Uncle Seiko does 18mm

watchswede

This is amazing news! I love the look and especially the feel of the flat link bracelet, but price wise I don´t like it. I´ve been thinking of exchanging the 7912/6 on my Seamaster 120 for a Uncle Seiko one, does any one know if it will fit?

SkunkPrince

It should if you keep the original end links.

JwRosenthal

I found them to be as easy to fit as any other vintage hollow Endlinks. A friend of mine fitted the US 20mm Flatlink to a Borealis he has (SM300 case style) and he did a bit of trimming/sanding and bending and nailed the fit. Those endlinks are of course married to that case now- but he only wanted it for that watch.
Manipulating hollow endlinks was pretty standard practice back in the day as a factory bracelet was usually spec'd for multiple models. A few companies (like Omega and Rolex) did case specific endlinks (although the bracelets were fairly cross case friendly for economy), but even those weren't always perfect. I feel that ill fitting endlinks is part of bracelet ownership on vintage watches as many of us know (the gap- ohh the gap!), the rattle has become part of the charm.

My only concern is the endlink profiles. When swapping the US 20/19 Holzer and flatlinks around one various models (I got both sized endlinks for both bracelets to see what they fit), I found that most of my vintage watches with lower case profiles worked well, some close, and if I did a little tweaking they could be near perfect. Some were just way off-lugs too short or too long, case thickness too high and they sat under the case-line. It's a roll of the dice, but it's part of the fun I think.

JwRosenthal

Definitely give it a try on the Certina- I was surprised at how many watches these endlinks came close on- and had I wanted to really do a little reforming- they would have made it (some reshaping upward and it would have fit my Helbros). But I was just playing around to see with which they worked best.
As I said in the first Holzer thread, the SM120 is an orphan. I beleive I have seen only 2 or 3 factory styles for these and they rarely come up, and when they do the are totally clapped out- and I'm not paying $3-400 for a bracelet that's trashed. The case profile is the issue for generic bracelets (like my period correct JBC Flatlink) as the 120 has a subtly curve and shallow lugs. Period ftermarket bracelets are usually too flat and low or too high and round- so much so that even bending and fitting couldn't make up for it. My JBC was the closest- but still not great. The 19mm US Holzer is the bracelet for these IMO- not just in fit but also style.

padders

I do think Larry AKA @Uncle Seiko may have missed a trick in not releasing an 18mm Beads of Rice Design. Having said that one or more of these may work well on 50s/60s Seamasters and Connies.

JwRosenthal

Yikes- I revise my former statement- maybe they are becoming crazy priced.