No I have not, but don't have any false sense of security about them. I doubt there is anything so special about Seiko spring bars. Spring bars are a weak method of attachment. They employ springs which under the right circumstances can bounce out of the lugs. It has happened to Rolex Submariners, and it has happened to several nice watches I own. I do not trust them and would never wear a watch with spring bars somewhere where there is a risk that my wrist could take a shock and dislodge a spring bar. I prefer screw bars, but many manufacturers stick with spring bars, perhaps precisely because they are weak so if the watch gets caught on something you will lose the watch instead of your hand.

 

Not true about the manufacturers and spring bars. Not all watches lend themselves to these attachments. I'm sure that a watch with holes thru the lugs could be machined to take a screw in bar.....

 

Never

 

I’ve beaten up a lot of my watches and have never had a spring bar fail (knock on wood). That being said I tend to use a NATO when doing something like surfing just in case.

 

A fellow member here reported that a big wave landed on him at the beach and when he walked back to shore his NATO shorn watch was gone from his wrist. I also had a watch on a NATO strap come off my wrist when, of all things, the watch hooked on the inside of a coat sleeve while putting the coat on.

These are only stories that carry little weight until it happens to you.

 

Fixed lugs and Nato is the only way to prevent such tragedy.

 

Yes and no. In one incident, I had a line (rope) wrap around my arm on a boat and come under very high tension. As it slid down to my wrist, it took off my wrist watch, as the springbars or bracelet failed as designed and the line went away with little more than a ropeburn and a lost watch. It happened in a split second. If the watch had held and the line was caught by the watch, my hand would have been injured or worse.

Agree that Nato are a good idea, but at some high tension, you want something to give before your hand is damaged. Watches can be replaced, hands.....not so much.

Same reason I don't wear a wedding ring, but that is another story....

 

Thanks for the replies!

I am really looking to see if anyone has had (specifically) a "SEIKO FAT SPRING BAR" fail.

 

I believe the Seiko fat spring bars require a slightly bigger hole, and if your watch lugs does not have the right kind of holes, the Seiko far spring bars are actually likelier to dislodge. I order these spring bars from Dievas instead for regular watches,

Accessories - Heavy Duty Spring Bar

 

This thread mentions a case of failure,

https://www.watchuseek.com/f21/total-springbar-failure-716731.html

 

Does it happen, yes.

Has it happened to me, no.

I get the sense that spring bar failure is a little bit like getting hit my lightening or winning the lotto. There are documented cases of its occurrence so we know for a fact it does happen but the chance it’ll actually happen to you is slim.

 

I have a pair of those fat springbars, while the body of the pringbars itself is very thick and seems durable, the tips are tiny (intentionally made tiny to fit most of existing watches).

So I'm afraid that it could break under strong pulling force.

 

Iirc those fat springbars don't have the ridges for springbartools to catch onto, right? So they'd certainly be less likely to be dislodged by a nato strap (natos are - or shoudl be - notorious for snagging onto regular springbar ridges and pulling them loose).

 

I believe you are off base here.

First of all, the Seiko spring bars do have collars which make removal far easier. Google pictures and you will see. Generally, the only spring bars without collars are designed for drilled lugs.

Second, it is unlikely that the collars provide grip to a band that helps result in spring bar failure. You can take almost any watch with Nato band or almost any band besides metal, and with a little practice remove the spring bars with no tools. To do so, grab the band near one set of lugs and pull the band away from the watch to generate friction on the spring bar, then as you pull, slide the band towards one lug. With a little practice you can fairly easily remove a spring bar in this manner. I have done so on many watches.

Fixed lugs and Nato is the only way to prevent such tragedy.

No, screw bars are the only way. There were two posts before yours that said a watch on a Nato came off the wrist.

.............

I get the sense that spring bar failure is a little bit like getting hit my lightening or winning the lotto. There are documented cases of its occurrence so we know for a fact it does happen but the chance it'll actually happen to you is slim.

I've never been hit by lightening, but have had three watches come off my wrist due to spring bar failure over 5 years, one was on a Nato band. So it is not so rare. Once, for example, I was joking around with a friend and hit a table top with my fist to make a point, and my watch dropped off. The spring bar was still in the band and in perfect operating condition and I reattached it.

This is a good discussion here as most have no appreciation for how easy it is to dislodge a spring bar. In the normal course of routine activities, all will be well. Its when the wrist area takes a jolt that a spring bar can come lose.

 

In all the years I’ve worn watches I’ve never suffered a springbar failure (just lucky I guess). The state of some of them was quite horrific but since I’ve developed a greater knowledge of watches in general I inspect my springbars regularly.

 

In all the years I've worn watches I've never suffered a springbar failure (just lucky I guess). The state of some of them was quite horrific but since I've developed a greater knowledge of watches in general I inspect my springbars regularly.

I am convinced that in the vast majority of spring bar failure cases, the spring bar that failed is in perfect operating condition. It is the shock transmitted to the watch that causes the spring bar to bounce loose.

 

..

 

No experience with fat spring bars but my experience with the failure of regular spring bars indicated that the point of failure was the tip, not the barrel.

I had my watch ripped off my NATO strap (one spring bar failure - the other held) when a baling hook sliced down my forearm and caught my watch. The spring did not fail so much as it bent and bent far enough to pull the tip out of the lug, at which point the watch was loose on one side. The other spring bar held and I just put the watch in my pocket. Freak accident.

So in my (one) experience, the spring bar did not break but bent enough to come loose.

 

No experience with the Seiko fat bars, but I've had regular spring bars fail.

 

I've never had any spring bar fail.

 

ISO rated divers have to pass a 45lbs force applied to the spring bars, so in case of the Seiko you can at least rest comfortably that attention was paid to this area of the watch during design and certification.

 

Is the force applied perpendicular to the spring bar? I believe Gary123 was referring to an impulse parallel to the springbar, which momentarily compresses the spring, allowing it to dislodge.

 

I doubt the seiko fat spring bar has a significantly different failure rate. For the most part, sorting bars are amazingly reliable but nothing is guaranteed in life.

 

I have never seen fixed bars. Those would certainly be the most secure. Great idea but limiting on changing bands. I have numerous watches with screw bars and feel very secure wearing those.

Your collarless spring bars, were the lugs drilled on those? I've only seen collarless spring bars on drilled lugs. You could use collarless spring bars on non drilled lugs, this would be more secure, but likely to be difficult to remove.

 

My 12 o'clock springbar on my speedmaster popped off when I took my jacket off. The watch was on a leather strap at the time. Thank god hesalite is durable in these type of situations.

 

Does anyone have a recommendation on where to buy the highest quality spring bars, if there is such a thing.