Breguet

This past week I was either exceptionally brave or seized by madness, as I went ahead to change the strap on my Breguet Classique Réveil du Tsar grand feu dial, Ref. 5707ER/29/9V6 - one of those things about which they might say "Don't try this at home." 

Background: the Réveil du Tsar recently went to the factory for service, in the course of which Breguet did something to my bespoke caiman strap, blackening the surface and rendering the color unrecognizable. I ordered a replacement strap and then, lacking the patience to have a jeweler/watchmaker switch out the old strap, I pulled out the tool box and a jeweler's magnifying visor, and went at it myself.

For those who are unfamiliar with the Classique collection, the strap is secured with gold screw bars, which are in turn locked into place by minuscule (read near-microscopic) set screws beneath the lugs. Visor in place, I began work inside a plastic tray lined with a lint-free cloth to minimize the likelihood of escaping set screws. (I once dropped one of these on carpet and spent the good part of a day on hands and knees searching for it.) First, I immobilized the case, dial side down, in a watch case vise. Then, under 3X magnification, I carefully removed the itty-bitty set screws. I chose not to merely loosen them for fear of stripping the threads on the screw bars during removal. Instead, one removed, I placed them both on a piece of clear adhesive tape to keep them from going anywhere.

After that, I turned the case sideways, re-clamped it in the vise, and set it down, edgewise, on a rubber pad. Then, still under 3X magnification, I unscrewed the gold screw bars and removed the ruined old strap, taking great care to (mostly) avoid scratching the polished lug surfaces. Next, I removed the case from the vise, turned it 90 degrees, and re-clamped it, dial side down, to replace the set screws. This I did with a pair of jeweler's forceps, taking several attempts to place each set screw head-up. After getting the first one in place, I very carefully screwed it in a couple of turns - just enough to secure it in place, but not so much as to impede re-installation of the screw bars. This too took multiple attempts for each set screw, as my unsteady hands more than once knocked the screws out of place with the <.5 mm screwdriver.

I then removed the case from the vise again and double-checked under magnification and strong backlighting that the set screws were not impinging upon the channels for the screw bars. After replacing the strap and tightening down the screw bars, I once again placed the case in the vise, back exposed, and gently tightened down the set screws. All in all, miraculously, I managed this process with very minimal abrasion of the lugs, and finished with a few gentle swipes of a Cape Cod cloth and a rouge cloth to clean up the surfaces.

I doubt I will try this stunt again, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone else who shares my inexperience with watchmaking. Something for my bucket list, I suppose!

Two views of the Réveil du Tsar with its new strap:

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