Hi everyone,

You may have noticed, if you ever saw (or own) a Speedmaster on a 1039 that the last link on the bracelet (endlink side) is bent or even slaughtered.

(on the right side, you can see that the aforementioned link has been heavily bent)

I was struck by this when I recently bought a 145.022-68ST.
Indeed, on mine, one of those last link was bent as if it was opened using pliers while the other was pristine.

As I wanted to spare the remaining lifetime of this pretty rare bracelet, I decided to remove it from the watch.
The springbar on the bent side was removed in a breeze. But on the other side : NO WAY. The springbar looked like on of those drilled lugs type.
I then decided to not try something foolish and set the watch apart for a later examination.

Until I found this picture :

See the springbar ?
Seriously ? THAT kind of springbar on a steel bracelet ?

The problem is that the springbar can easily turn around and hide the opening latch.

Can anyone here confirm that this kind of springbar was actually used by Omega on the 1039 ?

I might have solved one of those 1039 mystery !

PS : Sorry for my bad english, I'm one of those froggy

 

I had a similar springbar on the 1035 that came with one of my Speedmasters from the original owner.

 

Then this would tend to proove that it's a genuine Omega springbar, right ?

I was really surprised to find nothing about this kind of springbar. I googled almost everywhere with no luck.

 

I can't find it right now, but there was a thread here about this very topic. I believe that it was determined that fetishizing vintage spring bars is a bit silly (but then again a lot about watch collecting is a bit silly).

Keep searching, it was a decent thread as I remember.

 

My Google is different from yours.. Conclusion it's better..no?
Fact. Noob luckster
Fact2. I had a Mil Issued vintage that was not an Omega a Lemania. That came with this type of springbars. So I had done once before.

I think it's a non standard, but hope to hear from someone more knowledgeable. They'll be along soon no doubt.

In the mean time some pictures and a link.[emoji41]

@Mark5 lovely speedmaster you lucky lucky boy.

For a quick reference see Otto
http://www.ofrei.com/page475.html





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Here it is

https://omegaforums.net/threads/found-these-in-my-parts-box.23449/

 

Thanks for your reply and the link.
Well actually, it's not a matter of "fetishizing".
It's more about cursing the guy at Omega who decided to use those springbars.
I'm quite sure that this choice is responsible for so many destroyed 1039 (and probably other) bracelet because when you don't know about the latch and you don't see it, then one of the most common wayt to remove the springbar is to bend open the last link.

 

This is actually the more recent thread...

https://omegaforums.net/threads/spring-bars-with-handles.34044/#post-534208

And yes these are horrible designs...I hate them...

 

+1!

Sooo many times getting crazy furious trying to get those suckers off!

 

Wow, this place is amazing, so it does seem to be factory standard. @marturx have you seen them on any of your Lemanias?

My images are from a RN asymmetrical Lemania.


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