Hello,

I've managed to mangle one of my spring bars when removing the bracelet on my Seamaster 60. I'm unsure what size I should order? The length of the spring bar comes in at 21.66mm (and diameter 1.8/1mm).

Should I order a 21mm or 22mm spring bar?

Apologies if this is a real "thicky" question, I'm new to vintage watch collecting!

 

That’s one hell of a catch for someone new to collecting- congrats! You have the unfortunate luck of having 19mm lugs- I have many that size and it’s limiting for strap options. 20mm spring bars will generally “fit” but some are slightly longer than others so a “short” 20 is what works. There are 19mm spring bars out there- that’s honestly what you need.

 

You need 19mm bars because that's the width of the lugs, they aren't ordered by the free length.

 

And welcome to the forum! Again- great watch, where did you come by it? And of course since it hasn’t been said yet- dibs.

 

Oh- and it also needs to be noted, there are shoukderless and shouldered spring bars shoulderless are designed for watches that have holes outside the lugs so you can use a pin to depress them through the case. Yours I believe is only accessible from under the endlinks, so you need shouldered spring bars so there is a rim around the end for the tool to catch.

Note the lip around the end of yours- those are the shoulders.

 

Thank you (all) for the speedy advice! Very much appreciated

#JwRosenthal - I've had the watch for a couple of years but only removed the spring bars once before (when bought, to clean it). I lucked out when looking for a vintage Omega & found this one in a pre-owned Rolex dealer. It came with a 1067 strap and 557 end links.

I've just purchased a replacement crystal thanks to the advice of #JimInOz, which I've still to fit.

 

That’s one of my grail watches, so I am green with envy. Esslinger or Otto Frei usually has 19mm spring bars, but the shipping will cost more than the bars. If you plan to keep adding to your collection of vintage watches get a a bunch in various sizes (16,18,19,20)- you will end up using them.