So I’ve got a big time dillema and I need some advice from my fellow omega family! I’m in need of some spring bars and I was wondering what the best “bang for your buck” spring bars are (maybe amazon or eBay). The following paragraph will explain why I’m not just trusting the Amazon reviews.
One of my friends actually put their seiko monster through a TV with “highly rated springbars” found online. And I’m not about that life per say. I don’t want my Speedmaster to go flying off if I throw my hands in the air (who does really). So I’m reaching out to you for this value proposition! Any help is greatly appreciated

 

I truly believe most of them are made the same, unless you go with the thicker heavier ones. I feel like the reason your friend put their through the TV was maybe the wrong size springbar? Maybe rather than 20mm, it had 19mm springbars which would still fit but catch less inside the lugs, for example. Just a thought.

 

There have been threads about this. If I recall correctly, many well informed folk say that omega spring bars are of high preference. There are differences.

 

+1 to omega spring bars. They also come is various diameters not just length.

If you need more than one set, my personal choice are the 20mm x 1.8mm hirsch spring bars. Every 20mm I buy i swap onto those

 

They seem like a commodity to me... like fasteners. Yea I got a box of assorted spring bars from Amazon. They work fine.

 

Genuine Omega are the best. Use them on all my watches. ( slowly converting all my 18mm vintage over also )

Expensive compared to packs of 100 from china that end up in watch strap companies own special box claiming to be the best.

 

Now that I'm on a computer and had a chance to track it down, here's a good summary from our resident go-to watch maker...

https://omegaforums.net/threads/the-history-of-the-watch-spring-bar.86135/#post-1111831

as you can see, there are differences in construction. If the watch is solely on a Nato or pass-through strap, I'm a little less concerned as it's less likely that two bars will fail simultaneously. but on any other type of strap or bracelet where a single failure will result in loss or damage of the watch, it's worth taking seriously... admittedly I didn't take it seriously at a time, and my speedy has a nice "story" permanently on it now. haha.

 

Omega spring bars are far better than the generic bars you buy on line. Yes, they cost more than the Chineseium assortments you can buy on the bay or Amazon, but trusting you multi-thousand dollar watch to the cheapest bars you can find is not a good strategy in my view.

 

I believe that most of my spring-bar assortments are from Otto Frei and I find that the quality is sufficient. It's convenient to have an assortment so that I don't have to find a way to buy them from an authorized dealer every time I need a pair. I have used them on dozens of watches over the course of many years, with no incidents. However, I fully accept that Omega and Rolex spring-bars are of higher quality than generics if you want to go the extra mile.

 

I've used the Double Flange 1.80mm spring bars from Cas-Ker for years. Refills per 100 are affordable. But now... a few of you have me wnting to look into Omega bars. On a side note, correct size is important and every strap or bracelet I install I give quite a tug and twist test to make sure they are seated and double check for correct size. Also remember the smaller spring bar in many bracelets can be a weak link as well and correct size there is more important because they are shouldered so pin does not extend beyond buckle or tips will snag on clothing. That makes a shallow penetration as old buckles are thin walled.

 

1.8mm bars from Hirsch do the job for me and demonstrated to be very solid so far

 

The only way to safeguard the watch would be to have it on a NATO.

 

Can anyone recommend high quality NATO straps?

 

There are loads around just a matter of personal choice.

 

I had a watch come to me once after it had been run over in parking garage. It had popped off the strap - the NATO strap...

There are no guarantees, even with a NATO.

 

I think this is the perfect moment to jokingly say, "Pics or it didnt happen!" It must have been a nice watch to try and salvage it after that.

 

There are “no guarantees in life other than you are going to die”.

 

Okay - I've posted them before but here are some again...photo from the owner after they recovered the watch:



Here is the movement removed from the case - some dial damage:



Hand damage also:



Chrono wheel bent:



Serviced, with original dial mounted, and a few new parts:



All done:

Indeed. But a NATO won't really help if you use cheap spring bars, which is the subject of this thread. Putting it on a NATO with cheap spring bars doesn't safeguard anything - it only gives you a false sense of security.

Cheers, Al

 

But with a NATO(which I don’t like and don’t use) both spring bars have to fail at once. And the chances of that are a lot slimmer. Whereas on any other strap only one has to fail to end in calamity.

 

Yes, it's rare but it does happen as I've illustrated.

If you want to make your chances of something failing even slimmer (no matter what strap you use), then buy the best quality spring bars you can find, not the cheap bulk junk of eBay and Amazon….