The Art of Modifying a Watch: A Step-by-Step Guide

As I sit here with my trusty watch, I'm reminded of the importance of precision and attention to detail. My current timepiece is an Omega, and while it's a beautiful watch, I've decided it needs a bit of tweaking. The first step in modifying a watch is to assess its current state. I examine the watch face, taking note of any flaws or areas that need improvement. In this case, I've decided to modify the band.

I carefully remove my other watch, which features a lovely band, but it's just a little too large for me. I want to create some slack in the band, so I use a tool specifically designed for driving out PIN pins that hold the bracelet together. The tool is cleverly designed with a raised edge that allows me to adjust the level of tension in the bracelet. I carefully pull out one link from each side, testing how it feels and adjusting as needed.

As I work on modifying my watch, I reflect on the mechanical intricacies at play. The PIN pins that hold the bracelet together are always flat-wire bars with a bend and ends. I've found that pushing against the bend causes the ends to come out, revealing the mechanism inside. I realize that this is a common misconception – people often think you want to push against the ends, but it's actually the opposite.

I continue working on my watch, using the tool to carefully remove more links and adjust the tension. As I work, I appreciate the beauty of the mechanical components at play. The movement of the watch is like a tiny piece of art, with each component working together in harmony. I'm grateful for the opportunity to create something unique and special.

Once I've modified the band to my liking, I set the time on my watch. To my surprise, it's only half an hour off – 9:54 in the morning, to be exact. I make a mental note to double-check the time before putting the watch away. With my modification complete, I take a step back to admire my handiwork.

My Omega watch now features a beautiful new band, carefully crafted to fit my wrist perfectly. I've added a few finishing touches, including a small logo sticker featuring our anime-inspired tested logo in Japanese. The sticker is a thoughtful touch that adds a personal touch to the watch. As I put the watch away, I feel a sense of satisfaction and pride in my work.

The world of watch modification can be intimidating, but with practice and patience, it's possible to create something truly unique and special. Whether you're a seasoned watchmaker or just starting out, there's always room for improvement and creativity. Remember, it's not about following the process; it's about managing your own expectations and embracing the unexpected.

As I look at my finished watch, I'm reminded of the importance of celebrating our mistakes and imperfections. The Demar badges in sticker form that adorn my toolbox are a testament to this philosophy – they're a reminder that even our screw-ups can be celebrated and shared with others. If you'd like to join me on this journey, be sure to follow along and share your own experiences with watch modification.

