Gregory White
I bought this kit because it was just a few dollars more than the watch case wrench alone. This is the regular size watch case opener tool~if you have one of those HUGE watches that are popular these days you may need to get the standalone ‘XL’ watch case opener available elsewhere. The watchcase opener in this kit has 3 prongs, and it comes with 18 bits that fit into the prongs. You get 3 little round bits, 3 bigger round bits, 3 square bits, 3 trianglur bits and 3 bits that are sort of like a regular non-phillips screwdriver. You put on whatever the indents of your watch back looks like to grip it and be able to unscrew it. I used the square bits to (finally) be able to open up a Seiko 7n43-type dress watch from the 1990s that was stuck shut. I was also able to use it on a 2003 Seiko 2kx-type divers watch. The opener was NOT at full extension so it could be used on watches that are larger than these—although probably not the HUGE watches that sell on TV these days.On the opener at full extension (largest size) the two top bits are about 33mm apart from each other and they’re both 37mm from the bottom bit. Now, you don’t put these on a diameter on the caseback. The top two are at about 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock with the bottom bit being at 6 o’clock. Because of this you can open a watch that has a larger than 33mm diameter back. You put the bottom bit on a caseback depression and then the top to go on either side of the opposite diameter depression: so it doesn’t span the entire caseback-letting you open larger casebacks. This is a good feature. The only reason I’m mentioning it is because you may be measuring all the way across (wrong) to see if this will fit you watch. Anyway—if you have a normal sized watch or smaller you should be fine. If you have a HUGE watch you bought on a TV shopping channel or one of those big Russian submarine watches-you might need to by something else (the XL watch opener). The ‘normal sized’ Invictas would probably be fine—but maybe not the HUGE Russian diver ones they make. I don’t think anything would fit those monstrous Diesel watches, lol! If you’re not sure: look at the back of the watch for the depressions/holes/insets that the prongs would catch on to allow you to unscrew the watch: measure from the 6 o’clock one to either 10 or 2 o’clock (not the depression directly across at 12 o’clock). If these are bigger than 37mm you can’t use this. Now measure from 10 o’clock to the 2 o’clock depression: if that’s bigger than 33mm you can’t use this. You’ll need a larger opener. Like I said, it worked fine on my Seiko dive and dress watches with room to spare. BTW: the 6 o’clock to 12 o’clock (diameter) of the back of my Seiko is about 34mm.The watch case holder has two pins that fit into and two of four holes on one side. The other side has a block with a depression so as not to crush the watch’s crown (the thing you spin to change the time). It opens to allow a watch with an outside dimension of 42mm. My Seiko dive watch fit with 3mm to spare. Again, if you have a HUGE watch—you may need something else. The watch case holder has lots of holes drilled in it-but they’re only for show. Only the four holes opposite the clamp side have threaded metal sleeves that accept the pins. The pins are just screws with a plastic washer. Nothing fancy—but it is made to not scratch your watch and it works. I’m happy with it. I built my own-but I like this one just as much. My Seiko dive watch fit in it with 3mm to spare.The metal tweezers are very nice. They have a typo (I think) that says they’re noM-magnetic. Either they meant noN-magnetic, or they’re actually NoMinally magnetic-which would be bad for watches. Probably a typo!There are three screw drivers in the kit. They’re small and have set screws to keep the tips in. Nice feature. They look about the same: maybe a step up from those dollar store kits that come in the blue plastic boxes with the clear lids. I got a couple of those cheap kits and grind the tips down even smaller-these are nice though-but not really small enough for many screws deep inside watches.You get three pin link pushers: .8mm, .9mm and a 1.0mm. They’re nice to use as probes inside watches when you’re not pushing pins/bars with them. The .8mm fits into the holes on my Seiko so I can remove the band.There is what they’re calling a “spring bar remover” included. It has a small fork at one end and a bigger one at the other. These have ferules that unscrew and you could remove the forks. I would think you’d use the three pin link pushers to remove the spring bar as well, I’d probably use this to fork-off the hour and minute hands—but they’re an actual (better/safer) tool you should buy separately for that. Most other spring bar removers they look just like the pin link pushers; but some (like this one) are more expensive because of the forks. You can hook the forks and use them to push down the spring pins using the little collars/shoulders *some* spring bars have on them. You do this from the *inside* instead of pushing a toothpick or whatever from the outside. I’ll probably just use the pin link pushers from the outside—the .8mm one works on my Seiko spring bars just fine (and the fact that only the pins on the case-end, but not the adjustment end of the band seems to have the collars/shoulders). Whatever, you’re mileage may vary. A toothpick wouldn’t scratch anything-but these forks are a more precise way to do things. Basically, they gave you many ways to accomplish the same task on a variety of watch models.There is a watchband link pin remover too. It’s a cheesy plastic threaded handle that may or may not strip-out when you try to use it. Again, you could probably just use the three pin link pushers and do the same job, although this wouldn’t ‘slip’ and scratch anything.The last thing is a case knife. Very sharp—it’s for prying open watches that have ‘snap’ backs and don’t unscrew. BTW: some older watches the back doesn’t come off, you need a ‘crystal lift’ to take out the glass and then the watch spills out from there. I have a Lord Elgin like that: it had a line around the back that I pried on for a while with a knife, but figured out to get a crystal lift and that worked—the case and back were one cast-metal piece.Finally there is a zippered case which is pretty nice.Summary: if you just want to open your watch to change batteries then you could just buy the watch opener (silver wrench looking thing) alone. If you have a HUGE Men’s fashion watch you might need an XL watch opener.If you have a HUGE watch you might also want to get a bigger case holder—but if you’re just changing batteries you don’t need a case hold anyway.I bought this because I play around in my wristwatches. I even fixed a 1970s Omega Seamaster f300hz with a Bulova electronic tuning fork movement on it. It took me months because it was my first fix-but after I did that for a relative other family members gave me all their old broken watches to play with, so I'm slowly buying more tiny little tools. I just wanted the caseback opener, but was pleased with the other add-ons.In the end: the opener worked on my normal-sized watches and opened one that’s been seized shut for years!!!! The other tools are just icing on the cake.-Mike From Detroit
