TJGladeRaider Posted December 20, 2006 Report Share Posted December 20, 2006 I missed a great photo op today, but I may revisit it again and post some pics. If you want to see the absolute WORST lug holes in existence, the TW Best Classic watches are your choice. I cannot for the life of me figure out how they get thoses holes so screwed up. Take one of those watches, pull the bracelet and insert #57 wire drills into the holes so you can see what I mean, with four drills inserted in the four lugs, the watch looks like a porcupine. To even think of inserting a drill down thru one lug hole and out thru the other is a cruel joke. No wonder people are having a vexatious time drilling out those holes. Here is a tip for those of you drilling lug holes. Once you get the holes drilled, getting thos Rolex pins to fit thru the bracelet is your next challenge and then trying to get them on the watch will make you say bad words. Try this. Instead of using those Rolex pins, use regular 22mm HD springbars instead. I know, I know -- that won't work because they have pointy little ends instead of those big fat ends on the Rollie bars. Try it and see. I have no idea why the larger 22mm springbars look like the fat ended Rollie pins when installed, but they do. It is one hell of a lot easier to get that bracelet back on with the regular 22mm pins . . . especially since they fit thru the end links. C'Mon - I know some of you guys have some drilled cases and regular 22mm springbars, try it and see. You won't believe it when you see how it looks. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce79 Posted December 20, 2006 Report Share Posted December 20, 2006 sounds like you've had a bad day with you tw. Fortunately for me I had my lug holes drilled for me but person who did it had a hard time getting everything to line up too. I had to do some dremeling to get the bracelet to fit right. With gen spring bars the room for play is much smaller than with the skinny spring bars. The end link needs to be lined up perfectly for them to go in correctly. That little lip at the bottom of the end link needs to be shortened...BTW, don't you mean 20mm spring bars? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HauteHippie Posted December 20, 2006 Report Share Posted December 20, 2006 Yea, TJ, that's a newer version of the TW Best classic with off-center lugholes. They tend to make fitting the bracelet REALLY fun - or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJGladeRaider Posted December 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2006 BTW, don't you mean 20mm spring bars? N O P E That's my whole point. 22mm Springbars will fit, and when you use them, the ends look EXACTLY like the ends of Rolex springbars filling those newly drilled lugs which makes no sense whatsoever since we all know that they don't actually look anything alike at all when lying side-by-side on the bench. UBI -- somebody -- give it a try and verify this. I have a whole pile of watches done this way as well as a bunch using gen rolex bars and I cannot tell the difference. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce79 Posted December 20, 2006 Report Share Posted December 20, 2006 I got it now...I tried some heavy duty 22mm spring bars that are in my tissot but I've got to shave the shoulders off because the arms of the spring bars need to go in all the way in order to get it between the 20mm lugs and they can't because of the arms. I'll have to pick up another pair though because I don't want to ruin these...The main body of the 22mm spring bars is acutally 20mm which makes this possible...this is what confused me before because I thought the body should have been 22mm...the gen rolex spring bars are about 19-20mm which leave no room for play. This is what makes them such a [censored] to get in. It looks as though this will work though...and the ends of the bars should come right to the end of the lug holes...like they should be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJGladeRaider Posted December 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2006 I got it now...I tried some heavy duty 22mm spring bars that are in my tissot but I've got to shave the shoulders off because the arms of the spring bars need to go in all the way in order to get it between the 20mm lugs and they can't because of the arms. I'll have to pick up another pair though because I don't want to ruin these...The main body of the 22mm spring bars is acutally 20mm which makes this possible...this is what confused me before because I thought the body should have been 22mm...the gen rolex spring bars are about 19-20mm which leave no room for play. This is what makes them such a [censored] to get in. It looks as though this will work though...and the ends of the bars should come right to the end of the lug holes...like they should be. I promise you -- it is the weirdest thing, but when you use the 22mm bars, they look just like the Rollie gen bars sticking thru the case. I am working my way thru all of my classic watches -- the ones with lug holes. The ones I am keeping bracelets on use the 22mm regular springbars since they look the same and are so much easier toi fit, the ones using shark or stingray bands use the Rollie bars. I have these and a bunch more MBWs since those pics were taken. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HauteHippie Posted December 21, 2006 Report Share Posted December 21, 2006 Hey, where'd you get that quad winder? How loud is it? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJGladeRaider Posted December 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2006 Hey, where'd you get that quad winder? How loud is it? Thanks! EBay. Quiet as a mouse. I often have them all running in my bed room. No problems. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubiquitous Posted December 21, 2006 Report Share Posted December 21, 2006 Wow... Good stuff (as usual), Bill! Interesting thoughts on the TW Best lugs... Always knew they were slightly misaligned, but never knew they were this bad. Typically, the lug holes could be corrected when drilling. Strange. I'll have to dig through my baggies of springbars to see if I have any 22mm jobbies to give your suggestion a try Cheers R Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flavor flav Posted December 21, 2006 Report Share Posted December 21, 2006 i am really not a rolex guy but i am in love with the second from the bottom right in this picture mr. tanfo. what is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haveblue Posted December 21, 2006 Report Share Posted December 21, 2006 @TJGR, where did you source the 22mm springbar with the proper diameter to fit our rep bracelets? I'm going to give this a try!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubiquitous Posted December 21, 2006 Report Share Posted December 21, 2006 i am really not a rolex guy but i am in love with the second from the bottom right in this picture mr. tanfo. what is it? Looks like a 1680 (vintage) Red Sub From... TWG (is my guess)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce79 Posted December 21, 2006 Report Share Posted December 21, 2006 @TJGR, where did you source the 22mm springbar with the proper diameter to fit our rep bracelets? I'm going to give this a try!! Any standard watch repair shop or jewelry store should carry these 22mm spring bars. The thin ones, which are more common, are the ones you want if your bracelet is not drilled to accept gen bars. If your bracelet is drilled, then you want to get the heavy duty 22mm bars...like the ones for Seiko diving watches/straps...I've got a watch shop near me that carries them and charges around $3 each. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJGladeRaider Posted December 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2006 Looks like a 1680 (vintage) Red Sub From... TWG (is my guess)? Guess my ass Randy . . . you can ID this stuff by smell, but I am in the process of making it MUCH more difficult. I have a couple I wish you could see in person. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HauteHippie Posted December 21, 2006 Report Share Posted December 21, 2006 @TJGR, where did you source the 22mm springbar with the proper diameter to fit our rep bracelets? I'm going to give this a try!! Here's some: http://www.watch-batteries.com/replacements_spring_bars.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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