficult to hold with my Bergeon tool.

 

Sorry man, this is one of those things you totally forget about until it happens and you’re like- yeah, this shit.

 

Dick.

 

But those fat spring bars work great in older Rolex cases that were designed for fat spring bars (like the GMT) and close the gap and rattle you get on those endlinks if you aren’t using the correct ones- and the poke through the holes on the sides. Many who see that poke immediately think the lugs have been polished down to the point the spring bars poke out- but that usually just the wrong skinny style spring bars. You would have to take down a serious amount of material to get the factory spring bars to poke through.

 

Yeah these US bars, well I sorta thought something was weird but didn't persue trying a different bar because I had zero issues with my US flat link on my '57 Railmaster... but either he sent different bars with that bracelet or I used the bars from my OEM Omega bracelet (can't remember). But these, not only were they flying endlessly out of my Bergeon tool but seemed VERY difficult to get the ends to compress -- which is exactly why two of my inner lugs on the 3861 are scratched to shit.

 

Your welcome.

Don’t forget that the US endlinks can be tweaked and shaved if needed. He made then using a specific case style (can’t remember which one) and there have been several changes over the years in the placement of the lug holes in relation to the case. So even a fraction of a mm can change that distance and cause it to rub the case or not let the spring bars seat if they are being forced back a fraction. Sometimes if you shave the edge against the case, that can make the fit work

 

Leave the porch light on... I'll be over and you can shave my endlinks. I'll read poetry to you while you do so.

 

Sounds like a hot Thursday night! I’ll break out the mulled cider.

If you haven’t already, try the factory spring bars that came with your Speedy and let me know if it worked.

 

Another hour of bullshit, no - OEM bars are no bueno as is two other pairs of bars: Rawlexx and No Name Generics.

Kid wanted the PC for WoW (also my makeshift ghetto pretend watchmaker cave) so I quickly tried a still unopened Forstner Komfit w/horned ends (wow, what kind of monkey can operate that shit with a single hand? Maybe the day I'm having but I gave that 10 minutes of trying to put it on and take it off my wrist before I felt like my brain was going to explode and then removed it) and threw the Nivada Grenchen Chronomaster tropical on (QR bars so I could stop getting side-eyed from The Daughter) which is too much black even for my scorched heart on this watch -- I'm putting the OEM bracelet back on tonight once everyone goes to bed and I have some space to cry over the wasted day, the wasted coin on the US flat link, the wasted optimism and my freshly procured lug scratches.

 

Look at that horseshit in that last photo... it's like a WUS "For Sale" ad for a Timex that never stood a chance against some ham-fisted rookie with a shitty flat edge screwdriver.
Heartbreaking.
I wanna meet The Uncle in person and have a chat.

 

Ouch .... put it all aside and do it when you are fresh in the morning, nothing good comes from working on something after a bout of serious frustration. Sorry for the scratches.

I'll use all kinds of leather and textile straps instead of the stock steel bracelet but I just don't fool with aftermarket ones. The most adventuresome I got was putting a 3861 bracelet on a modded, late 2019 1861 Speedmaster. Fortunately it all went ok using the stock springbars, no fitment issues.

 

PS→ The Komfit looks and feels amazing old skool cool but I'll be damned if I am messing with that once per day when I pull the Moonwatch off to wind it.

Them astronaut bois musta had better digit skillz than me -- or NASA had techs by their side 24/7 for removing and reattaching that bracelet.

 

It’s fiddly at first but you get the hang of it.


This day was cursed from the start for you. Don’t play with watches for another few days- seriously.

 

If it makes you feel any better, a jammed forstner bracelet screw led to a nice little puncture wound tonight:



This watch nonsense is not for the faint of heart. And, don't even get me started on my brand new Seiko Prospex bracelet that I can't use because the unfathomably small collar flew out of my tweezers. If you're going to use a pin and collar system, the least you could do is include a spare in the kit. The thing was as tiny as the teeth on an accutron index wheel.

 

We need to hit a VFW for a beer my fellow comrade.
PS→ pins & collars are an invention from Satan himself.

 

I am both happy and sorry to report that my install was quick and easy. I was a bit worried after this thread. The US spring-bars are indeed fatter and a bit longer. I didn't even bother with those and just used the stock ones. The hardest part was indeed getting the pins fully seated into the holes. It was easy to get them between the lugs but then to get them to actually pop into the holes and extend I had to push down and in pretty hard on the end link. I also taped my lugs for the first time just in case. I can see how you had a bear of a time with this and scratched the lugs. Resizing the bracelet was a breeze. Took two links out on one side, one on the other in a few minutes. Pins ain't so bad.

It's shiny. It's jangly. It's comfy. And it looks great. I'm happy so far.