Thanks, but he’s not in the same state, which means adding an additional $3500 to insurance if I can’t get the bracelet off myself.
Find one closer? I feel for you but we all have to pay a stupid tax eventually... unless it wasn’t you who put those in? I personally never use those except on drilled lugs or buckles.
That's sounds pretty challenging and frustrating. I suppose the only access you have is via the slots, and presumably you have already tried to get a grip on the plunger that way. Sometimes you can compress it just with the friction from a spring-bar tool, which is sort of the brute force solution. Maybe one of the watchmakers on the forum has a more elegant approach.
A jeweler could probably get in there with a foredom tool and a diamond bit and carefully drill through the bar. Somewhat risky I guess.
I was thinking if you have a Bergeon 6767 with the small fork or even an Omega-branded tool with a small fork, you can get a loupe and a very fine Arkansas stone and sharpen the tip of the tool enough to force it in that miniscule gap. Grease it with a tiny bit of Vaseline or similar. (If you've got the Bergeon and never looked, the pusher side is reversable to a small fork!)
Did you turn the bar completely around to see, if it is one of those lever operated bars ? If not, you might have to break the tip of the bar. Good luck ! Achim
A 180 screwdriver blade, sharpened to a fine edge. Wedge between the lug and the bar and jiggle until you get it down a bit then lever the bar inwards. Much harder to describe than to do myself. Had one last week and it worked out OK.
I’ve done this with straps but never enlinks without the slot- ouch. A razor blade was the way I was able to creep it back enough to get it to pop out, but that was while compressing the leather as much as I could (didn’t want to cut a $100 strap). I make it a point now to look at every spring bar before I put it in- even if you separate them, they are like mice- one male always slips into the female cage.
No, wasn’t me. After 30 years of watch collecting, if I made that kind of mistake, then I deserve the grief.
Sure - most of the options given have risk, so it's your choice. I just showed how I would do it. When people talk about using drills, or Dremels...well bending the link just enough to slide the bar out seems pretty tame to me, but YMMV.
One other thing I think I remember from the past is the idea of taking a pin, putting a teeny bit of epoxy or super glue on the tip, abutting it to the bit of exposed bar, and the using it as a lever when dry to depress the spring. Any ideas on that one?
My understanding is that these originally did come with the sliding lever, which very well may have rotated around. Trying to figure out how to rotate it to check.