C&I Bracelet End links

[sgwatchobsession]

Hey all, hope you’re having a great week. I recently took the leap of faith in trying out an old rivet bracelet as a number on the forum have talked about how comfortable they are.

Today I acquired a 78’ c&i bracelet from vitaly and it’s in great shape, better than I could expect. However when trying to put it onto my 1680, I can’t for the life of me figure out how to get the end links in. It feels like the end links are too “long” and the spring bars wont go into the lug holes.

I’ve read a few places here that you need to bend/ widen the arch of the endlinks to get them to fit flush but don’t have a clue how about to do it. Any thoughts?



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[Dan S]

Try a thinner spring-bar perhaps, or experiment with the shape of the links or the loop that holds the spring-bar. You just need to look closely at the construction and think it through. If all else fails, you can do some careful filing.

I've never had the specific problem you mentioned, but TBH I prefer the Swiss rivet bracelets so I stopped messing around with the C&I end-links. In fact, I've only held on to one of my C&I bracelets and that's because it is original to a 5513 that I bought from the first owner, so I am keeping it out of some weird sense of nostalgia, but I don't actually use it.

[springer]

Based on my experience, any of these vintage end links can have fitment issues, whether Swiss rivets or C&I. The C&I end links seem to have a few more fitment issues but can be easily made to fit if you know where to make the adjustments.

Your end links appear to be open too much and you might possibly need to close them a little to get the springbars to enter the lug holes. Also, as Dan S mentioned, the tube in the springbar might need some adjustment. Also, the fitting may vary between some of the models, so adjustments that you made for a GMT or Explorer II might not fit the same when compared to the fitment for a Submariner.

If you still have trouble getting them to properly fit, try a watchmaker for help.

[sgwatchobsession]

Originally Posted by springer

Based on my experience, any of these vintage end links can have fitment issues, whether Swiss rivets or C&I. The C&I end links seem to have a few more fitment issues but can be easily made to fit if you know where to make the adjustments.

Your end links appear to be open too much and you might possibly need to close them a little to get the springbars to enter the lug holes. Also, as Dan S mentioned, the tube in the springbar might need some adjustment also.

If you still have trouble getting them to properly fit, try a watchmaker for help or check with the seller and get him to adjust them for a proper fit.

hey springer, thanks for the reply. Could I clarify what you meant by open too much? (too big of an angle I presume?) How could I go about closing it up?

I did try to get it on to the watch again and one of the ends of the springbars goes in but the other just seems to close to the edge of the lug(away from the case) hence my thought that the endinks might be too 'flat' and need to be widened.

[springer]

Originally Posted by sgwatchobsession

hey springer, thanks for the reply. Could I clarify what you meant by open too much? (too big of an angle I presume?) How could I go about closing it up?

I did try to get it on to the watch again and one of the ends of the springbars goes in but the other just seems to close to the edge of the lug(away from the case) hence my thought that the endinks might be too 'flat' and need to be widened.

Maybe you need to open the gap more, or widened as you wrote, where it fits up against the case and not close it it more like in my previous post.

[Twophonetoni]

You can use some dental floss to “ease” the springbar in the lughole if its not off by much or you simply can’t get the right angle by pushing on the endlink. Works best if you have the watch head secured by something.


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[TimeLord2]

And definitely insert the spring bars from the bottom with a little removeable tape or something to protect the surface of the lugs if that is a concern.