Scans and more information about the buckle

Here are some scans of the deployant buckle. This did not come with instructions, but was easy to figure out. The only mistake I made was installing it upside down the first time.

The buckle comes as 5 pieces. There are:

the main, long, hinged portion

two small rods with screw threads at one end, and a screwdriver slot in the other

a very skinny spring bar

the outside buckle part with the Zenith logo. This part was in a separate little plastic bag; I would guess that a gold one would be substituted if you had a gold watch, but the other, all-steel parts would be the same.

To install the buckle, you first remove your old buckle, which is simply held on by a little springbar. One end of the hinge section goes through the hole in the strap that the old buckle's tang went through. The two small rods go through the strap where the old buckle's springbar went, and screw together from opposite sides to hold the hinge in place.

I found it a little confusing to figure out which way this should go, not knowing exactly what it was supposed to look like. See my scans below as a guide.

The outside buckle part is held on by the little springbar. The springbar goes through a little tube in the end of the hinged section. My other mistake was putting this on backwards the first time.

The last step is to simply buckle it to the other end of the strap--this outside piece has a little tang on the bottom for this. You should be able to use the same hole in the strap that you used with your old buckle. Once this is attached, you just leave it in place and treat the strap the same way you would treat a metal bracelet.

I have wrists which are a little on the small side of average, and this buckle fits and works fine for me. I have heard a recommendation that someone with very small wrists might have better luck reversing the strap when a deployant buckle is used--take the strap off of the watch, and reinstall it with the short (buckle) end of the strap at the bottom of the watch instead of the top.

If you look, you can see the ends of the little rod with the screwdriver slot in it, where the old buckle's springbar used to be. This rod attaches the hinge section to the strap.

As you start to close the buckle, you can very easily guide the end of the strap through the two loops in the buckle end of the strap. The buckle snaps open and closed very crisply. There are no lock buttons or pushers.

When closed, you see only the little outside buckle part

I'm very happy with this buckle and find it to be an excellent additon to my Zenith.

Posted on Feb 7, 1999, 3:03 PM

Respond to this message

Goto Forum HomeResponses

Untitled. david, Feb 10, 1999
DEPLOYANT BUCKLE. , Apr 23, 1999

Create your own forum at Network54