In the end, it's not just about creating a beautiful timepiece; it's about the process itself – the experimentation, the trial and error, and the joy of discovery that comes with every modification. Whether you're a seasoned pro or just starting out, I invite you to join me on this journey into the world of watch modification. Let's celebrate our creativity and imperfections together!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enoo ghostly watch hey guys hi everybody hi uh Adam Savage here in my cave I have a watch fixation as many of you have noticed uh I like wearing a physical watch I also have an apple Ultra which I love I use it for traveling um and the watch I'm currently wearing is a SEO automatic divers 200 mm watch uh 200 meter uh watch uh this is a seyo now my normal day-to-day wear is an Omega C master and my wife bought me one years ago uh for a particularly noteworthy contract signing as a gift and it is in my opinion I just personally for me I think of the Omega C Master uh chonograph face with the three dials and the orange numbers here's a closeup of it it's the most beautiful watch face ever designed seriously I nothing makes me happier than seeing that watch on my wrist sadly my omegas have been lemony I have two omegas and they have both been in the shop three or four or five times times each it's always expensive it's always pain in the ass but I'm not this isn't a video for me to belly ache about Omega I love the seyos because they are absolutely bulletproof they are workhorses they're automatics they're they're just they're super reliable and I love reliability um and recently I was like hey I wonder uh so sorry seos are actually so Bulletproof proof and uh so beloved that there is humongous culture of taking seyo watch parts and making new watches out of them it's called SEO modding and it is just a fantastically deep hobby with some really really cool stuff going on it's not just taking old parts of watches and putting them together and cobbling new watches out of it they're also people custom making watch faces all over the world in different places making watch Parts some people sell hands some people sell faces some people sell you know knobs and other things uh it's a really really cool maker community of taking SEO watches and making them uh sing uh and I really dig this hobby I have not gotten into seyo modding and this is not a video of me doing any SEO modding I'm just crowing about the fact that I purchased a beautiful this is a seyo mod of an Omega SE master so this is kind of what they do you can see there's not like a real logo on there it just says automatic chronometer um this is probably a custom face I picked this up on eBay for just I I really doesn't cost much more than an actual Seiko that's the thing that's so cool about it and I I like this design I really I I think I'm going to try wearing this for a while oh and they've done a clear back they've done a a visible back for the automatic movement it's lovely um so I thought I would just make the band the right size for me and show you how I do that not this isn't this isn't wristwatch Revival I am no Marshall uh but I thought it might be nice just to do a little to do a little watch repair look this came in the mail I realized I had to make the band shorter and I thought why not film it all right uh I'm going to give you a better view all right I'm going to take off my other watch um this say a lovely band and it's just a little too large you can see this that it is quite large so I want to take out that slack I can almost take this off without opening it um okay so yeah it goes like that so I'm going to use this tool this is a tool specifically for driving the PIN pins out that link together a bracelet um this one I haven't found like a really beautiful one of these I know I agree with you I should make one um I haven't found a really beautiful one of these but this is a pretty nice one it's got this little stage that raises and lowers so you can adjust the level um the thing is that you often want to go a little bit from both sides on this kind of thing so that's what I'm going to do I'm going to pull out one link from each side and I'm going to see how that how that worked we can raise this up great that's nice that makes a little more civilized and you just get that pin started there it is it's now a little bit proud and you can pop it out on PA needle nose there goes one and we're going to do there one now we're going to do this guy and I don't have to do them separately I can just do one and then the other there we go so now pull out another piece now I'm going to just test fit these back and try it not enough not enough two more two more cried so um I don't know I don't know what these pins that hold the bracelet together are called but they are almost always but they actually every time I've encountered them they are actually a a uh they're actually like a flat wire that's been bent and there's a side that has the bend and then there's a side that has the ends and you always want to push against the ends so that the thing that comes out of the bracelet is the bend that's my understanding I can't remember if oh no I haven't yet yeah they're interesting from a from a mechanical standpoint they're kind of yeah I find them interesting okay so uh right this goes like that no I'm totally wrong you want to push against the bend so that the ends come out and you'll be able to see when you look at the edge I'm sorry you're probably yelling at the screen when you look at the little edge of the numbers I will show you the difference here you go um I'm actually going to do that in b roll now here is the pen and this is what I mean when I say it has an open end and a Bend see that it's bent there and it's open there and you always want to push against the bend and here's what they look like on the side of the watch that's the open side see how it looks like a screw it's not a screw it's actually that it's the open end of a bent bar there you go so you want to push against that side and uh in this one it's handily recessed and it looks quite different it's not always the case but that's how it works four lengths removed let's see how we did yeah about one finger that's great I like that okay then we're going to secure these in which is really just like closing your needle nose pliers and giving a little oink oh come on it wasn't that bad good enough um there we go that is my S oh right yeah look here is the beautiful back absolutely gorgeous um I going to keep all of this stuff I'm going to put it in a little baggie and call it my sea Omega um the Sea and the Omega uh oh right let's set the time uh it it wow it's not far off it's only half an now it's only about 40 minutes ahead all right undo this and it is exactly 9:54 in the morning sea Omega mod bracelet bits and I have some other bracelet bits up in one of my watch drawers I'm going put this back and all right you want some b roll look at that pretty thing oh she's lovely yeah um yeah let's get some Boll thank you so much for watching that video your support allows us to make more of this great content if you'd like to help us on a deeper level even head over to tested dstore docomo doesn't love stickers our anime inspired tested logo in Japanese follow the process not the plan it's not a process it's not a