Lengthening a Yuki 7206 folded Oyster

[Nanuq]

I had several Yuki 7206s lying around, a plain and 2 "stretch" versions. I love the look of those pieces but they're all too tight for my wrist. And the stretchy ones pull out arm hairs.

So last night I figured I might as well experiment since I wasn't going to wear them anyway. I used a thin blade flat screwdriver to open the folded middle section of a link near the clasp, and did the same on a stretchy band. Then I took 2 stretchy links out and inserted them into the opening I'd just made.

Here comes the part where most failures occur: using the flat end of a slightly larger screwdriver blade against the folded up "wing" I'd made inside the band, I smacked the palm of my hand onto the screwdriver handle to peen the wing down again, like a flat punch.

Then I opened the other side of the bracelet and did the same, inserting one more link on that side. I peened everything back down with my "hammer and punch" and checked my workmanship.

In one place on one link you can barely make out the tiniest wave in the metal where I folded it open, then re-closed it. On the other side of the band you can barely make out a high spot where my "punch" went slightly too deep and folded the revealed face of the link out slightly. I mean slightly. Otherwise you'd never know I had it apart. And now it's plenty big for my wrist!

Here's a photo of the finished job. I cleaned it up with some Flitz polish so it matches the finish of my vintage case. Enjoy!

[TeeJay]

Excellent work

[vlydog]

great job!

[Nanuq]

Another photo, this is the worst I can make it look at the worst spot on the band. Give it a try gents, if I can do it with caveman tools, certainly you can do it with real tools.

[blix]

Good job! I'm glad I have girlie wrists.

[freddy333]

[Dizzy]

Cool idea Nanuq!

You can also add a little stretch and length to these by stretching the links and shoving something inside the middle links so they dont spring back all the way. I took a regular rubber elastic band and cut it into little chucks shorter than the width of the middle links. Stretch the band and shove in the little piece of rubber. Acts as a "bump stop" to keep the links from coming all the way back together when you release it. Once in a while you have to check to make sure your rubber bumpers havent fallen out... and yes this is a bit of a "duct tape & hammers" sort of fix, but its a simple solution to those stupid bracelets that come with no extra links for guys with bigger wrists. I couldnt even wear my yuki bracelet because it was too small.. I had to mod mine just to wear it.

Helps with the arm hair pulling also

I'd post a pic but I've already torn my bracelet apart and converted it to a non-stretchy version.

[woof*]