Spring Bar Size Variations

[pwygant]

After reading some other posts in this section about spring bars and where to get them it brought up another question that perhaps the experts can dive into? After "geeking" out more and more about this "watch thing" as my wife calls it, I have now built up quite a supply of "spare parts" for all kind of watches including links, spring bars etc. Even all my old quarts watches I used to like are now in pieces inside my new "tackle box".

The other day i received another watch and I noticed that he springbars were really weak and looked a little short although they were supposed to be 20mm. I replaced them with another 20mm that came with one of my new watch straps that were much beefier and fit much tighter but they were also longer.

How in the world do you measure spring bars and how can one vendor send you 20mm and another 20mm and they look completely different in length and beefiness?

//Cheers

[jkerouac]

It's probably the same reason that many of the screws used in rep watchbands wear out quickly or fail to stay tight -- manufacturers often use cheaper parts in places that are less noticeable. We are talking about two types of tolerances -- tolerances of parts, and tolerances of buyers. Fortunately for you in this instance spring bars are much easier to replace than bracelet screws.

[ubiquitous]

Probably because factories use what they have in front of them in their trays. When one batch of parts run out, they start on the next, and there is no guarantee that they are the same, or better (or worse for that matter).

Also... For what it's worth, 20mm springbars will have a total measurement of 22mm to 23mm end to end, as the ends must extend a bit further out to engage in the lug holes. Perhaps some factories don't pay attention to such measurements, or perhaps they use a lesser product (i.e. 21.5mm in length, weak spring, etc).

Fact of the matter is... Sometimes the QC isn't what we'd like it to be...