HOW TO REPLACE THE TAG HEUER WATCH BAND

Tag Heuer uses metal bracelets to give both a formal and casual look, not to mention it’s quite durable. Of course, being durable will also depend on the type of metal, for example yellow gold will scratch a lot easier than steel, especially when it is plated gold so when you change your strap you will want to take extra care. If you want to change your current strap out for another strap like leather or rubber for example, you first need to remove the steel bracelet from the watch. The first thing to do is turn the watch over and set it down on a soft material on top of a table so you don’t scratch the crystal. Then, use electrical tape to cover up the lugs so that when the spring bars come out, they don’t scratch the lugs. You don’t need to do this if scratching your watch doesn't bother you, but if you like to keep your watch in the best condition you can, then we recommend doing this to avoid accidental scratches.

Especially if your watch is made from precious metal like the Carrera glassbox in solid yellow gold! Once you've protected your watch lugs by covering them up you can now use one of two tools to remove the bracelet, the first is with a spring bar tool. This is probably the most popular and certainly cheaper way out of the two, you slide it in and use the fork end to push the spring bars inwards and then use your other finger to gently push up on the bracelet. Then swap over to do the same on the other side and voila! Repeat this process on the other side as well, regardless of whether your strap is metal, leather or rubber, this process is the same.

However, if using a spring bar tool is too difficult, and even those with years of experience can still find it hard to use, the second way is to use a tweezer style spring bar tool, whilst costing more, it avoids getting your watch scratched up because unlike the first tool, it pushes in both ends of the spring bar at once. All you have to do is simply line up both forks at each end of the spring bar, squeeze and pull up and that should remove your bracelet in one clean action. Not only is it quicker but you also have more control which helps avoid the spring bar accidentally springing across the room or scratching your Tag Heuer watch lugs. This process will be the same for rubber, leather and even nato straps as well. Once you have removed the bracelet, take out the spring bars from the end of the links and then you can put them through the holes in your rubber, leather or nato strap. However, if the spring bars that came with your bracket are too wide or thin, you may need to buy a new set of spring bars to make sure the new strap fits perfectly, don’t worry, they aren’t expensive or hard to find!

Once you have got your spring bars fitted into your leather or rubber strap, you now reverse the process. It should go without saying but make sure your new strap width is the same as your Tag Heuer’s lug width, otherwise you’ll have a very hard time getting it to fit! With the spring bar tool, push one end in first and then compress the other end and gently push it in until you feel and hear a small click. That way you can be sure your new strap is securely attached to your watch. 

With the tweezer style spring bar tool, simply compress both ends of the spring bar and carefully slop the strap in place, then move it around slowly until you hand and feel a click like with the spring bar tool. Once you have done this for both straps, you’re good to go! One quick tip, before putting your new strap on, make sure it is the right way around on the watch to avoid having to take it off and put it back on the right way round.

Another way to change your strap can be done with no tools at all. This is because the spring bar that holds the strap or bracelet to your watch case is fitted with a ‘quick release’ function. All you have to do is pull down on the small lever or push the button and the strap will come out. Tag Heuer uses this feature a lot on their connective watches so you can quickly change the colour of your rubber strap. Hopefully Tag Heuer will include this feature on some of their other models like the Carrera Skipper models because watches like the Tag Heuer Connected watches, the Skipper comes with a few strap options like nato and leather straps. Having a quick release system would be excellent to make Tag Heuer watch strap changes that bit quicker and easier for everyone.

There are many other brands who use this system on their bracelets and straps too so you can buy the quick release spring bars cheaply as well, however, with the small lever on it, you should first check whether your strap can accommodate it or not. Rubber and leather straps tend to fit these more commonly than metal straps due to the nature of the end link on a bracelet being made to fit a normal spring bar. 

Rubber straps tend to have a shorter covering at the back to reveal more of the spring bar, this is because you can then use curved spring bars to help fit the strap even better. Hence it can often fit a quick release spring bar as well so the lever can be exposed. 

One additional way to do this is to take your Tag Heuer watch to your AD or a local watchmaker/ shop and get them to change it for you, this is great if you really don’t trust yourself to do it or have the tools (yet). You don’t need to worry what type of strap you're changing to and from as the watchmakers at AD and even assistants are usually all quite experienced at both adjusting and changing straps. 

However, they may charge you to do it and it is quicker to change it from your home since you won’t need to travel to a watchmaker every time you want to change your strap.