Customer ordered a PRS-10 (drilled lugs) and a 2-piece nylon strap. Because he ordered the strap with the watch, I supplied shoulderless bars with the strap. He fitted it to his CW ceramic and then tried to get it off but when he couldn't release the springbars with a springbar tool, he used brute force.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
Oops.
Ouch! I assume that’s it for the watch?
Well, he won't make that mistake again.
Out of interest, how could he have removed these without breaking the lugs?
Having already done it twice - two lugs down on that watch...Originally Posted by jukeboxs
True that!I didn't pay enough attention, thought they were on the same side.
I was assuming the bolt cutters above were in jest, but it does appear you guys actually snip your spring bars. I live and learn...
I use side cutters to chop them out.
Never seen the lugs falling of a watch.. it seems there's always a first time for everything.
Seems excessive
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Blimey - looks bad - but as others have said all he needed to do was get his snippers out!?
Nothing a bit of superglue can't fix.
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Lucky it was just a Christopher Ward.
That was my first thought too!
Yeah, he probably meant to do that so as not to damage a perfectly good springbar.
I had no idea they where so weak, so what’s the point of making watches with it?
Lolz
Don't just do something, sit there. - TNH
Not just me who doesn't get the CW thing then.
It was understandable when they were starting out and their watches were £300 ish, they compared favourably with their competition.
Now they have priced themselves into a market that out guns them, they just don't make sense.
Not that anything in the Veblen world of watch pricing makes any sense what so ever of course.
Well they're good enough for Dr Roger W. Smith obe.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bx9mXfZFzhe/
Surely brain should have engaged and thought that the bars should have been cut before that level of force was used...
Also I am not sure if I'm more impressed at your spring bars, or disappointed in the CW case quality!
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Quite!
get the dremel out and flog it as an exclusive pocket watch conversion
ktmog6uk
marchingontogether!
Reply from Christopher Ward, "They all do that Sir".
Rookie error
A cautionary message indeed but yet another opportunity to have a dig at Christopher Ward. I doubt there is a ceramic cased watch in the world that would stand up to someone trying to remove shoulderless bars.
I don't think there is anything wrong with shoulderless bars as such,more the person and how they go about removing them.I know of folks who fit them,use nato's and if they have to remove them for whatever reason they use snips.
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One of those frustrating "if all else fails, read the instructions!" Moments
Next time send him one of those.
Exactly.They look severe but you just do one cut with the snips and remove the broken bar.Another problem was the ceramic case and there was stories years ago of similar damage to Iwc's etc..when they got knocked on door edges.Next time send him one of those.
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He broke off two of the lugs?
Nothing like doing a proper job...
one of the reasons I will never buy a ceramic cased watch is that, rightly or wrongly, I feel they are susceptible to damage like this if knocked against anything or dropped
Is he by any chance green and wearing ripped jeans!
It could be said that he just loved the “symmetry” of the watch.He broke off two of the lugs?
Nothing like doing a proper job...
The solution if it happens again: nato strap.
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Surely a bit of common sense would have you thinking that I’d rather sacrifice the bars than the actual watch?!! Snip, snip, snip.
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....vL._SX425_.jpg
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Eddie now should market these springbars as unbreakable
Funny but sad.
Lesson- a fool, a ceramic watch watch case and shoulderless bars is not a good combination.
There is no question that a ceramic watch case is somewhat brittle and under certain circumstances prone to breaking/shattering. But there are several upsides to it. Companies like Omega make ceramic cases that are more 'shatterproof' but not 'foolproof'. A fool with a hammer can do a lot of damage to a ceramic watch case.
As an aside, I bloody love that pairing. Suits the watch way better than the supplied NATO, IMO.
I've wondered about these shoulderless bars for a while now. I had a look through the archives and saw quite a bit of discussion, but i couldn't really find an answer to where you might choose to use shoulderless bars OTHER than for fitting a NATO. What's their advantage, when fitting bracelets or heavy leather straps, if anything?
thank you vm.
Main reason for fitting is so that the shoulder of a regular springbar would not get snagged on the strap and pop out.As you say they get mainly used for nato straps - there are stories of both springbars popping but have always found that difficult to believe or let's say extremely unlikely.The advantage of a nato is the watch will be safe if one pops out anyway.
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So what are you meant to use for a NATO strap on a lug without drilled holes?
Depending on how close the bars sit to the case, some will fit shoulderless anyway as you can swap out NATOs easily and then if wishing to go to straps or bracelet, just treat the bars as disposable and cut them out.
It's more challenging when the bars sit so close to the case as to mean you have to remove them every time you want to change any strap including NATOs!
What I do is just fit normal spring bars and take the risk that the strap may catch the shoulder or flange and disengage it.
As hughtrimble mentioned, you can just slide the NATO out and cut the bars to remove them, they're cheap enough.
Always a good idea fitting shoulderless bars with NATO, it's very possible for both flanged bars to give way together if your watch head gets caught on something and is pushed or pulled abruptly enough to cause the NATO to flick them out.
Natos were meant to be used with solid (or welded) bars. They are not meant to be used with stepped spring bars. People have been taking risks and getting away with it... but that doesn't make it right.
I hadn’t given it much thought,but I just checked my 82 it’s shoulder less the NATO slides through without snagging.
It makes your blood boil 🥵
This is actually incredibly easy to do. I tried it a few years ago with a Rolex 5513 on a nato (back when they were a divers watch not an investment portfolio!) and if you grab the watch (as if it got snagged on something) and pull it with any kind of force, both springbars get caught on the nylon edge of the nato and just pop right out. I tried it on various watches and it’s easy to replicate, especially if the Nato is damp or wet.
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I've found changing straps (leather or bracelet) can be easier when a watch has drilled lugs (with which you can use shoulderless spring bars), as you just have to poke through the hole to dislodge the spring bar. Less risk of scratching the lugs, if you're careful.
And they're flanges, not shoulders. According to some, anyway.
Twice! You would have thought after one lug snapped off, he might have rethought his approach.
I do feel sympathy for him, having fitted them once to my Speedmaster. I managed to get them off without damaging the watch, and then flung out every shoulderless springbar I had in the watch box.
David
Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations
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