How To Resize A Watch Bracelet

What you need

• A pin pusher, or a spring bar tool with a fine pointed end, or a small precision screwdriver used as a punch. Inexpensive bracelet-sizing kits include a holder and a punch and are the easiest route.
• A small screwdriver if your bracelet uses screws rather than pins.
• A soft surface with edges - a folded towel on a table. This stops the bracelet scratching and, more importantly, stops a dropped collar from rolling away.
• A small container for the parts you remove. Keep everything.

Step 1: work out which fastening you have

Look at the side of the bracelet where the links join. You will see one of three things:

• Pin and collar. A plain pin with a tiny separate sleeve inside the link. Very common on Japanese watches. The collar is small, easy to lose and essential - it is what holds the pin.
• Split pin (friction pin). A single pin with a slight split down its length that grips by friction. Simpler, no separate collar.
• Screws. A visible slot on both sides. Common on Swiss bracelets. Unscrew rather than push.

Look for small arrows stamped on the underside of the links. They point in the direction the pin must be pushed out. Push against the arrows and you will jam the pin.

Step 2: decide which links to remove

Fasten the watch and see how much slack there is. Each removed link is typically 5 to 8mm of circumference, so most people remove two to four.

Remove links evenly from both sides of the clasp, not all from one end. If you take them all from one side, the clasp ends up sitting off-center on the underside of your wrist, which is uncomfortable and looks wrong. If you need an odd number, put the extra on the 12 o'clock side - most people's wrists are slightly asymmetric and the clasp sits better slightly toward the hand.

Some links cannot be removed - the ones nearest the clasp are often permanently attached. The arrows tell you which are removable.

Step 3: push the pin out

1. Lay the bracelet on the towel, arrows facing up so you push the correct way.
2. Place the punch on the pin end and press firmly and straight. It should move with steady pressure - if it needs force, check the arrow direction before you push harder.
3. Once it starts to protrude on the far side, grip it with pliers or fingers and pull it clear.
4. Watch for the collar. On pin-and-collar bracelets the tiny sleeve will fall out. It is a couple of millimeters long and it will bounce. This is why you are working on a towel.

Step 4: rejoin and check

1. Line up the two link halves. They should sit flush with no visible step.
2. Put the collar back into the receiving link if you have one, then push the pin back in against the arrow direction until it is flush on both sides.
3. Press the pin fully home. A pin left slightly proud will catch on clothing and eventually work itself out, which is how bracelets end up on the floor of a train.
4. Tug firmly on both sides of the join before you wear it.

The micro-adjustment nobody uses

Most clasps have two or three extra holes inside them, letting you move the spring bar to fine-tune the length by two or three millimeters. This exists for a real reason: your wrist swells in heat and shrinks in cold, sometimes by more than one link.

Size the bracelet so the micro-adjustment sits in the middle of its range. That gives you room to loosen it in summer and tighten it in winter without removing links twice a year.

Getting the fit right

A correctly sized bracelet lets the watch move about a centimeter along your wrist but not spin freely. It should sit on top of the wrist bone, not slide over it. Size it in the evening rather than first thing in the morning - wrists are at their largest later in the day, and a bracelet sized at 8am will be tight by 8pm.

Keep the links

Put the removed links and pins in a labeled bag with the box. You will want them if your wrist changes, and a watch sold with all its original links is worth noticeably more than one sold without - something worth knowing from the other side too, in buying a used automatic.

When to let someone else do it

• Integrated bracelets. The PRX and similar have tighter tolerances and less forgiving finishing - one slip is a visible scratch on the part of the watch people look at. See the integrated bracelet shortlist.
• Screw-type links that will not move. They are often factory-threadlocked. Forcing them strips the head. A watchmaker has the correct drivers and a heat source.
• Anything you would be upset to scratch. Ten dollars is cheap insurance.

If you would rather avoid bracelets altogether, a strap swap is even simpler - how to change a watch strap.