Customer Reviews

SE Watch Band Link Remover Set (5 Piece Set)

5 star:		(85)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I bought this because it came with three punch sizes. My watch band has pins smaller than one mm. The others come with a number of punches, but don't say if they're different sizes or not. The descriptions just say they're spare punches.

I didn't get the one that worked like a press. I think using the small hammer and tapping gently gives more control than one of the press type tools. I like this because there's nothing to get out of alignment or jam. The only way to improve this would be to provide punch storage in the base.

It took me just a few minutes to remove two links from my watch band, one from each side of the clasp. The punches are 7/16" long, long enough to push the pins over half way out. The small hammer has a plastic face for driving the pins back in.

I also found a magnifying visor very helpful.

****

Addition to review. I've now used this to shorten three watch bands. The last was a women's watch that had pins that were very tight. I just kept tapping and the pins finally came out. Don't tap too hard, let the hammer do the work. The watch band holder has slots of different widths to handle different watch bands.

This adjustment set worked like a charm on some of my watches, but for the watches in my collection that have particularly hard to remove link pins, this item fell flat on its face.

The wrist band holder is great, and fits all sizes of wrist band.

The mallet is easy to use and works well.

The punches are robust and do not bend easily.

I recommend purchasing this with the SE Watch Link Remover ( press style ), which is much better for harder to remove link pins.

Overall good quality set which can't be beat for the price.

I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to adjust my watch band (Citizen) with this tool. It cost less to simply buy this than it would be for a jeweler to do this once! It took about 10 minutes and the tool simple and seems durable. The only complaint (and it's a minor one) is that it doesn't come with any instructions.

This little package was great. It was easy to use and self explanatory. Also, it was cheap. I was able to, after a little persistence and 15 minutes of pounding, take several links out of my Invicta watch...then put back a link because the watch band was too tight. Everything worked great, no problems.

A helpful suggestion: When working with link removal, try to work inside a tray or covered area (like a large piece of felt over the table). That way, when the little watch nails pop out, they don't go rolling off the table, and you don't waste several minutes groping around the floor/carpet for them.

Bought this as a "filler" item in Dec2010 to bring an order up over the minimum for free shipping. Just used it for the first time (Mar2011) and found that it does exactly what it's supposed to. The blue plastic base has a host of different width tracks into which various thickness watch bands may be laid. There are three different sized punches (as indicated by the bands ground into the knurling on their handles). The mallet has a metal head (for striking the punches to extract pins) and a plastic end (for striking the pins directly when they are reinstalled (the plastic doesn't mar the watch band)).

Overall this set was well worth the total of $[...] I paid (free shipping). This is not a professional's set. I'm sure in a jeweler's shop and watch-maker's shop their sets will have more punches with more varied and well documented sizes, the punch handles will be longer, and the mallets will have larger heads. If I were adjusting several watch bands a day, I would want one of these better sets. But I'll be adjusting my kids' watch bands a couple of times a year as they grow (assuming they continue to wear watches) and the occasional new watch that I buy. So I don't need anything better. And, this set beats the hell out of the push pin with point removed that I had been using!!!

The only improvements to this set that would be nice (but I wouldn't be willing to pay more for) would be instructions (I don't need these), for the punch sizes to be shown on the punches, and for a small plastic case to hold the set.

Overall this set is great for the intended purpose and I would definitely buy it again.

This set makes it easy to size a watch band without trips to the jeweler. The set comes with different size pins to suit various watches. This hammer style set gives you more control than the one piece pressure type sets. The hammer also makes it easy to get the pins back in.

I recently purchased a new Seiko watch from Amazon. The last time I ordered a watch online was about 15 years ago. The band was way too large. Took the watch the local jeweler and paid him five dollars to adjust the band, took all of 5 min. This time I thought I would do it a little differently, and adjust the band myself. The easy way to do it is to order a kit specifically designed to adjust this kind of watchband. After reading the reviews, and perusing the prices, I settled on the SE watchband link remover set for $5.69, or about $.69 more than I paid the jeweler 15 years ago.

Received the new watch and the link adjuster set in the same box about two days later. Before I even set the time on the new watch. I thought I would adjust the band (I like playing with my new toys). Took me all of maybe 10 min. and the band was adjusted to perfection. Not a real complicated procedure. Now, if I have to replace a watch I already have the tools to adjust the band and don't have to shell out money to get the band adjusted.

So, anyone looking for a new watch with the kind of stainless steel band that Seiko and others uses, this would be a money-saving addition.

On the downside, this set seems a little chintzy. But what you expect for under six dollars, and besides who cares, it did the trick quite nicely. If I adjust one more watchband with it will have more than paid for itself. Another plus is the convenience. I arrived at home about eight o'clock the evening it arrived and everything was closed. No jewelry stores open to adjust it, and I was leaving again early in the morning before they opened and I wanted to begin using my new watch immediately. With this kit I was able to do so. All in all a good purchase.

