Seamaster - Wedding gift advice - resizing/spring bars

Bracelets are not the easiest to self remove if you do not know what you are doing. If you have concerns when you buy it, have them put the nato strap on it, or go to your nearest boutique as denoted on Omegas website and they can swap it for you so he can wear it immediately and then go in to have it resized. The OB will have the correct OMEGA nato if you want a nice fancy one. Otherwise it takes a standard 20mm nato strap that can be found almost anywhere online. If the strap does not have springbars with it, you only need 20mm springbars that can be found on amazon for cheap or for free from a Boutique.

The bracelet is adjusted using screws that secure a pin. They have a thread lock on them from the factory, so are a bit hard to unscrew at first. But it can be done by someone at home with the proper screwdriver and some patience. Using a hair dryer to warm the screw will unlock the thread as well. I’ve adjusted my bracelet a few times, and it isn’t that difficult at all.

Regarding the NATO strap. The spring bar holes on the lugs of this watch are quite close to the case to fit the bracelet properly. I have found that with thicker NATO straps, like the ones sold by Omega, you cannot use the spring bar from the bracelet, as there is not a large enough gap for the strap. You can try to force it, but that will put excess pressure on the bar, and it will possibly break. Omega sells curved spring bars for this, and if you buy the strap at a boutique, they will also install these bars with it. ADs may or may not (mine knew nothing about this until I explained it to them).

As others have said, if you expect your partner to want to wear it on a NATO and you live near a boutique, you might want to go there and have them swap it out. They can then later adjust the bracelet as well.