Your watch will scratch, so start psychologically accepting that fact.
In my experience it scratches easier installing the bracelet than uninstalling (unless you are really not thinking about what you are doing mechanically). Tape is good for the back of the lugs when installing a bracelet. But you will still get scratches.
Use a scrunched T-shirt or clean rag on your working surface. Slips/falls etc will be safe.
Best tip I can give you (hard to explain, but I’ll try) when removing the bracelet is, when holding the watch with the dial side facing down in the my hand (down/up is relative to the hand, and my hand is angled sideways, so the side of the watch is on the rag/t-shirt, if that makes sense), to have a finger or two of that hand on the dial-side of the endlink (which is facing down) pressing hard up, such that the moment the bergeon releases one end of the springbar, it stays out and the bracelet keeps its new angled out position (by the pressure of your fingers). Do the same to the other side (only works for solid modern endlinks, vintage are quite different).Then it just slips out easy. Never scratched a watch this way. Modern bracelets are easy to in/unstall.
Welcome to the forum, enjoy your watch and WIGH.
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