problem to solve it's a process to manage other aphorisms that have come from my mouth um and we have just made made a full set of our Demar badges in sticker form so you can cover your toolbox with all of your screw-ups and celebrate it with other makers thank you guys so much see you next timeoo ghostly watch hey guys hi everybody hi uh Adam Savage here in my cave I have a watch fixation as many of you have noticed uh I like wearing a physical watch I also have an apple Ultra which I love I use it for traveling um and the watch I'm currently wearing is a SEO automatic divers 200 mm watch uh 200 meter uh watch uh this is a seyo now my normal day-to-day wear is an Omega C master and my wife bought me one years ago uh for a particularly noteworthy contract signing as a gift and it is in my opinion I just personally for me I think of the Omega C Master uh chonograph face with the three dials and the orange numbers here's a closeup of it it's the most beautiful watch face ever designed seriously I nothing makes me happier than seeing that watch on my wrist sadly my omegas have been lemony I have two omegas and they have both been in the shop three or four or five times times each it's always expensive it's always pain in the ass but I'm not this isn't a video for me to belly ache about Omega I love the seyos because they are absolutely bulletproof they are workhorses they're automatics they're they're just they're super reliable and I love reliability um and recently I was like hey I wonder uh so sorry seos are actually so Bulletproof proof and uh so beloved that there is humongous culture of taking seyo watch parts and making new watches out of them it's called SEO modding and it is just a fantastically deep hobby with some really really cool stuff going on it's not just taking old parts of watches and putting them together and cobbling new watches out of it they're also people custom making watch faces all over the world in different places making watch Parts some people sell hands some people sell faces some people sell you know knobs and other things uh it's a really really cool maker community of taking SEO watches and making them uh sing uh and I really dig this hobby I have not gotten into seyo modding and this is not a video of me doing any SEO modding I'm just crowing about the fact that I purchased a beautiful this is a seyo mod of an Omega SE master so this is kind of what they do you can see there's not like a real logo on there it just says automatic chronometer um this is probably a custom face I picked this up on eBay for just I I really doesn't cost much more than an actual Seiko that's the thing that's so cool about it and I I like this design I really I I think I'm going to try wearing this for a while oh and they've done a clear back they've done a a visible back for the automatic movement it's lovely um so I thought I would just make the band the right size for me and show you how I do that not this isn't this isn't wristwatch Revival I am no Marshall uh but I thought it might be nice just to do a little to do a little watch repair look this came in the mail I realized I had to make the band shorter and I thought why not film it all right uh I'm going to give you a better view all right I'm going to take off my other watch um this say a lovely band and it's just a little too large you can see this that it is quite large so I want to take out that slack I can almost take this off without opening it um okay so yeah it goes like that so I'm going to use this tool this is a tool specifically for driving the PIN pins out that link together a bracelet um this one I haven't found like a really beautiful one of these I know I agree with you I should make one um I haven't found a really beautiful one of these but this is a pretty nice one it's got this little stage that raises and lowers so you can adjust the level um the thing is that you often want to go a little bit from both sides on this kind of thing so that's what I'm going to do I'm going to pull out one link from each side and I'm going to see how that how that worked we can raise this up great that's nice that makes a little more civilized and you just get that pin started there it is it's now a little bit proud and you can pop it out on PA needle nose there goes one and we're going to do there one now we're going to do this guy and I don't have to do them separately I can just do one and then the other there we go so now pull out another piece now I'm going to just test fit these back and try it not enough not enough two more two more cried so um I don't know I don't know what these pins that hold the bracelet together are called but they are almost always but they actually every time I've encountered them they are actually a a uh they're actually like a flat wire that's been bent and there's a side that has the bend and then there's a side that has the ends and you always want to push against the ends so that the thing that comes out of the bracelet is the bend that's my understanding I can't remember if oh no I haven't yet yeah they're interesting from a from a mechanical standpoint they're kind of yeah I find them interesting okay so uh right this goes like that no I'm totally wrong you want to push against the bend so that the ends come out and you'll be able to see when you look at the edge I'm sorry you're probably yelling at the screen when you look at the little edge of the numbers I will show you the difference here you go um I'm actually going to do that in b roll now here is the pen and this is what I mean when I say it has an open end and a Bend see that it's bent there and it's open there and you always want to push against the bend and here's what they look like on the side of the watch that's the open side see how it looks like a screw it's not a screw it's actually that it's the open end of a bent bar there you go so you want to push against that side and uh in this one it's handily recessed and it looks quite different it's not always the case but that's how it works four lengths removed let's see how we did yeah about one finger that's great I like that okay then we're going to secure these in which is really just like closing your needle nose pliers and giving a little oink oh come on it wasn't that bad good enough um there we go that is my S oh right yeah look here is the beautiful back absolutely gorgeous um I going to keep all of this stuff I'm going to put it in a little baggie and call it my sea Omega um the Sea and the Omega uh oh right let's set the time uh it it wow it's not far off it's only half an now it's only about 40 minutes ahead all right undo this and it is exactly 9:54 in the morning sea Omega mod bracelet bits and I have some other bracelet bits up in one of my watch drawers I'm going put this back and all right you want some b roll look at that pretty thing oh she's lovely yeah um yeah let's get some Boll thank you so much for watching that video your support allows us to make more of this great content if you'd like to help us on a deeper level even head over to tested dstore docomo doesn't love stickers our anime inspired tested logo in Japanese follow the process not the plan it's not a process it's not a problem to solve it's a process to manage other aphorisms that have come from my mouth um and we have just made made a full set of our Demar badges in