Post your Watch and GTI Pics!

[bentin]

Was a local brew. Pretty good.
View attachment 256799

How's that local? Shouldn't you be drinking Unibroue?

 

[Cytokine]

OMG! I never actually looked where it's from. Was in the local brew section, just took them at their word. Either way, a pretty good beer.

Tonight I'll have a Kichesippi (https://www.kbeer.ca/), very local, 2.5 km from my place.

 

[nicholam77]

I did a thing! Someone was selling a NEW unworn original Tudor BB41 non-rivet bracelet on WUS (model number 95740), and I jumped on it for my BB GMT Pepsi. I always regretted not having the bracelet, even though I really love the way the strap looks. Even though it's not OEM for the watch, I prefer the older non-rivet style. Seeing as these are getting harder to come by, I figured I'd bite the bullet and future proof.

(sorry for the no-GTI pic)

I haven't had it installed or sized yet, just holding it in place over the leather strap in the pic.

I was having some second thoughts while waiting for the package, but after seeing it, I think it looks great. I am a little worried about it being flashier, since I'm used to having this watch fly under the radar.

I still need to get my date issue fixed, so I might take it in and get this installed and sized, and then send it in for repair.

 

[vbrad26]

Awesome! Nice score. It will feel totally different on the bracelet!
I just bought a rubber strap for mine that I wore to the river over the weekend and I really enjoyed that combo.
But it will still stay on the bracelet most of the time.

 

[nicholam77]

@vbrad26 looks great on the rubber, too! Do you have a strap changing toolkit you like? Is it a pain? I'd kind of like the option to switch back and forth. Not constantly but every once in awhile.

 

[vbrad26]

@vbrad26 looks great on the rubber, too! Do you have a strap changing toolkit you like? Is it a pain? I'd kind of like the option to switch back and forth. Not constantly but every once in awhile.

I just use a basic spring bar tool.
In fact, the one that came with my Speedy.

It is not too tricky once you get the hang of it.
Just take your time and be careful. Some people will even tape the lugs to protect them.
If you have another watch, you can also do some practice on that one.
Once you get the hang of it, it only takes about a minute.
I change from the band to a strap of some sort on the Speedy almost weekly.
I’ll hold it like this and apply some pressure on the link between the lugs with my index finger so when the spring bar is retracted, the bracelet will just sort of pop up on the one side and then I’ll just slide out the spring bar and voila.

But I will say that getting the bracelet off the Tudor is a bit trickier than the Speedy, I think because of the way that one link that holds the spring bar is designed.
Or maybe I just need more practice on that watch in particular lol.
I have been thinking about picking up some spring bar tweezers though.
I've never used them, but seems like it would make it easier.
Can be pricey though...

 

[Gray_Panther]

How are you liking it? I’m thinking about the black dial version.

 

[vbrad26]

How are you liking it? I’m thinking about the black dial version.

The Black Bay?
I love it. Gets more wrist time than the Speedy these days.
Most people complain about the size, or rather the thickness. And it is thick, but that sort of stuff does not really bother me.
However if you do have to wear a dress shirt it is difficult to fit under the cuffs.
That and people don't like the fake rivets on the bracelet. Again, those don't really bother me. And as you see above, there are things you can do about that lol.

 

[Gray_Panther]

The Black Bay?
I love it. Gets more wrist time than the Speedy these days.
Most people complain about the size, or rather the thickness. And it is thick, but that sort of stuff does not really bother me.
However if you do have to wear a dress shirt it is difficult to fit under the cuffs.
That and people don't like the fake rivets on the bracelet. Again, those don't really bother me. And as you see above, there are things you can do about that lol.

It didn’t quote the message, I wanted to ask about the Seiko 5 GMT.

But yeah the BB GMT is a great watch, I got to try one on back in 2020 with the leather strap and it really impressed me!

 

[Gray_Panther]

@Cytokine
How are you liking your Seiko GMT?

