Locoboy5150
Tyme Machine
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2014
- Messages
- 3,044
I just broke the bank and I bought a Suppaparts Stevral titanium bracelet for my Citizen Eco-Drive BN7020 dive watch. It was, by far, my most expensive watch and bracelet combination. The bracelet is absolutely fantastic in every way, except for one – it uses screw pins to hold the links together and to attach the end links to the case adapters. I know to use thread locking compound on all screw fasteners on my watch bracelets, which I have done religiously, but this time I tried an experiment and I didn’t use any after sizing my new Suppaparts bracelet. I was going to spend an entire Saturday just relaxing at home and I have thick carpeting everywhere. It would be a safe and soft environment to see what would happen if I skipped using thread locking compound on all of the screws.
After about half a day, about three of the bracelet screw pins and one of the end link pins were coming loose. I was keeping an eye on them so I caught them coming out before anything came crashing down to the carpet. I just wanted to see if a more expensive bracelet would have thread locking compound from the factory – nope!
I was doing this in a pretty safe environment and I know all too well to use thread locking compound on all screw fasteners on my watches, but what about the people out there that don’t know about this little trick? I have never ever seen it mentioned on any watch dealer/manufacturer website or in an instruction manual to use it. Suppaparts does not mention its use anywhere in their official literature. I feel sorry for fellow watch fans that don’t know about thread locking compound. Unfortunately, they’ll have to learn the hard and painful way of their watch falling off of their wrist and on the cold, hard ground. If they caught their new watch before it hit the ground, they still would have to replace the tiny screw(s) with what are usually proprietary ones that are almost impossible to find anywhere for sale individually.
This brings up the question of why on earth do watch manufacturers use screw pins at all? In all my years of owning watches, I have never ever had a split pin come loose from a bracelet. I have never had a pin and collar type bracelet connection come loose. I have never had a spring bar come out from a watch case lug. I only have four watch bracelets with screw pin connections but in every single case they have come from the factory with loose screws right out of the box. This is unacceptable in my opinion. I know all too well how to fix this problem but not every watch owner reads message boards to learn about these little fixes to prevent future issues. Why don’t watch manufacturers tell their customers to use thread locking compound on those tiny screws? I don’t get it – what are they hiding and what do they have to gain by hiding it?
To make matters worse, many watch companies list screw pin connections as an “upgrade” to regular split pin or pin and collar type bracelets. Based on my own experience, that is 100% pure garbage. They are NOT an improvement. I am a mechanical engineer and one of the basic rules in my profession is to minimize parts count to increase reliability and decrease production cost. In other words, as us four wheelers preach – K.I.S.S. (“Keep It Simple Stupid!”) Adding screws to the pin connections on a watch bracelet goes against this most basic of engineering concepts, both in theory and in practice. That especially is true if the screws are a proprietary design, as is usually the case with watch bracelets.
Also, as a general rule in mechanical engineering, standard screws should never ever be used for hinged joints. The very nature of a hinge moving causes the screw to loosen. A watch bracelet is basically a small hinge. The exact same theory for a door hinge applies to a watch bracelet. There’s a reason why the hinges on the doors in a house do not have threaded pins holding the two parts together. Why can’t watch bracelet companies follow the same design practice? It boggles my mind.
So, if you don’t want to get screwed, use thread locking compound on all watch screws but the ideal bracelet design does not use any screws at all. Please don’t fall for the hype from the watch manufacturers either. Screwed-together bracelets are NOT better than other simpler bracelets.
Don’t get screwed!
After about half a day, about three of the bracelet screw pins and one of the end link pins were coming loose. I was keeping an eye on them so I caught them coming out before anything came crashing down to the carpet. I just wanted to see if a more expensive bracelet would have thread locking compound from the factory – nope!
I was doing this in a pretty safe environment and I know all too well to use thread locking compound on all screw fasteners on my watches, but what about the people out there that don’t know about this little trick? I have never ever seen it mentioned on any watch dealer/manufacturer website or in an instruction manual to use it. Suppaparts does not mention its use anywhere in their official literature. I feel sorry for fellow watch fans that don’t know about thread locking compound. Unfortunately, they’ll have to learn the hard and painful way of their watch falling off of their wrist and on the cold, hard ground. If they caught their new watch before it hit the ground, they still would have to replace the tiny screw(s) with what are usually proprietary ones that are almost impossible to find anywhere for sale individually.
This brings up the question of why on earth do watch manufacturers use screw pins at all? In all my years of owning watches, I have never ever had a split pin come loose from a bracelet. I have never had a pin and collar type bracelet connection come loose. I have never had a spring bar come out from a watch case lug. I only have four watch bracelets with screw pin connections but in every single case they have come from the factory with loose screws right out of the box. This is unacceptable in my opinion. I know all too well how to fix this problem but not every watch owner reads message boards to learn about these little fixes to prevent future issues. Why don’t watch manufacturers tell their customers to use thread locking compound on those tiny screws? I don’t get it – what are they hiding and what do they have to gain by hiding it?
To make matters worse, many watch companies list screw pin connections as an “upgrade” to regular split pin or pin and collar type bracelets. Based on my own experience, that is 100% pure garbage. They are NOT an improvement. I am a mechanical engineer and one of the basic rules in my profession is to minimize parts count to increase reliability and decrease production cost. In other words, as us four wheelers preach – K.I.S.S. (“Keep It Simple Stupid!”) Adding screws to the pin connections on a watch bracelet goes against this most basic of engineering concepts, both in theory and in practice. That especially is true if the screws are a proprietary design, as is usually the case with watch bracelets.
Also, as a general rule in mechanical engineering, standard screws should never ever be used for hinged joints. The very nature of a hinge moving causes the screw to loosen. A watch bracelet is basically a small hinge. The exact same theory for a door hinge applies to a watch bracelet. There’s a reason why the hinges on the doors in a house do not have threaded pins holding the two parts together. Why can’t watch bracelet companies follow the same design practice? It boggles my mind.
So, if you don’t want to get screwed, use thread locking compound on all watch screws but the ideal bracelet design does not use any screws at all. Please don’t fall for the hype from the watch manufacturers either. Screwed-together bracelets are NOT better than other simpler bracelets.
Don’t get screwed!