- Posts
- 526
- Likes
- 1,647
GuiltyGear
·Recently I bought a 3590.50 Speedmaster with a 1479/812 bracelet. The final link on one side was stretched to the extreme, but at the time I didn't think much of it. Being unfamiliar with that bracelet, thought it would be a simple job of changing the pin. Well, spoiler alert, it wasn't.
There's basically no information online that I could find about it. Only a couple of threads with people speculating on how it was put together, or Omega declining to repair it. By total chance though, I found this thread by @Archer where he's fixing a "dog bite Speedmaster" that has the same bracelet and the same kind of damage. His detailed photos really helped in understanding how it's put together.
Although terrifying, it looked a challenge I could take on. The upper part of the links is folded metal that keeps the pins in place. Opening up one side should release the pressure on the pin, so that it can be removed and replaced. These pins aren't readily available and need to be fabricated. Archer's details should be plenty. My details aren't that plenty though, as between stressing myself to fix the bracelet, photos were the least of my concerns.
With my inexperience I tried to open the folded metal, but failed to remove the pin. While trying to open the "upper side", I must have also hit the lower side or the pin itself, deforming it into its channel. It wouldn't budge one bit. With no other option, I went in with a Dremel and a thin cutting disc, trying to be as precise as one can be in such a small space. I managed to grind away the pin (which was probably a softer steel than the link itself), but at the same time I also ground away some metal from the link. When trying to close it with a pin I made, it couldn't. Lousy job, I know.
My next option was to remove that link completely and use the next link. The bracelet is tapered and between the last link and the second, it appears to be ~0.7mm of difference in width. Not that bad and something no one should notice if they don't know. So I did just that. The link has a thin metal part in the middle that connects the two ends, and that's soft enough to be bent inward. I used a pair of pliers with some padding on its teeth to bend the link out of place and remove it. Below is the removed link, damaged further after taking it out by me bending and cutting it just to get a feel of the metal.
The next tackle was the link's center piece. On the last link, the center piece has a hole large enough to fit a 1.8mm spring bar. That's the piece that enters into the endlink. On the rest of the center pieces, the holes are less than 1mm, wide enough to fit the pins. So I tried drilling that hole to 1.5mm first (for a 1.5mm spring bar) to see how it would fit and if I had any chance of going to 1.8mm. The right side hole in the photo is the one I extended to 1.5mm.
While it kinda worked, the fitment to the endlink was very tight. The hole is supposed to be closer to the edge, so it can leave some room for the endlink. Additionally, there's no space to make it 1.8mm, so it's a dead end.
My last try, before throwing the towel, was to bend the second link out of place, like I did with the other damaged one. This time it was so that I could exchange the center piece. Honestly it worked better than expected. I managed to bend the link inward enough so that the pins released the center piece. I put the proper center piece in place and bent again to its original position. Not the perfect solution, but not a bad one either.
The result. On the left side is the fixed one.
With a test fitment to the endlinks:
I wish I could have provided more photos of the whole process, but as I previously said, I was stressed enough while doing all kinds of improper things to the bracelet, that photos were not something I was thinking about. Anyway, hope my journey helps someone with the same troubles as I had.
There's basically no information online that I could find about it. Only a couple of threads with people speculating on how it was put together, or Omega declining to repair it. By total chance though, I found this thread by @Archer where he's fixing a "dog bite Speedmaster" that has the same bracelet and the same kind of damage. His detailed photos really helped in understanding how it's put together.
Although terrifying, it looked a challenge I could take on. The upper part of the links is folded metal that keeps the pins in place. Opening up one side should release the pressure on the pin, so that it can be removed and replaced. These pins aren't readily available and need to be fabricated. Archer's details should be plenty. My details aren't that plenty though, as between stressing myself to fix the bracelet, photos were the least of my concerns.
With my inexperience I tried to open the folded metal, but failed to remove the pin. While trying to open the "upper side", I must have also hit the lower side or the pin itself, deforming it into its channel. It wouldn't budge one bit. With no other option, I went in with a Dremel and a thin cutting disc, trying to be as precise as one can be in such a small space. I managed to grind away the pin (which was probably a softer steel than the link itself), but at the same time I also ground away some metal from the link. When trying to close it with a pin I made, it couldn't. Lousy job, I know.
My next option was to remove that link completely and use the next link. The bracelet is tapered and between the last link and the second, it appears to be ~0.7mm of difference in width. Not that bad and something no one should notice if they don't know. So I did just that. The link has a thin metal part in the middle that connects the two ends, and that's soft enough to be bent inward. I used a pair of pliers with some padding on its teeth to bend the link out of place and remove it. Below is the removed link, damaged further after taking it out by me bending and cutting it just to get a feel of the metal.
The next tackle was the link's center piece. On the last link, the center piece has a hole large enough to fit a 1.8mm spring bar. That's the piece that enters into the endlink. On the rest of the center pieces, the holes are less than 1mm, wide enough to fit the pins. So I tried drilling that hole to 1.5mm first (for a 1.5mm spring bar) to see how it would fit and if I had any chance of going to 1.8mm. The right side hole in the photo is the one I extended to 1.5mm.
While it kinda worked, the fitment to the endlink was very tight. The hole is supposed to be closer to the edge, so it can leave some room for the endlink. Additionally, there's no space to make it 1.8mm, so it's a dead end.
My last try, before throwing the towel, was to bend the second link out of place, like I did with the other damaged one. This time it was so that I could exchange the center piece. Honestly it worked better than expected. I managed to bend the link inward enough so that the pins released the center piece. I put the proper center piece in place and bent again to its original position. Not the perfect solution, but not a bad one either.
The result. On the left side is the fixed one.
With a test fitment to the endlinks:
I wish I could have provided more photos of the whole process, but as I previously said, I was stressed enough while doing all kinds of improper things to the bracelet, that photos were not something I was thinking about. Anyway, hope my journey helps someone with the same troubles as I had.
Edited:
