The strap of my old $10 watch broke. I could spend another $10 to get a new cheap watch, but I figured I should save that for my next two meals. Instead, I took out $1 for a tube of superglue, rolled up my sleeves and start tinkering.
A snapshot of the damage.
Items required to fix: sewing thread and superglue.
Step 1: A bit of masking tape
around the strap where you want to avoid the superglue from messing things up.
Step 2: Apply a bit of superglue
at the broken joint to hold it together.
At this point, the glued joint is not strong enough to hold together for long. So, this is where the sewing thread entered to picture.
Step 3: Wrap the sewing thread around whatchamacalit
Step 4: Coat the sewing thread with superglue
use a tissue paper to blot out any excess.
Ok, that’s not a good picture to describe this step, but I hoped you get the idea.
Finally
Tada! All fixed.
Time spent: approximately one hour
Cost: approximately $1
Meanwhile…
While fixing that one broken part, two other sections of the strap broke as well. I guessed the plastic has turned slightly brittle since it’s old and it’s cheap. But no worries. Same technique is applied to good result.
Now, that’s really pushing it to the extreme.
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Comments 2
I too had a broken watch strap. The pins that connect the strap to the watch are encased in a plastic part that, over time, split & allowed the pin assembly to come out of the plastic. The pins stayed connected to the watch.
Posted 31 Dec 2009 at 2:19 am ¶I have a number of old ballpoint pens. They contain a brass ink reservoir . Cutting open a canned salmon tin, I was able to duplicate approximately, the angle of the original plastic part. Cutting 4 sections of brass tube & soldering them to the angular cut tin parts I was able to resurrect the watch. It ain’t pretty, but it works.
Sorry no pics, but you get the idea.
Ha ha! I didn’t expect anyone to read this post, let alone leave a comment. Great ingenuity on your fix, John!
Actually, a few days after I fixed the strap, new breaks appeared. It’s just too worn out. I still kept it though. Maybe someday, I might attach a chain and turned it into a pocket watch.
Posted 31 Dec 2009 at 3:03 am ¶Post a Comment