TerryC

I bought a nice Raymond Weil watch online that needed sized once I received it. I could not remove the screws on the band links at all to save my life and I didn't want to force them too much for fear of messing the screw head up or scratching the band. I read posts on other sites about heating the watch band to loosen the screws using a small torch type lighter. I didn't want to do that because I thought it might scorch the band possibly and I didn't want to use solvents for similar reasons so I got the idea of using hot water. Take a coffee mug and fill it with water. Heat it in the microwave until boiling, or boil water in a pan on the stove and fill the coffee mug that way if you don't have a microwave. Dip the band in the hot water for about 30 seconds making sure you don't drop the whole watch in or burn yourself. Remove the band from the hot water. The band will be hot to the touch so be careful. Get your jewelers screwdriver out and remove the screws. That worked like a champ for me and my watch is now perfectly sized. Whatever the manufacturer used to secure the threads on the screws was loosened by the hot water. I'm not sure this will work in all cases and all watches but I hope this helps others who don't want to pay a jewelry store a lot of money to size the band for you.