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PSA: Springtime for Springbars

trackpad
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With spring breathing down our necks, a suggestion. (Sorry, Southern Hemisphere...please disregard)

After a winter indoors, fiddling with straps and watch heads, often in dry conditions and under low-light - and as we get ready to spend more time active, outdoors and on the water... spring seems like the perfect time of year for an annual checking/changing of the springbars.

I would go so far as to say that springbar checks in the spring should be just as much the default, natural maintenance rhythm for watch nerds as an oil change is for gearheads.

Further, to the importance of springbar checks and the consequences of ignoring them, I like the advice from this old thread:

Lesson 1) Do not think that accuracy is the only driver of a service call.

Lesson 2) If you have spring bar holes, make sure you can see the spring bars fully extended into them.

Lesson 3) On watches without spring bar holes in lugs, periodically CHECK and make sure the spring bars are properly working.

Lesson 4) Only use the correct ROLEX spring bars for your watch!


Maybe disregard Lesson 4 - but PLEASE...please, check them bars! And maybe also bracelet components (← great, approaching @Archer level photos here) while you're at it.

Godspeed.
Edited:
 
Archer
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I often remove springs bars from a watch, only to see them fall apart as the come out of the bracelet or strap. I change them on watches that I service, and it's clear many people don't give them much thought, so not a bad idea to swap them every so often.

Selecting the right spring bar is also important, and often branded bars are actually a lot better than the generic bars:



The upper bar is an Omega spring bar, while the lower one is still Swiss made and is Horotec branded. You can see that the Horotec bar is crimped just at the end of the tube, leading to the spring bar tips being able to shift off axis, where the Omega bars are much more robust. Make sure the tip of the spring bar selected fits the holes in the lug properly.

While you are at it, checking the pins and sleeves is a good idea also as I often find that although none are sticking out of the bracelet, they are still quite loose and can be moved easily just by pushing on them with a pin:



Cheers, Al
 
alam
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for a moment I thought the topic was related to the medical practice of urology 😀
 
Canuck
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alam alam
for a moment I thought the topic was related to the medical practice of urology 😀

My thoughts, exactly!
 
ahartfie
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With all my recent bracelet cleaning, I have used new springbars during reassembly. Is there any reason I should keep the old ones?
 
Archer
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ahartfie ahartfie
With all my recent bracelet cleaning, I have used new springbars during reassembly. Is there any reason I should keep the old ones?

Yes, if you are a hoarder...😉
 
ahartfie
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Archer Archer
Yes, if you are a hoarder...😉

You're not helping! Out they go... when I find them again.
 
Archer
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ahartfie ahartfie
You're not helping! Out they go... when I find them again.

Piles already that bad? 😉
 
trackpad
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Archer Archer
branded bars are actually a lot better than the generic bars

Like so much else, you probably get what you pay for. These little pins are quite literally the only standing between a watch on your wrist, and a watch on the floor with a smashed crystal ...or worse, your watch plain gone.

So I'll take mine OEM + made in Switzerland, and pay the small premium. As opposed to $25 for a box of 200 and made in...?
 
S
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Trackpad has really nailed it. Obsessing about a great watch, and ignoring a basic precaution is really asking for trouble. "Take care of your equipment, and it will take care of you". Yes, I know that this is opening up the post to double entendres, so don't bother to follow through.
 
trackpad
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Archer Archer
Selecting the right spring bar is also important, and often branded bars are actually a lot better than the generic bars:

Begs the question, is there a good resource for normals (people without a parts account) to obtain OEM OMEGA springbars for a Speedmaster?
 
trackpad
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alam alam
for a moment I thought the topic was related to the medical practice of urology 😀

Also important! The other springbar check.
 
Foo2rama
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trackpad trackpad
Begs the question, is there a good resource for normals (people without a parts account) to obtain OEM OMEGA springbars for a Speedmaster?
walk into an OB and ask for them preferably while wearing the watch. Not only free but you get a nice Omega bag to hold the small ziplock bag holding 4 of them.
Edited:
 
STANDY
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I find it reassuring to keep to this strategy.

New straps I put on I use new springbars and when changing straps I leave the springbars with the strap. Find it better than using one set of springbars through multiple strap changes.

And as said above keep away from cheap springbars ( bought decent ones years ago in boxes of 100 so worked out cheap by buying bulk )
 
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