Do you know what size band fits the 37mm Tri Compax? Also and suggestions on getting a vintage buckle in solid gold?

 

18mm

Network diligently and be thorough with your searching.

 

Low odds.

 

Excuse the newbie question, but my crude measurements looked more like 19mm. Would that equate to an 18mm band or did I just measure incorrectly?

 

Larry and Tex are experts. 18 mm. Like the old saying… measure twice, cut once!

 

There is an 18k 16mm UG buckle on Chrono24 for $605. Does that seem reasonable?

 

there's not standard lug width based on case dimensions, it's reference specific. Some mid sized cases have 20mm straps and some oversized cases have 19mm straps and so on.

if you are asking about the 12296 referenced in your other thread, the strap size is 20mm. (It's also possible the lugs get bent sometimes, especially on gold cases, and you might have slightly different width between the two sets of lugs on the same watch).

best to double check, and get good accurate measurement of your lugs using calipers and checking both sets of lugs.

Once you establish the lug width (guessing normally 18/19/20mm for a Tri, but not sure if 17mm is possible?) you can connect to either a 14mm or 16mm buckle depending on the strap.

getting a solid rather than plated 14 or 16mm buckle will be extremely difficult, as will getting rose gold color instead of yellow gold color (either plated or solid)

 

please post pics, details, link

solid buckles seldom come to market, probably hard to establish market value, probably just comes down to what someone is willing to pay. Some collectors can get very OCD about completing the set with original brand strap, buckle, etc, and are willing to spend a lot.

also there's lots of fake buckles around, be careful

 

This raises a good point about cases and lug widths not being standard.

My 22279/1 was sold as being a watch head with 18mm lug width but the aftermarket straps I received with it were perforating at the edges where they were attached. I measured using a digital calliper and it was actually 17mm. The two 17mm straps I put it on fit perfectly and the 18mm one always start tearing.

Here is a picture of it on an 18mm strap that seems too snug.



Hodinkee sold an identical model (which I believe belonged to @bgrisso) also listed as having 18mm lug width but you can clearly see the strap is too wide.

 

yes that bottom one was mine prior to someone flipping it on the dink, I was surprised by that poorly fitting strap they attached, but didn't stop it from getting a very good price!

could it be that some cases are inches rather than metric and so you end up with half sizes, like for the 22279/1 above (sometimes it seemed like it was halfway between 17 and 18mm).

or would all UG cases be sized in metric coming out of europe? Or possible some cases are sized inches for US market? Anyhow forgive me if that's a dumb question, I've never researched this.

 

I wouldn't know the answer to those questions and would probably rely on your insight anyway!

The strange thing is, I even ordered a straight lugs beads of rice bracelet in 17mm which fits it with precision. When I put the same bracelet on another 18mm lug width watch, you can see the difference that 1mm makes.

So I am convinced this was 17mm because I've seen many original UG 17mm straps as well.

 

Turns out the lugs measured 20mm and the watch is rose gold. The band is yellow gold, which made everything look yellow. I think it will looks much better with a leather band.