Watch tools

[BAEM]

Hi all

After probably a year of not contributing (or looking) at this forum, mainly due to having spent all my money on a new house (and refurb) and having a baby (well the wife not me) as I couldn't stand looking at what I couldn't afford! I have this week started looking again!

For my wife's 30th birthday last month I bought her a sport classic Ebel (diamond dot and bezel in case anyone wondered).

Anyway the point of this post is I want to buy a tool kit to enable me to put an extra link back in the wife's watch and change straps on my other watches and also add a link back into my old trusty tag. Does anyone know if any high street retailers who sell such a kit?

Thanks

[Avidfanofstuff]

I just purchased a cheap kit from Ebay. Not good quality at all but good enough to add/remove links.

[acd80]

I bought this kit off Amazon.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/TRIXES-Repair-Adjust-Batte...

Some of the tools are poor quality but I've used it more than twice and it's paid for itself now so even if everything falls apart on the next use (highly unlikely but you get my point), it's still cheaper than going to a jewellers.

[ecain63]

How much do the jewellers you visit charge?

We remove and add links for free. Christ, Its only a 5 minute job! Saying that, I know shops that charge £5 to measure your finger size when shopping for a ring (deductible if you buy). Still, a bit of a piss-take if you ask me.

[bry1975]

Some ok to good watch tools here-

http://www.watch-tool.de/html/bracelet_tools.php

[BAEM]

Thanks for the replies, those amazon tool kits look like they will do what we need, not much money if they break and we have to buy better quality ones anyway. Our friendly jeweller doesn't charge us for this sort of thing but I can't always get to him so just more convenient to be able to do it at home when required.

Thanks

[sneijder]

.... Just don't be tempted by the cheap tat on EBay, it's cheap for a reason.

How are the links held in ? Whatever you do, mask the watch off for when (not if) you slip and scratch something.

[yeti]

Cousins online have everything you could want.

[BAEM]

The Links in the Ebel are screw in, same as some of my sports watches, but my tag are push out. When I was at college (13 years ago) I worked in a jewellers for a couple of years so know what I'm doing ( I think)! Just need the right tools!

The cousins website looks promising, I'll have a proper look later. Thanks for the help, much appreciated.

[acd80]

ecain63 said:

How much do the jewellers you visit charge?

We remove and add links for free. Christ, Its only a 5 minute job! Saying that, I know shops that charge £5 to measure your finger size when shopping for a ring (deductible if you buy). Still, a bit of a piss-take if you ask me.

I'm not sure as I gave up on them after I enquired 3 times about an Omega PO that they had for sale and they never got back to me hence they won't get my custom for anything.

[dom9]

I was looking at the eBay kits before Christmas and ran out of time to buy one before I left Houston for home (London) for Christmas... Anyway, brought my new blue gator strap for my Zenith with me, walked into WOS on Oxford St, asked if they'd swap it over for me and they did and charged me exactly $0. I've never bought anything from them before etc... Very nice I thought

[andy tims]

As a minimum IMHO you need

A few decent screw drivers 1.6, 1.4, 1,2 & 1.0mm - I have Bergeon (and a few replacement blades), but A&F are not bad. Don't buy cheap, it's false economy.

A couple of spring-bar tooks - One with a fine fork for bracelets & a one with a wider fork for straps. Again I have Bergeon with a few spare pins & forks.

For collar & pin bracelets you need one of these

http://www.amazon.co.uk/A-F-Bracelet-Pin-Remover/d...

This kit will allow you do all the strap & bracelet changes / adjustments yourself at your convenience.

Other useful stuff includes

A loop
A magnifying glass on a stand
Garryflex blocks for dealing with scratches on brushed finishes - 60, 120 & 240 grit
Cape Cod cloths
A leather hole punch

Edited by andy tims on Sunday 5th January 13:45