How to create that extra hole?
One of my most recent watches wears rather loosely around my wrist. I really need another hole on my watchband to tighten this properly.
Whenever this situation arose in my youth I would use any old tools lying around in the house that might do the trick, and when I was looking online that still seems to be the wisdom of the day. One youtube video suggested the use of a leather punching tool, another used a powerdrill.
But I'm a bit more concerned about messing up the strap. I want a hole of the right size, and the right shape, that ideally looks as if it might have come like this from the factory. Holes in watchbands can be round, but sometimes they are more rectangular.
Then I was looking for specialist tools on amazon; even these seem to vary enormously in looks and function, see the initial images of the post.
So, what do you guys use or recommend? Or do you not use anything, and let a highstreet shop (a watchmaker, or a shop like Timpson in the UK) do the deed?
UK-based German expat. Likes cheap watches. Not bothered about brands.
Your best bet for DIY will probably be the plier-looking punch, but it depends on the strap & the hole.
Is it a leather strap? Or rubber? Is the current series of holes round or another shape?
But to get the best looking result, I would take it to a professional.
Hammer a screwdriver through it😜!!!
My watchmaker at the watch lab does it for free for me. Most watchmakers and/or Cobblers will do it for free
I have tried both manual punches with a rubber mallet, but I like the plier punches. Works great, but like anything it is all in the prep.
Your best bet for DIY will probably be the plier-looking punch, but it depends on the strap & the hole.
Is it a leather strap? Or rubber? Is the current series of holes round or another shape?
But to get the best looking result, I would take it to a professional.
It's a leather strap, hole shape rectangular.
This particular strap I don't care too much about (I actually just did the brutal "hammer screwdriver through band" approach - it worked, but not that well, because edges of screwdrivers are not sharp), because it is on my list of to-be-replaced straps anyway.
I was thinking more generally, with the aim of adding to my ever increasing set of watch-related gadgets, to be fully armed should that calamity befall me again.
"Take it to the professional" would be something I'd probably do as a plan A in the future, though I might get myself one of those plier tools anyway.
Don't use the plier tools. You want ideally one of the leather punches from picture 2, but with the correct size and shape, similar to what you posted in picture 1.
These can be found on amazon super cheap.
Use a hammer like object, and make sure you have a firm surface, ideally granite underneath, with a second softer layer such as scrap leather so that you don't destroy the punch on the granite.
Feel free to pm or ask questions, as an amateur leathercrafter I've done lots of this stuff before.