sticker form so you can cover your toolbox with all of your screw-ups and celebrate it with other makers thank you guys so much see you next timeoo ghostly watch hey guys hi everybody hi uh Adam Savage here in my cave I have a watch fixation as many of you have noticed uh I like wearing a physical watch I also have an apple Ultra which I love I use it for traveling um and the watch I'm currently wearing is a SEO automatic divers 200 mm watch uh 200 meter uh watch uh this is a seyo now my normal day-to-day wear is an Omega C master and my wife bought me one years ago uh for a particularly noteworthy contract signing as a gift and it is in my opinion I just personally for me I think of the Omega C Master uh chonograph face with the three dials and the orange numbers here's a closeup of it it's the most beautiful watch face ever designed seriously I nothing makes me happier than seeing that watch on my wrist sadly my omegas have been lemony I have two omegas and they have both been in the shop three or four or five times times each it's always expensive it's always pain in the ass but I'm not this isn't a video for me to belly ache about Omega I love the seyos because they are absolutely bulletproof they are workhorses they're automatics they're they're just they're super reliable and I love reliability um and recently I was like hey I wonder uh so sorry seos are actually so Bulletproof proof and uh so beloved that there is humongous culture of taking seyo watch parts and making new watches out of them it's called SEO modding and it is just a fantastically deep hobby with some really really cool stuff going on it's not just taking old parts of watches and putting them together and cobbling new watches out of it they're also people custom making watch faces all over the world in different places making watch Parts some people sell hands some people sell faces some people sell you know knobs and other things uh it's a really really cool maker community of taking SEO watches and making them uh sing uh and I really dig this hobby I have not gotten into seyo modding and this is not a video of me doing any SEO modding I'm just crowing about the fact that I purchased a beautiful this is a seyo mod of an Omega SE master so this is kind of what they do you can see there's not like a real logo on there it just says automatic chronometer um this is probably a custom face I picked this up on eBay for just I I really doesn't cost much more than an actual Seiko that's the thing that's so cool about it and I I like this design I really I I think I'm going to try wearing this for a while oh and they've done a clear back they've done a a visible back for the automatic movement it's lovely um so I thought I would just make the band the right size for me and show you how I do that not this isn't this isn't wristwatch Revival I am no Marshall uh but I thought it might be nice just to do a little to do a little watch repair look this came in the mail I realized I had to make the band shorter and I thought why not film it all right uh I'm going to give you a better view all right I'm going to take off my other watch um this say a lovely band and it's just a little too large you can see this that it is quite large so I want to take out that slack I can almost take this off without opening it um okay so yeah it goes like that so I'm going to use this tool this is a tool specifically for driving the PIN pins out that link together a bracelet um this one I haven't found like a really beautiful one of these I know I agree with you I should make one um I haven't found a really beautiful one of these but this is a pretty nice one it's got this little stage that raises and lowers so you can adjust the level um the thing is that you often want to go a little bit from both sides on this kind of thing so that's what I'm going to do I'm going to pull out one link from each side and I'm going to see how that how that worked we can raise this up great that's nice that makes a little more civilized and you just get that pin started there it is it's now a little bit proud and you can pop it out on PA needle nose there goes one and we're going to do there one now we're going to do this guy and I don't have to do them separately I can just do one and then the other there we go so now pull out another piece now I'm going to just test fit these back and try it not enough not enough two more two more cried so um I don't know I don't know what these pins that hold the bracelet together are called but they are almost always but they actually every time I've encountered them they are actually a a uh they're actually like a flat wire that's been bent and there's a side that has the bend and then there's a side that has the ends and you always want to push against the ends so that the thing that comes out of the bracelet is the bend that's my understanding I can't remember if oh no I haven't yet yeah they're interesting from a from a mechanical standpoint they're kind of yeah I find them interesting okay so uh right this goes like that no I'm totally wrong you want to push against the bend so that the ends come out and you'll be able to see when you look at the edge I'm sorry you're probably yelling at the screen when you look at the little edge of the numbers I will show you the difference here you go um I'm actually going to do that in b roll now here is the pen and this is what I mean when I say it has an open end and a Bend see that it's bent there and it's open there and you always want to push against the bend and here's what they look like on the side of the watch that's the open side see how it looks like a screw it's not a screw it's actually that it's the open end of a bent bar there you go so you want to push against that side and uh in this one it's handily recessed and it looks quite different it's not always the case but that's how it works four lengths removed let's see how we did yeah about one finger that's great I like that okay then we're going to secure these in which is really just like closing your needle nose pliers and giving a little oink oh come on it wasn't that bad good enough um there we go that is my S oh right yeah look here is the beautiful back absolutely gorgeous um I going to keep all of this stuff I'm going to put it in a little baggie and call it my sea Omega um the Sea and the Omega uh oh right let's set the time uh it it wow it's not far off it's only half an now it's only about 40 minutes ahead all right undo this and it is exactly 9:54 in the morning sea Omega mod bracelet bits and I have some other bracelet bits up in one of my watch drawers I'm going put this back and all right you want some b roll look at that pretty thing oh she's lovely yeah um yeah let's get some Boll thank you so much for watching that video your support allows us to make more of this great content if you'd like to help us on a deeper level even head over to tested dstore docomo doesn't love stickers our anime inspired tested logo in Japanese follow the process not the plan it's not a process it's not a problem to solve it's a process to manage other aphorisms that have come from my mouth um and we have just made made a full set of our Demar badges in sticker form so you can cover your toolbox with all of your screw-ups and celebrate it with other makers thank you guys so much see you next time\n"