Solid Gold Springbars

[offrdmania]

I have an 18038 YG Day/Date incoming which has a bracelet but I want to put a leather strap on it. Below you will see the ones that come with the Day/Date President bracelet. The cut outs for the spring bar tool are quite a ways inward and would be near impossible to remove with the tweezers without destroying the corners of the strap as well as a lot of swearing and possible scratching of the case while doing so.



The spring bar below is for a 16618 YG sub with the spring bar tool cut outs much further out and would work much better when removing a leather strap. Both the 18038 and 16618 have a 20mm lug width but im not sure if the diameter or overall width is compatible. Would these work on a Day/Date and if so, what is the Rolex part number for it so that I can actually hunt for some or have a part number to go to the AD with?

[blacke90]

Maybe ask an AD or call up RSC? This is beyond my knowledge.

[offrdmania]

Originally Posted by blacke90

Maybe ask an AD or call up RSC? This is beyond my knowledge.

I called a couple of them and they wouldn't help me because I was looking for something that didnt originally come on the 18038. Its quite frustrating.

[saskmh]

Sub spring bars will not fit a day date case. Day dates use slimmer bars than subs and GMt's. The lug holes are smaller.

[R!$]

I would leave this to a RSC

[offrdmania]

Originally Posted by R!$

I would leave this to a RSC

Unfortunately, the closest one is a 5 hour drive from me.

[offrdmania]

Originally Posted by saskmh

Sub spring bars will not fit a day date case. Day dates use slimmer bars than subs and GMt's. The lug holes are smaller.

Thank you, that is very valuable information. Im wondering what people do when they put a leather strap on a day/date, do they not care and just use stainless?

[Seibei]

I am a bit surprised that the spring bars are made of gold. It does not seem like the best material for that particular application.

[GolfPunk]

Originally Posted by Seibei

I am a bit surprised that the spring bars are made of gold. It does not seem like the best material for that particular application.

If they weren’t, steel bars would eat away at the gold links/case holes.

[Seibei]

Originally Posted by GolfPunk

If they weren’t, steel bars would eat away at the gold links/case holes.

Ok, that makes sense, thanks.

[offrdmania]

I have been researching this for a week straight and either my Google-fu is really off or there isn’t any information out there.
I was hoping to find a chart showing pin diameters, spring bar widths and part numbers but there seems to be no reference material posted out there anywhere on solid gold spring bars.

[offrdmania]

Update: I think I may have figured out the part numbers thanks to the TRF Reference Library. Luckily there was an old reference to spring bars in the bracelet thread.

So I found a spring bar with the shoulders much further out and the same dimensions as the gold spring bars that come on the President bracelet.

The part number for the new bar is 23-9384 which has superseded to a 23-30208.

I can order them from my local AD (I found one which is only a short 2 hour drive from me) for $40 each. Unfortunately, Rolex wont let them ship the bars to me.

All of this hassle to put a leather strap on a gold watch. Sheesh