I recently paid $10 to have a few links removed from a Citizen watch and then the next day realized that the band was too tight. While observing the salesperson remove the links, I figured it couldn't be too difficult to do on my own with the proper tool. So rather than go back to the jewelry store to have it resized, I read a number of reviews and decided on the SE 5 piece watch bank link remover over the various punch type tools.

Since receiving the tool I have resized the Citizen watch as well as my new Orient Men's CEM65002D 'Blue Mako' Automatic Dive Watch. Both were really easy to size with a little practice. Previous reviewers have mentioned the lack of instructions, which are brief at best, but the tool is not tough to figure out. First, look at the back of the watch link and find the arrow which shows the direction the pin needs to be pushed. Place the watch band in the holder, finding a slot that keeps the watch band secure and make sure the pin is over a hole. Use the metal side of the hammer and the right size punch for the pin. Give it a few taps and the pin and link should be released. Repeat as needed to remove the desired number of links and then reverse the process to put the band back together using the plastic side of the hammer to avoid marring the surface of the band. Make sure that the pin is tapped and put back in the opposite direction of the arrow to reassemble the band. If you need a smaller adjustment after removing links, don't forget to look for the micro adjuster holes that are in a lot of watch clasps.

This is an easy to use, money saving tool that has already paid for itself! Highly recommended.

If you are like me, this is probably one of the several dozen reviews you've read trying to figure out what the truth is about this product (and others like it) because there are such differing opinions on it. Also, you might want to compare it to the others being offered. I only bought this one so I will speak to this one and take an educated guess about the comparison to the others based on what I learned.

First and most importantly, yes, the product can work as intended.

Is it of cheap construction? A little. The actual pin punch tips and body are less than perfect but the hammer and watch band holder (plastic block) that come with it aren't too bad.

But Cappy, why all the negative reviews telling me to not bother with this and other products like it from some people?

I am thinking that it was either improper use of the product (due to lack of good instructions and without a trip to youtube to see how it's done) or it is the wrong tool for the watch (wrong type of pin to use this tool with). This task is supposed to be a precision task but I can see someone breaking the pin punch tips by hitting it too hard trying to "drive" the pin out of the watch band. That won't work if it is a screwed in pin or if it is a spring coil/link collared pin and you aren't centered properly. The most common pin on cheaper watches and the best to use this tool with is called a split pin.

Another reason this may not work for someone is if you place the bracelet of the watch over a part of the watch band holder without a hole under it. The pin won't have anywhere to get pushed out to and you'll think you need to hit it harder. Hit it a little harder than you should and the pin punch tip can break resulting in frustration. I made the mistake of not having the exit side of the tip over an opening the first couple of taps with the hammer until I realized my mistake. Once I knew I had the right kind of pin, the right position on the block and carefully centered the pin punch, I tapped it with the hammer about 3 to 6 times and out came the pin like butter. I removed 3 pins in about 10 minutes (I went slow) and sized the watch I bought this for.

At the end of the day, the money spent was worth it for me because it made the task easy for me to complete. I think they all pretty much work but they are used in different ways so I would just go on price and the type of pin you need to work with.

NOTE: Before I decided to take a chance and buy this, I tried pushing it out with a mini awl that I thought had a small enough tip to push it out with but had no luck at all. I was using a lot of pressure and couldn't budge it. I gave up for fear of ruining the watch band. I couldn't find anything better than these types of tools so I think you would have to make your own if you want something better. The more expensive ones just look like the same things in a case. Of course, if you're making your own tools, you probably don't need this.

I needed to remove a few links from the band of a Timex Atlantis 100 watch. After reading mixed reviews on the many screw-type link pin removers, I decided to try the simple tap-out-the-link-pin approach. The hammer in this kit is fine (metal face to tap the pin remover tools; non-marring plastic face to tap the link pins back in place) but the handle is longer than it needs to be. If you are using the full hammer length and a big arm swing, you are doing something wrong. The three pin removal tools are slightly different diameters to suit your link pin. They are not very high quality steel, and one actually had the small "pin pusher" section installed at a slight angle in the holder. Fortunately I didn't need that size. The plastic holder-base has differently spaced uprights to support your watch band snugly, edge-up. There are both slots and circular holes at various places in the bottom, to give the link pin you are tapping enough room to drop down from the band. I found the slots were easier to line up with the link pins; alignment of the link pins with the circular holes was more difficult to both see and do. While many metal link bands have arrows inscribed on the link backs to show which way to drive the pin out, the Timex Atlantic does not. So I tried both directions; both worked after some steady but not-too-hard tapping. It turned out that the link pins were perfectly symmetric, unlike those that have a bulged "head" on one end, and so they could be removed and replaced from either direction. Bottom line: the hammer and base in this kit are satisfactory; the pin removal tools are flimsy and of rather poor quality. This set worked OK with a bit of patience, but I think it won't work for a large number of link pin extractions; I believe the pin extractor tools will bend or break. I think the company sells a replacement set of extractors, which is probably a good thing. Remember, TAP, don't swing the hammer.