Hello team, new to this forum and to the world of Omegas, due to the beautiful Cosmic my wife gave me for our wedding anniversary recently!

Am keen to use the watch as a daily wearer with different straps for the occasion. How do I remove the beads of rice strap that it is fitted with originally?

Any and all advice appreciated!

 

With great difficulty by the looks of it. I doubt that bracelet is original to the watch.

 

I think those BoR bracelets with the flat end links are correct for the C-cased Cosmics.

To remove it you need a spring bar tool (such as one by Burgeon) that slots into the notch under the 523 marking to push the end of the spring bar out of the hole in the lug.

 

According to seller it is original, but no documentation has been provided so can't be sure. Find several Cosmic with movement 166.026 with "bead of rice" bracelet on the web though, so combination is not uncommon

 

I have a spring bar tool, but cannot get the bar to budge and am cautious to not press too hard... shall the tool fit into the most right-ward slot (red arrow) or the notch at the yellow arrow?

 

Having zoomed in and taken a better look, you are more than likely correct.

 

It’s hard to see on your picture.
If there’s a little latch sticking out at a right angle to the main spring bar, this is a quick release bar and you simply need to move that.
More likely is it’s simply a shouldered spring bar. On this design you use the spring bar tool to push the shouldered, end piece of the bar into the main bar to shorten in to allow the end to disengage from the hole in the lug.
worse case, you have a shoulder less spring bar. As the name suggests, these have no shoulders for the tool to engage with and are meant for use on case with lug holes but people occasionally fit them to cases without.

In any case, if they have been in place for a number of years, they’re likely very stiff and will take some persuasion to remove. I’ve never not been able to remove an old spring bar but it can take patience and persistence to get it off without scratching the case or end pieces.

 

Success at last! Perseverance did it... quite rusty and mauled springs, but I finally got them out. Thanks a lot for all the advice

 

Looks like a nice example with a clean dial.

If you’re not aware, these have a uni shell case so there’s no caseback. The movement is removed via the front once the crystal has been removed.

This has benefits as it often keeps the dial in good condition. If it hasn’t been serviced recently, it would be worthwhile considering it if you’re going to wear it frequently

 

If that's what the springbars look like I would advise a service if you will be wearing that often. Those bars probably would have been changed at service.

 

According to the lists I found here in the OF, 166.0026 and 1068/523 is the correct combination.

 

Thanks a lot for confirming, that is exactly the combination I have, it is quite beautiful in my opinion ;-)

 

Enjoy!

 

I can also confirm that the combination is "original" and "correct" for this model. As the pros often point out, back in the day these watches were often originally sold on leather and the steel bracelets were sold as accessories. I used to buy and collect cosmics and have seen them on a variety of bracelets, including:

1068/523
1098/526
1125/636
1172/538

There are also some regional/unmarked bracelets that were available. I have bought a few that came with Jubilee-esqe bracelets and mesh/milanese straps (Ref. 2039).