# Why are all metal analog watches designed with, almost literally, a weak link? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 3, 2008, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-metal-analog-watches-designed-with-almost-literally-a-weak-link/432202 "2008-01-03T23:11:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-metal-analog-watches-designed-with-almost-literally-a-weak-link/432202/1 "2008-01-03T23:11:11Z")
When I say Almost, I mean it’s not quite a link. It’s the piece of wankshoe they use to connect the strap to the watch itself. I’ve had to replace that little turd of metal like twenty times for the same watch, and even now it has bent on both sides of the watch. Why can’t the join between the watch and the strap be as strong as the rest of the strap? I expect perhaps boringly it’s a ‘safety feature’. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2008, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-metal-analog-watches-designed-with-almost-literally-a-weak-link/432202/2 "2008-01-04T00:43:45Z")
[QUOTE=Lobsang] When I say Almost, I mean it’s not quite a link. It’s the piece of wankshoe they use to connect the strap to the watch itself. I’ve had to replace that little turd of metal like twenty times for the same watch, and even now it has bent on both sides of the watch. Why can’t the join between the watch and the strap be as strong as the rest of the strap? I expect perhaps boringly it’s a ‘safety feature’. [/QUOTE] If it’s not a safety feature it ought to be - I can imagine situations where having one’s watch ripped off would be preferable to having ones’s arm ripped off. I concur on it being annoying, though - once I lost a watch I was fond of by gripping a railing in panic after being told to climb down a seven-story air shaft to lay cables (I am acrophobic). Watch popped off and fell down those seven stories. Clambered down, didn’t find it. ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2008, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-metal-analog-watches-designed-with-almost-literally-a-weak-link/432202/3 "2008-01-04T02:01:48Z")
What the hell are you doing with your watches that you are damaging them bad enough to replace the band pin 20 times!!! I wear my watch everywhere for everything and have only ever replaced the pin once or twice in 10 years. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2008, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-metal-analog-watches-designed-with-almost-literally-a-weak-link/432202/4 "2008-01-04T02:08:22Z")
[QUOTE=Cubsfan] What the hell are you doing with your watches that you are damaging them bad enough to replace the band pin 20 times!!! I wear my watch everywhere for everything and have only ever replaced the pin once or twice in 10 years. [/QUOTE] Well… The most common thing is that my watch falls over the joint of my wrist where it gets thicker. If I then tense the wrist (picking/moving something heavy or pushing against something) the expansion forces the watch and bends the pins. **Big Fat Disclaimer:** I probably should have mentioned in the OP that I am left handed, so my watch wearing arm is also my most active arm. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2008, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-metal-analog-watches-designed-with-almost-literally-a-weak-link/432202/5 "2008-01-04T02:16:17Z")
[QUOTE=Cubsfan] What the hell are you doing with your watches that you are damaging them bad enough to replace the band pin 20 times!!! … [/QUOTE] Probably shaking his fist at the Cubs. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2008, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-metal-analog-watches-designed-with-almost-literally-a-weak-link/432202/6 "2008-01-04T02:53:35Z")
[QUOTE=Lobsang] **Big Fat Disclaimer:** I probably should have mentioned in the OP that I am left handed, so my watch wearing arm is also my most active arm. [/QUOTE] Why don’t you wear it on the other wrist then? ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2008, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-metal-analog-watches-designed-with-almost-literally-a-weak-link/432202/7 "2008-01-04T03:04:13Z")
[QUOTE=Ferret Herder] Why don’t you wear it on the other wrist then? [/QUOTE] Wouldn’t feel right. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2008, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-metal-analog-watches-designed-with-almost-literally-a-weak-link/432202/8 "2008-01-04T03:07:33Z")
[QUOTE=Lobsang] Wouldn’t feel right. [/QUOTE] Being on that wrist I’d hope it would. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2008, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-metal-analog-watches-designed-with-almost-literally-a-weak-link/432202/9 "2008-01-04T05:52:46Z")
I dunno man - I’m right handed and wear my cheapo off-brand Mickey Mouse watch on my right wrist and I kill the face or the band itself much faster than those tricky little bars. You’re doing something weird with your wrist that I don’t do…hmmmm 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2008, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-metal-analog-watches-designed-with-almost-literally-a-weak-link/432202/10 "2008-01-04T15:43:29Z")
[QUOTE=Lobsang] Well… The most common thing is that my watch falls over the joint of my wrist where it gets thicker. If I then tense the wrist (picking/moving something heavy or pushing against something) the expansion forces the watch and bends the pins. [/QUOTE] Well I suppose you’ll just have to find a watch that can accomodate the grotesque development of your wrist musculature.