How to Change a Watch Strap

What you'll need

• A spring bar tool, with a forked end for compressing bars and a pin end for drilled lugs. Cheap, and far safer than a knife or screwdriver.
• Low-tack tape (masking or painter's tape) to cover the lugs where the tool might slip.
• A soft cloth to lay the watch on, and good light.
• A tray or bowl: spring bars are small, springy and easy to lose.

First, work out which fitting you have

• Quick-release bars have a tiny lever on the back of the strap. No tools needed.
• Standard spring bars are hidden inside the strap, with no lever. You need the forked tool.
• Drilled lugs have a small hole through the outside of each lug. Push the bar out from the side with the pin end.
• Integrated or proprietary fittings (some G-Shocks, the PRX, most smartwatches) need model-specific straps or an adapter. See our integrated strap guide.

Removing a strap with standard spring bars

1. Lay the watch face-down on the cloth and tape the inside faces of the lugs.
2. Find the spring bar's end between the strap and the lug. On leather you may need to press the strap down slightly to see it.
3. Slide the forked end of the tool in so it catches the bar's shoulder (the small flange near the tip).
4. Push the shoulder towards the middle of the bar. This compresses the spring and pulls the tip out of the lug hole.
5. Ease that end of the strap out and away from the case, then lift the other end free. Repeat on the other half of the strap.

Fitting the new strap

1. Slide a spring bar through the new strap's end so the same length sticks out each side.
2. Seat one tip in its lug hole.
3. Compress the other tip with the fork and lower it between the lugs until it lines up with the hole.
4. Release it and move the strap side to side. You should feel the tip click into the hole.
5. Tug-test both ends before wearing it. A bar that's only resting on the lug will let go later.

Quick-release and drilled lugs

With quick-release bars, pull the lever towards the strap's centre, angle the strap out, and reverse to fit. With drilled lugs, push the pin end of the tool into the lug hole from outside. This drives the bar's tip inwards so the strap drops out. To refit, compress the tip, line it up with the hole and let it spring home.

Fitting a NATO or other one-piece strap

Single-piece straps thread under the watch, between the case back and the spring bars, so the bars stay in place with nothing on them. Feed the long end down through the top bar from the dial side, along the back of the case and out under the bottom bar. On a traditional NATO, the short flap with the extra keeper also goes under the bottom bar. Then buckle up and tuck the tail into the keepers. NATOs add 1–2mm of height under the case, which matters on thick watches. See strap types compared.

Common mistakes

• Forcing a strap that's too wide. Check the width first; the finder has the lug width for every watch in our index.
• Reusing bent or rusty spring bars. They're cheap; replace them. Match length and diameter using our spring bar size guide.
• Skipping the tug test after fitting.
• Using a knife or screwdriver instead of a proper tool. That's how lugs get scratched.