Spring bar woes (the second)

[KennethRSloan]

#1 thing I should have known before ordering wayCool Flieger strap from Germany: some straps with big, obvious "rivets" do NOT accommodate fixed bars. Very attractive, and oh, so macho - but suitable only for watches with spring bars. Bummer. Hey, guys...form follows FUNCTION, remember?

I'll be able to use the strap (not sure where, yet - I don't have a lot of watches that have 22mm spring bars) - but now it's another wait for a proper "rivet" that unscrews to install the strap on fixed bars to arrive. Sigh...

Oh yeah...I'm also waiting for a proper tool to add one (sometimes two) more holes in nearly all of my straps. I'm beginning to warm up to the idea of Velcro(tm). A pushpin and a paperclip just aren't doing it for me anymore.

While I wait, I'll reset my new Raketa 24hr to G.C.T. (hmmm...would that mandate a Zulu strap?)

[popoki nui]

Live and learn, right? Experimenting and making errors and learning from them...half the fun of being a watch enthusiast!

~Sherry.

[Rdenney]

Ken, what you need are "Chicago binding posts" or "Chicago screws" available from McMaster-Carr (aka "low-profile binding posts"). I see the smallest sizes that use 8-32 screws and require 1/8" holes and will tighten down to 1/8" spacing between the flanges. (1/8" is about 3mm for the Brits who have forgotten their roots.)

I have a German strap that uses them, but any flieger strap designed for (functional) rivets can use them instead.

Rick "nail polish will secure the screws" Denney

[KennethRSloan]

Ken, what you need are "Chicago binding posts" or "Chicago screws" available from McMaster-Carr (aka "low-profile binding posts"). I see the smallest sizes that use 8-32 screws and require 1/8" holes and will tighten down to 1/8" spacing between the flanges. (1/8" is about 3mm for the Brits who have forgotten their roots.)

I have a German strap that uses them, but any flieger strap designed for (functional) rivets can use them instead.

Rick "nail polish will secure the screws" Denney

not Loktite(tm)?

But - right you are. Now knowing that there are actually "fake" riveted straps, I was able to find a reasonably nice German strap where the ad proudly displayed the "Chicago screws" (although, the Germans don't call them that auf Deutsch). Now I get to practice my patience waiting for Deutsche Poste. It's a good thing! My mail queue just emptied with the arrival of 3 packages yesterday and I was starting to experience withdrawal symptoms. The straps will hold a place in my USPS Tracking queue for awhile, so I won't feel such a great need to click on "Buy Now"...at least for a few weeks^H^H^H^H^Hdays.

Maybe what I really needed was a supply of leather, a sharp knife, thread and needle for decorative stitching, a hole punch, and a supply of rivets. Hmmm...swinging a ball-peen hammer at a rivet positioned mere mm away from a new (old!) watch? Let's re-think this.. OK - I did spring for a hole punch. I can already tell that I'm going to need at least one new hole in every leather (and plastic) strap that I acquire which depends on a buckle. They don't make 22mm leather straps in ladies' sizes, do they? And, I found a YouTube video on "how to neatly lop off an inch of useless strap end".

Meanwhile, I couldn't be happier with the new Raketa. It's going to cost as much for accessories as it did for the watch. The
Zenith watch on the dreadful Bund strap (converted pocketwatch) will have to wait for it's new straps. In the meantime - I found (and bought, of course) the identical movement still living the life of a pocketwatch. A nice pair.