I have a few vintage pieces, and have handled several more, and all of the vintage bracelets tend to feel fragile, cheap and thin. Now, I understand that over time they get weaker and stretch, but even pristine examples have the same feel. The feel is similar to cheap Seiko bracelets. This results in me typically replacing vintage bracelets almost immediately, putting the watch on a nice new leather strap.

Is it simply an example of non-solid end links? Or were bracelets back then manufactured to be lighter (with thinner metal), or more "disposable" as leather straps still are? Even cheap modern watches like Steinhart and Christoper Ward tend to have solid bracelets.

Can those who bought these old watches when they were new shed some light? Did they feel more solid when new? It may well be the case that modern watches, along with increasing case sizes, have also resulted in increasingly heavy bracelets too.