How do I take links out of an expandable watch band? The watch keeps falling off my mother's wrist.

It is a Invicta watch with a relatively round face measuring about 15/16". The strap/band is thin in comparison; about 1/4". I can figure out how to get the band off the watch itself but am reluctant to destroy the band itself to try removing links.

Ginny, November 2006

thanks it works for my watch... great!

gerald, March 2012

Thanks for your input guys. I was able to go to the spiedel website from the link here and take out some links from my wife's new watchband.

Brian L, April 2010

how many links can be remove from an expandable watch band. I have a watch that was to large for my wrist. I took out links from both ends but still it was to large. I tried to remove more but the remainder of the links didn't have any pins to accomplish this

Michael Williams, October 2009

Give good credit to Gail Brock and Melvin Fields on their answers and the Spalding web site with the good instructions (http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6442970-0-display.jpg). I followed them and they worked. I did have use a good hands free magnifying glass, a must!. It came out just fine. Thanks for the great input.

Dave Burns, January 2009

Speidel's website has an FAQ which includes the question "How do I adjust the length of my watchband?" (http://www.speidel.com/default.cfm?PID=1.24&inq_key=7851&action=detail&LibID=465) After sternly informing you that you should take the watchband to a trained technician, the site continues, "If you are still intent on attempting to adjust your band yourself, you should use the sizing guide below to find a band similar to yours and then carefully follow the step by step instructions."

I followed the instructions to take some links out of a Twist-o-flex band. The instructions, with illustrations, are very good. There are apparently various kinds of watchbands, and separate instructions to work on the others. I doubt that there is much difference between the construction of different brands of watch bands. That said, I thoroughly second everything Melvin Fields said above. With very good instructions, it took me over an hour because it's fairly precise work and I'm clumsy. I used magnifying eyeglasses, needle-nosed pliers, a very small screwdriver, and a small knife.

Gail Brock, September 2007

OK,

I just did this on a Timex wristband, it is not easy. I couldn't find any step by step instructions on the web, but I did find this illustration of how an expandable band is constructed. From this illustration I was able to figure out how to take out a few links and put the whole mess back together again. Here is the image-

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6442970-0-display.jpg

This comes from a patent page, you can read all about the patent here-

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6442970.html

The essence is that you have to remove a cover from the top of the link, then you can remove what look like little staples (a small, square ended "U" shape pin, the "U" turned on its side) from each side. The illustration shows a cap on just the top piece, the band I worked on had caps on both the top and bottom, once these were removed I could get to the "U" shaped pins, then the band can be separated. An alternative is to pry back the ends of the caps to allow you to remove these "U" shaped pins.

Once you see the illustration, at least you will have an idea of how the band is held together.

For you older folks out there (like me), a good hands free magnifying glass is a neccessity. In addition, a good set of precision screwdrivers, a pair of tweezers and a utility knife with a brand new blade were included in the tools I used to complete this task. Also, patience is a must, if you frustrate easily, take the watch to the jewelers!

The watch I worked on (my moms) turned out perfectly, but I'm in no hurry to do another!

Hope this helps someone.

Melvin Fields, August 2007