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Old 31 March 2013, 05:46 AM   #1
Clay
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My Own Bracelet Restoration Project...

After reading the post by Mr. M Young, I decided to have a hand at restoring my own bracelet...

I have a 93160 with 592 SELs that was badly in need of restoration...


First, we attempt to separate the links...





Success...






Doing this without "marring" the links is very hard...Especially when you don't have the proper gear...!!!
Also, all of the pins have tiny metal sleeves on them...???
I was under the impression that they did NOT come from Rolex that way???
Has someone attempted to restore this bracelet before???







And there is a tiny "Spring" inside the SEL???







I currently have half of the bracelet apart...





The next step, after I get the other half apart, is to figure out how to make new sleeves...And then to try and put the whole thing back together...

If you are reading this Mr. Young, feel free to offer up any thoughts...

I'll let you all know how I progress...Cheers.
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Old 31 March 2013, 05:51 AM   #2
HL65
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Good luck Clay--you clearly have much more patience than me!

I will be interested in seeing how this progresses.
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Old 31 March 2013, 06:14 AM   #3
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You Sir get this weeks "brass balls" award!
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Old 31 March 2013, 06:19 AM   #4
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You are knicking the heck out of those links...

You can always mail it to M.Y. at the end...
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Old 31 March 2013, 06:25 AM   #5
mastermixer
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I was trying this myself recently on a bracelet, the question is how do you put it back together now even if you get the new sleeves, what is going to hold the link together?
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Old 31 March 2013, 06:28 AM   #6
Vincent65
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good luck - brave of you!
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Old 31 March 2013, 06:44 AM   #7
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Very impressive!!!
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Old 31 March 2013, 07:16 AM   #8
GeoGio Greece
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...very brave Clay ! Good Luck

P.S. I did some such operations in the past. These are the remains of my first Sub date folded bracelet ( 1971 ) when I got the clasp on the GMT oyster ( 1984 ) bracelet for added safety. Both are now gone .



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Old 31 March 2013, 07:11 AM   #9
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Are those vice marks on the links? Ouch!!!!!!!!!!! On no!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Old 31 March 2013, 07:08 PM   #10
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Good Luck I think with enough patience you can do it.


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Old 31 March 2013, 07:13 PM   #11
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Brave man!!

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Old 31 March 2013, 07:26 PM   #12
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Old 31 March 2013, 11:06 PM   #13
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Good for you Clay. This will be interesting to watch

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Old 31 March 2013, 11:28 PM   #14
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Well. Good luck!
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Old 31 March 2013, 11:38 PM   #15
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Can't wait to see final product. Good luck!
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Old 1 April 2013, 02:33 AM   #16
Clay
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Unpdate...

I now have the entire Bracelet apart...

Some of the PINS have small sleeves on them...
Some have slightly bigger sleeves...
And some PINS have no sleeve at all???

Some of the "Center" links have slightly bigger openings then others...

Not sure what any of this means but there you have it...

Once it's all apart and laid out it becomes like one of those puzzles you received as a kid...

Now I must figure out what to put over the pins to eliminate the "stretch when it's all back together...

Will keep you informed...
Cheers
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Old 1 April 2013, 03:42 AM   #17
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Old 1 April 2013, 01:36 PM   #18
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Clay,

YOU ARE A BRAVE MAN!!!! Definitely staying tuned to this thread!
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Old 1 April 2013, 02:18 PM   #19
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Kudos for trying, nothing to loose, as others have mentioned, if things go wrong, you can always ship it to MY:)
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Old 1 April 2013, 02:44 PM   #20
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I think that is very impressive. If I was certain I could get replacement sleeves (pins) I would certainly attempt something like that. I heard that they are secured with loctite and presses back into place. From all that I have read what tends to happen is that the pins actually wallow out the hole in the band material as well as the pin so that's where I heard of a metal sleeve being fashioned to take up the slack. I would have been happy to just know that the pins were new and solid and wouldn't cause a catastrophic loss of the watch. This is a very interesting post for me. I purchased my P Serial number 16610 last October and it has an acceptable amount of band stretch but some of the spaces between the links are not new looking like I would have liked so I started trying to find someone to do essentially what you are doing, most people including the AD looked at me with a glazed look. Being uneducated on the complexity of it at the time ... I was baffled. Hell as I see it, if you've gotten this far there is no reason you can't accomplish the task. Way to go and I'll definitely be watching your progress. I ended up buying a brand new 93250 band the other day from a grey dealer so that I would have my original band left over to refurbish just as you are doing, so please keep us posted, I'd darn sure try it myself if you find a way to sleeve and or re-pin it.
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Old 1 April 2013, 03:57 PM   #21
Clay
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This post has been continued on a New Thread entitled:
My Bracelet Restoration Completed...
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