18238 Bracelet Removal Tools

[ajh77]

I have a 1990’s 18238 and I want to remove the bracelet to clean it.
What tools would you recommend.


Thank you!

[Dan S]

Can you show photos so we can see what you are dealing with? As far as I can see, the endlinks have standard cut-outs, so any springbar removal tool should work, assuming you have the skill and experience to avoid damage the lugs. In general, I think that practice and coordination is a bigger issue than the particular tool. An experienced watchmaker could probably remove it with a toothpick, but an amateur might scratch things up with a fancy tweezer-style tool.

[ajh77]

I purchased the Bergeon 7825. I believe that should do the trick.

[KY..]

Originally Posted by ajh77

I purchased the Bergeon 7825. I believe that should do the trick.

I guess too little too late as this is what Dan was talking about.
Bergeon tweezers won’t necessarily prevent scratching.
The main reason for pics would show which type of springbars are installed on your watch and condition of the bracelet openings.
Factory installed 18k daydate springbars are fairly easy to remove even with a toothpick, but sometimes we see daydate bracelets with the wrong bars installed.

[ajh77]

I can’t resize the photo to post. My watch is all stock, unpolished so I am hoping these tweezers will work. I don’t care about scratches as it’s unpolished.

[Gruesome]

If the spring bars haven't been touched since the 1990's they might be very hard to compress. In that case, I would recommend to soften the crud with a drop of alcohol (WD40 or some light oil or warm soapy water might also work, but ethanol or isopropyl alcohol would be my first choice).
I had the unfortunate experience of having an IWC boutique scratch up all four lugs on a pristine (until then) Portugieser because they couldn't get the original spring bars to budge.

[Incroyable12]

Tape the lugs if you're worried about scratches.