Emailed Eddie about the screwdriver size for the baby dreadnought bracelet and he said to use a 1.2mm but could use a 1.0mm if thats all you have. Some decent sets on ebay amongst all the dross.
Following my minor fiasco trying to adjust the bracelet on my new Baby Dreadnought and realising my old, tatty, screwdriver set is past it's prime.
Can anyone, please, recommend a jewelers/precision screwdriver set. Suitable for things such as link removal &c.
Something not too OTT price wise.
Thanks
Apologies if this is the wrong forum area but use of said screwdriver set IS for adjusting watches so I didn't know where to post :-)
Steve
Emailed Eddie about the screwdriver size for the baby dreadnought bracelet and he said to use a 1.2mm but could use a 1.0mm if thats all you have. Some decent sets on ebay amongst all the dross.
The french made Cousins 9 piece set is good value for money at £29.50+ VAT
If you buy a set of screwdrivers you should also buy a stone and a sharpening jig, even good quality screwdrivers will be useless when their tip wears.
And very importantly to avoid damaging screw heads you need to be able to dress the tip so that the screwdriver head fits in the slot. Different screws of the same head diameter will have different slot sizes. The slot on bracelet screws is usually very thick, and damage is pretty much guaranteed if they are tight and you use a screwdriver "out of the box" without flattening the tip to suit the slot. Heat may also be required if threadlock was applied.
Not sure what size you need, but for my Omega bracelets I obtained a 1.8mm wiha precision screwdriver from a member on here. It was a bit of a revelation for me when comparing it to the cheap chinese screwdrivers I have used in the past. It must be a perfect fit for Omega screwheads as its never slipped.
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I recently bought a couple of Bergeon 1.2 mm screwdrivers from Amazon ,about £16.00 each iirc.
I use this set from Cousins.
https://www.cousinsuk.com/product/co...es?code=S55419
Cheap stuff but I am very happy with them. They are not made with the precision of a Swiss set but having the advantage of parallel blades means you won’t damage the screw slots even if you don’t dress the blades first. I am completely ham fisted but have had no problem resizing bracelets with these without damage even to full PM watches.
Cousins supply to anyone who ticks the box.
I did read somewhere that what you really want for bracelet screws are T-blade screw drivers - less chance of slipping etc...
For example....https://www.cousinsuk.com/product/ho...el-large-shank
I have found these to be really good.
https://www.watchobsession.co.uk/pro...driver-box-set
AF are good.
Treat screwdriver blades as a consumable! They can be redressed but they often end up getting chipped, it pays to buy replacement blades, tgey cost around £5 for a pack of 10.
Bracelet screws usually have wide slots, so a screwdriver blade needs dressing to get a snug fit. I use a flat diamond file plate for this.