Attach Watch Band to Women's Watch

Introduction: It's that time of year, when people give watches and invariably whatever watch band they gave isn't the one the recipient wanted. For men's watches, it's not difficult to change the watch band. For women's watches, it's another story. Nobody's fingers are made small enough to manipulate all the pieces—the watch band, the extendable pin, and the watch itself. You need three hands, very tiny fingers and a magnifying glass and bright light.

Starting material:

1. The watch
2. The band
3. The pins

Tools

1. Block of wood about 3/4" x 4" x 4".
2. Drill
3. Drill bits--either Forstner bits or spade bit large enough to make a hole into which the watch itself will fit.
4. Jeweler's screwdriver, or single edge shaving blade or Olfa style cutting blade (my choice).
5. Magnifying glass or magnifying lens or third hand with magnifying glass attached.
6. Small piece of cloth taped to the desktop so it won't move.
7. Large box that allows you to work inside it. A good box size is one that holds printing paper. You place it on the desk and work in the opening. The idea is to prevent the pin from flying across the room somewhere that you will never find it again. A desk lamp that fits inside the box would be a good idea. The more light the better.
8. Duct tape to hold things down.

Make a wooden block that has a shallow hole drilled into it. The hole should be large enough to accommodate the watch itself. An example would be a 3/4" diameter hole about 1/8 to 1/4" deep. Use a spade bit or Forstner bit to do this job.

Tape the watch onto the block. It must not move when you are trying to work with it. To help stabilize the watch band, I used a small cylindrical magnet which held the watch band somewhat.

Now, the only movable parts are the watch band itself and the spring-loaded pin. Remember, the fewer moving parts, the easier the job will be.

Arrange your work area so that you can see the watch through whatever magnifying apparatus you have. In my case, I bought two sets of magnifying lenses from Harbor Freight and used two lenses with the same magnification for each eye. A third hand with a magnifying lens would work as well. You need make sure it is stable and does not move when you are working.

Make sure you have enough light and start the process.

Place the pin into the watch band, and then deftly move one end of the pin towards the hole in the watch. Be careful, the pin is likely to slip out numerous times before you get the hang of it.

The tricky part is to position the free end of the pin near the hole that it is to enter. Once it is close enough, deftly using the blade or jeweler's screwdriver, push the pin squeezing it so that it will slip into the hole where it belongs.

This is very, very tricky. Before I had everything duct-taped down, I spent two hours trying to make it happen.

Once I figured out how important it was to stabilize everything possible, and have magnifying lenses and enough light, it took me about ten minutes to do the job.

As you can see in the photo. The job is done!

Good luck! You will probably need it. But, you may have saved $20 at the jeweler and gotten the satisfaction of doing an impossible task!