A bracelet that just won't fit

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richtel
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A bracelet that just won't fit

Post by richtel »

During the pre-launch period for the Trident v3, some people were speculating whether the new bracelet would come with half links- the reason being that the micro-adjust might not accommodate full adjustment within a whole link spacing. While my Trident v2's actually fit me right in the 'goldilocks zone', I have a watch which doesn't. Enter the Citizen promaster tough BN0211-50E.

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On this watch, the whole-link spacing is about 11.5mm, but the full range of 3-hole pin micro-adjust caters for only 7mm adjustment. As a result, the watch is either too tight on the loosest micro-adjust, or too loose on the tightest micro-adjust depending on addition of a link, resulting in a jangly-bangly bracelet- and because of that I just wasn't wearing it.

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So, what to do. The Citizen is a nice little watch; quite slim, hardened coating on the case and bracelet, sapphire, 200m resistant and with a monocoque case. In fact that slim monocoque case probably exacerbated the problem because the caseback with no, erm, caseback, is very smooth so the loose bracelet would just ride around on my wrist.

Options included ditching the bracelet and fitting a strap of some kind, or to attempt drilling additional micro-adjust holes (as someone else has done on the forum with success). For me, I really wanted to keep the bracelet- the 'H'-links are different from most of my other watches and the hardened coating makes it nicely resilient to scratches. Also drilling an additional set of micro-adjust holes firstly would require a better pillar drill setup than I have to do it properly, but more importantly bringing the bracelet terminal link closer in to the clasp would force the clasp outer shell to stand proud from the clasp, ruining the look.

So, option 3. I figured that if the case were a little fatter, it would take up the slack and the watch would fit better. The plan was hatched.

I had some 1mm thick laser-cut 316L stainless steel disks fabricated. These were to be 35mm in diameter to maximise the available flat area of the caseback. I also ordered in some 3M double-sided adhesive sheet- a very thin but exceptionally strong chemical-resistant high sheer-strength adhesive sheet.

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First thing was to remove the tiny burr left on the disk edge from the laser-cutting process and rub a very small radius on the edge to eliminate any sharpness. Then I rubbed one face of the disk to create a nice brushed finish to be the external side. After thouroughly cleaning the disk and watch caseback in ispropyl alcohol I placed the disk onto a small square of the adhesive sheet. Before removing the other side of the sheet backing paper, the process was to trim off the edges of the sheet around the disk with a scalpel.

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Last step, to remove the remaining backing sheet and carefully place the disk centrally into its final resting place on the back of the watch.

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.. and press down firmly for a minute or so. Then to put the bracelet back on. The result is just as hoped. The disk takes up just enough slack to make the bracelet fit perfectly. If I ever need to remove the disk I'll be able to do that carefully with a plastic edge tool- but I don't anticipate it'll come off without a fight. Very happy with the result.

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Rich

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Re: A bracelet that just won't fit

Post by Bahnstormer_vRS »

An ingenious and very professionally executed solution.

Top notch. :clap:

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Re: A bracelet that just won't fit

Post by kiter65 »

Brilliant :clap:
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Thegreyman
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Re: A bracelet that just won't fit

Post by Thegreyman »

Very clever solution :clap:
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Re: A bracelet that just won't fit

Post by Amor Vincit Omnia »

Well done. I wish I had a tenth of the practical skills to do that.
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Re: A bracelet that just won't fit

Post by Thermexman »

A very elegant solution Rich. It’s a great feeling when a plan comes together. :clap:
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Re: A bracelet that just won't fit

Post by H0rati0 »

Nice lateral thinking. Added bonus - you are never going to scratch the back of the case!
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Re: A bracelet that just won't fit

Post by MiniMpi »

Outstanding work Rich and importantly, the thought that went into it.
Well done mate, glad you have got that watch back now ;)
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richtel
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Re: A bracelet that just won't fit

Post by richtel »

Thanks guys. If anyone needs a 35mm disk for doing something similar I have a couple spare.
Rich

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Re: A bracelet that just won't fit

Post by WATCHWIZ »

Very ingenious
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