How to Tighten a Watch: A guide that will explain how to shorten a watch strap, whether it is a bracelet or a Milanese mesh strap. All the instructions and photos.
The advice is this: when you buy a watch from any retailer, they have the duty to provide for the adjustment of the strap. So, once purchased, at the cashier, measure it and ask to remove the links to adjust it to the best.
However, the matter is not so simple when it comes to a watch received as a gift or purchased through online offers. The watch will arrive with the strap adjusted to the maximum length and… unless you have the wrist of the incredible Hulk , it will be too big for you! In this article I will explain how to shorten a watch strap .
How to Tighten a Casio, Swatch, Rolex or Other Bracelet Strap Watch
The bracelet strap is the most common. The bracelet is made of several links that can be more or less wide.
Place the watch band on your wrist and determine how many links you need to remove. I also recommend that you do not throw away the links you removed but keep them, if the band is steel, a link could chip or scratch, this way you would have a link to replace the broken one in case of repair!
The links must then be removed with a certain logic: if you have to remove two, subtract one from each of the two sides of the strap.
Turn your watch over and look at the back of the strap, you will notice that the metal bracelet (be it Casio, a Swatch, a Seiko or a more prestigious Rolex), in correspondence with the clasp, has arrows. Those arrows show you where to act to remove the links and shorten the watch strap .
Well, how do you remove them?
To do this, you will need a small tool. You could try to push them off with a very thin optician’s screwdriver, but if you don’t already have one at home, you should buy a watch tightening and repair kit. Nothing expensive, don’t worry! There are many models on Amazon, even cheap ones.
For example, the one shown in the photo above (personally tested by me to tighten the metal bracelet strap for Apple Watch and that of an old Casio watch) can be purchased on Amazon for the price of 7.99 euros with free shipping. For all the information I invite you to visit ” this Amazon page “ .
You will notice that in the package you will find several awls. I used the one that was already assembled to shorten the metal strap of the Casio watch and the bracelet strap of the Apple Watch, I have never used the others. The links are removed and assembled in the same way, I assure you that the process is intuitive and you will not have any difficulty. The most scrupulous, during the process, can protect the strap of the watch to be tightened with a soft cloth for cleaning the lenses (one is also supplied in the package … I personally have not used it and nothing happened, all it takes is a little delicacy).
To understand well how to adjust the bracelet strap of the watch , see my photo below.
How to adjust a watch with a Milano mesh or Milanese mesh
Here you go even more calmly! The procedure is simpler than you can imagine. How to tighten a Milanese mesh strap? You will need a very small screwdriver, the kind used for glasses or… you can use a thicker needle but not on the tip side but on the eye side (the hole where the thread passes).
Turn the watch so you can see the back of the Milanese mesh strap you want to adjust: do you see an arrow? If not, turn it again and look at the opposite side, do you see a very small arrow? The arrow is usually very small because the Milanese mesh strap is designed to be minimal, so the clasp will also be just as essential.
Once you have located this, apply pressure with the screwdriver, levering it upwards, until it lifts (from the arrow side). Adjust the Milanese mesh watch strap and then snap it closed, without the help of any tools but by applying strong pressure with your fingers.
