So, on Saturday the band on my Invicta broke, right where the locking band end of the closure joins up with the other side of the band. The part that broke wasn't one of those collapsible spring things, it was a metal rod with the ends crimped to lock it in place (making a head like a rivet). One end sheared. I really didn't want to spend money on another band, and finally had time to think about it. To the rescue was a length of .0410 diameter safety wire, something we have a metric ton of. I cut off a piece, bending one end to 90 degrees, inserted the wire, bent the other end to as close to 90 as I could get, then cut off the surplus. I then hit the ends with a Dremel to smooth them out, then positioned it to a point where the ends would point away from the skin. I then grabbed a pair of channel locks and crimped just enough to where it will not allow the ends to rotate toward the wrist, but the band would still move nicely. With the band closed and locked, it is covered up. My week long nightmare of not knowing the date is over. I have been a simulator technician since 1998, and I have had to make far more improvised fixes like this than I care to remember.
