Zenith bracelet

I finally got down to resizing and 'servicing' my Zenith bracelet. 

Out with the tools. Actually these is not the best choice of tools to do this but sadly these are what I have. 

The more correct tool...

Photograph: Prof. Dr. Alex

Why? Well, no need to knock, less vibrations, less likely to damage the watch. 

The bracelet ready to be re-sized. I want the same number of links on both sides of the bracelet so that the butterfly deployment will seat in the center. 

The end link and its locking tube and pin.

The first step to to remove all the links. Just use a punch and hammer. 

The pin ready to be removed. You can use a pair of small pliers to help pull out the pin. 

Another view of the pin. You can push out the pins any which way. This is true except for the pins that hold the deployment together. Those are directional. It is indicated by an arrow.

The pin removed, along with the locking tube. The tube sits in the center 3 links. More on this later. 

The entire bracelet is in pieces and ready for 'servicing'. Basically ready for a wash. :)

The beautiful Zenith butterfly deployment. Nice. There is n need to remove the links off the bracelet. And yes, there are directional.

The Zenith comes with two half links to aid in bracelet adjustment and fitting. How cool is that. 

OK, lets look at the locking tube. As said earlier, the locking tube sits within the center 3 links. To gain access, you need to rotate the outer links away from the center links. Just flip the links.

The outer links flipped. If you look closely, you can see the locking tube inside the hole in the link. The locking tube will just slide out. There is no need to punch it out. 

The locking tube, ready to be removed. You will need to be careful when removing the links. Don't lose any of the parts. 

Other precautions? Well, when selecting the punch, select the thinnest possible as you don't want to damage the locking tube. The best is to pouch out the pin and use a pair of small pliers to pull the pin out. Why? The diameter of the hole on the side links are smaller then the diameter of the locking tube. So, if you select a thicker punch, you may end up pushing the locking tube against the side (inside of) of the outer link and damaging the tube. 

To assemble, just do the opposite. Just tap the pins back in. If using a hammer, use the Teflon (white) side of the hammer. 

All done and ready to wear. 

All equal on both sides. 

Oppsss a mistake. The deployment is on upside down. 

Now corrected. 

Now, here comes the crunch. Would I do it again? To re-size, yes. And with the right tools. To remove the bracelet from the watch head and reattach? NO. If I ever remove the bracelet from the watch, it will remain that way. Perhaps I don't have the correct tools (likely), perhaps it is the design (it is difficult to align the pins), perhaps it is both.....