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I have the unfortunate privilege of having wrists the size of a small child (57mm across top bone and about 6 inch in circumference). It hasn't stopped me from wearing large watches, but does often make me think twice before buying a biggie watch.
My first G is the GA100-1A1 (stealth model) and it holds the title as the biggest watch in my collection. These newish G models sport analog formats in a very large case. These "X-Large Combi" models measure 51mm in diameter, 55mm from top lug to bottom lug and 17mm thick. Despite these large dimensions, the watch is very light. However, the way the strap is made and how its attached to the casebody presented some personal distaste.
Some wear their G's loosely while others wear them snug. With exception to my metal bracelet watches, I wear all other watches somewhat snugly (allowing for a pinky to be inserted between strap and wrist). In wearing the GA100, I had fairly large strap gaps on the sides of my wrist despite a snug fit. It is snug from top to under wrist snug, not on the sides. This is due in part to my skinny wrists and the lack of strap flex that prevents the straps from hugging closer to the wrist sides. Take a look at the photo below. This is the stock watch on the 3rd tightest setting on my 6" wrist...snug fit.
I wanted to minimize these gaps and set out to mod the straps to do so. The following sections illustrate how to mod the resin strap to minimize this gap and provide a bit more flex.
In this first photo below, you can see that the strap has a stopper underside to keep the outside of the strap end/edge visually integrated with the casebody. It makes the strap look as if it's one piece with the watch. Cutting or modding the stopper will create an unsightly gap between the strap end mating-edge and casebody on the outside. The solution is to allow more flex in the first flexion point of the strap. This will help the strap hug your wrist closer while still maintaining the integrated look at the connection point.
As you can see above, this first flexion point doesn't flex much because there are two "bridges" that span across the first "valley". There are two bridges on each strap for a total of four. What I'm going to do is remove all the bridges and boil the strap ends to soften them up a bit.
STEP #1: While keeping the straps on the watch, use an xacto knife to make three cuts in each of the bridges. Make cuts on each end of the bridge as close to the wall of the valley and one down the center of the bridge. Do this for each of the four bridges.
What you should have after the three cuts on each bridge looks like this:
STEP #2: Remove the cut potions carefully. I used very small needle nose pliers to twist and pull the pieces out. You may need to make additional lateral cuts if the pieces aren't extracting easily.
STEP #3: Using a triangle or square needle file (purchased at most any hardware store), file down the section so that it is flush with the strap valley. The final result should look something like this.
STEP #4: Remove the straps from the watch using a spring bar tool. Go grab a big binder clip from your desk at home or office and pinch the first flexion valley of the strap.
STEP #5: Place the clipped straps into a pot filled with boiling water. The water level should be above the clips when it's placed on it's side. This is a good position because it keeps the straps suspended in the water rather than touching the bottom or sides of the pot.
Boil the strap with the binder clip for about 5 minutes. Add any seasoning at this point if you so desire. You can boil the entire unit if you want to get a little more flex or softness in the entire strap. Otherwise, you can just boil the ends. After boiling 5 minutes, I blanched the straps/binder clips in cold water for about 1-2 minutes. Repeat this step three times.
This is what the strap looks like in comparison to the original stock ones. In each photo below, the original one is on the left and modded one is on the right.
Buckle side strap:
The longer strap side:
STEP #6: Reinstall the straps on the watch and you're done.
Before mod - stock watch on wrist on the 3rd tightest setting...side gaps on both sides, nearly the whole side of my wrist.
After mod - modded strap watch on wrist with the same 3rd tightest setting. The strap end flex sections are closer, more flexible and have less strap gap. You'll see that the strap tail is missing - I also trimmed it.
It's a quick-n-simple mod that takes about an hour to complete. The end result wasn't as dramatic a change as I thought it would be. It's improved, particularly for the strap section below the first flex. You can still see a bit of a gap on each side at the top, near the lugs. Since this is such a large case (55mm lug-to-lug) and I've got 57mm across my top wrists, this is unavoidable. However, it's much better than stock plus it is a bit more comfortable. So, those of you that have the skinny wrist syndrome....take solace in the fact that this free mod can help improve things a bit.
Dan
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