 

[vbrad26]

Hah well you got my opinion whether you wanted it or not!

 

[nicholam77]

I just use a basic spring bar tool.
In fact, the one that came with my Speedy.

It is not too tricky once you get the hang of it.
Just take your time and be careful. Some people will even tape the lugs to protect them.
If you have another watch, you can also do some practice on that one.
Once you get the hang of it, it only takes about a minute.
I change from the band to a strap of some sort on the Speedy almost weekly.
I’ll hold it like this and apply some pressure on the link between the lugs with my index finger so when the spring bar is retracted, the bracelet will just sort of pop up on the one side and then I’ll just slide out the spring bar and voila.

Thanks for the reply! I do have some other micro brand watches and dug out my (probably made in China) spring bar tool. I was able to get the leather strap off fairly easily.

I taped off the lugs with electrical tape and attempted to get the bracelet back on for about 30min and gave up. Not worth risking scratches.

But I will say that getting the bracelet off the Tudor is a bit trickier than the Speedy, I think because of the way that one link that holds the spring bar is designed.
Or maybe I just need more practice on that watch in particular lol.
I have been thinking about picking up some spring bar tweezers though.
I've never used them, but seems like it would make it easier.
Can be pricey though...

Wow those tweezers are pricey! To me it seems like what is needed though. I can't for the life of me see how to get the bracelet back on without depressing both sides at once. Only real way to do that with one hand (while the other holds the watch case) would be tweezers.

If you're able to get yours back on with just the spring bar tool I'll be impressed!

I called an AD near me and they said 25 bucks to do it since I didn't purchase it there, so I think I'm going to do that.

On another note, the Tudor strap that came with it is a bit worse for wear. Recently it's been wearing loose, and I was wondering if my wrist magically got skinnier or something. Well upon taking it off the watch and taking the clasp apart, I found that where the clasp attaches to the leather it has completely ripped and "hanging on by a thread" so to speak. Making it wear about a whole centimeter looser. Pretty annoyed about that as if it fully broke that could be a real big deal. Below you can see where the green arrows are pointing should be folded over and attached to where the yellow arrows are pointing.

Like this:

I'm going to see what the AD has to say about that, too, but in light of the strap damage I'll be keeping the bracelet on long term anyways it looks like!

 

[Gray_Panther]

Hah well you got my opinion whether you wanted it or not!

I wasn’t prepared, but I still liked reading it!

 

[vbrad26]

@nicholam77 - wow looks like you dodged a bullet! Sorry to see that the strap deteriorated so quickly, but there was just someone on the Omega forum complaining about the same thing on one of his leather Omega straps.
Though it was just some accelerated wear, not quite as bad as what you have there!
Anyway, regarding the bracelet changing...it just takes some practice and you'll end up picking up some tricks along the way.
I'm not sure if I can really explain here by text but when I'm putting a bracelet back on I'm working from the bottom of the watch. I will slide the spring bar to one side or the other so that just one side of the spring bar is overlapping the lug and the other side is tucked flush inside the link and will nestle down into the inner lug. I use the tool on the side where the bar is overlapping the lug and depress it so that I can squeeze it down into position. I don't really focus on getting either side of the bar into the holes right away, but rather just making sure that I have the bar squeezed in between both lugs. Once that is done I just put down the tool and sort of wiggle the spring bar link that is between the lugs and you will hear the spring bars click into place.
There are some spring bar tweezers that can be had for a LOT less than the Bergeon tool as well, and would probably make this process a lot easier hah.

 

[nicholam77]

@vbrad26 Yeah apparently leather straps don't last super long if worn daily? I was surprised by that, it felt like a quality strap and I did use it heavily, but still disappointing. That's a great description on the bracelet change method. That's pretty much what I was trying to do, although I think my inferior spring bar tool wasn't helping. Just couldn't get it to work. Maybe if I get the urge to be swapping it out more frequently someday I'd pick up a pair of tweezers, but I think for now I'll just have the AD throw the bracelet on and call it good.