Hi OF - Wishing everyone a Happy New year and had a question about spring bars. Do they need to be replaced every so often, and if so, how often? I have a Speedmaster Pro with some extra OEM spring bars and was curious if they should be replaced at certain intervals. Thanks
Probably not a bad idea to replace them maybe at the service intervals? (Every 5 years or so) They tend to last without too many problems, but they also cost like a couple dollars at most so why risk it
I have watches from the 1920's, 40's and 1960's with obivously OEM springbars that show no degradation of the springs and only slight signs of age on the exterior, after verdigris on the brass body is cleaned away. Some my Russian watches have original spring bars a good deal larger in diameter than modern replacement bars I've bought. I've noticed many modern bands have plastic tubing as sheathes inside the ends of the bands to compensate for skinny modern spring bars. When the old spring bars are reused the plastic tubes must be pushed out first. I'd prefer to replace modern spring bars with NOS vintage spring bars, especially if vintage NOS Russian bars were available.
They have been in the bracelet from new so 7 years. Probably only worn 15-20% of the 7 years of owning the watch. Too many straps go with Speedmasters I have a rule for spring bars. I use new spring bars with every new strap usually. I take the strap off and put a new strap on with new spring bars and the strap and spring bars stay together. This way all spring bars are newish and you don’t end up with 7 year old spring bars I only use Omega spring bars on my Speedmaster
I replace spring bars when I service a watch, and so do most brands/watchmakers. Basically they should be changed at every service, and that is roughly every 5 years, so a good rule to follow. Cheap insurance.
