A spring bar or NOT a spring bar? (OASIS B270)

[wilding]

Hello and good afternoon to all.
OK, here is another little horological teaser for you to get your heads around.

I have this great OASIS lady's (?) B270 watch that I got in a set to be repaired. It actually only needed a battery and works great.

However, the strap DEFINITELY needs replacing!

AND here is my problem.

I just CANNOT figure out HOW to get the spring bar out.
Actually, I am not sure it IS a spring bar. I have tried hard with all manner of tools (spring bar removers, screwdrivers, sharp knives etc.) to get the spring to release, but no joy.

I took the strap off by hand, so you can see the photos to see what I have. I really HOPE it IS a spring bar, but if so, HOW to get it out??

And if it is NOT, then HOW to fit a new strap on other than by glue?

Also, as an aside to all this, does ANYONE know how to set the date on this watch? 
But first things first eh! As far as I can tell, there are NOT two positions that you can pull out the crown to. But I could well be wrong.

[cduke]

Hello Wilding,

I am probably the last person to offer advice on your watch but I know what I would do.  I believe you do have spring bars on this watch.

If they do not come off easily, why not gently pry them off, protecting the watch and replace them with generic bars. As for the date, I assume you've tried the rotate the time to change the date?  This watch is a nice but simple watch and therefore I assume all of the parts and functions are also simple.  Someone here knows better than me.

[eezy]

Are you sure they are spring bars and not fixed bars? If they are fixed you need an open ended type strap. 

Sometimes with fixed bars you can see the ends on the outside of the lugs unless they have been plated over.

If they are fixed and you break them out you could make a lot of work. I would be tempted to just get an open end strap.

[nickelsilver]

It looks to me like those are spring bars, but they are too large. That is, the "bar" part is exactly the size of the lug space, and the springs are in the holes. If that's the case, you should be able to rotate them. And in that case you can do as suggested above, pry them out, then replace with better fitting bars which can be removed without destroying them.

[WatchMaker]

Agree with @eezyrider that if you're struggling this much then an open ended strap might be the way to go! This type of strap slots through a bar and secures with a tab.

Your pics don't show the underside of the strap to check if it is already an open-ended design but a quick look on ebay and item 223189626008 is the same as yours and the strap looks 'normal'. This means the bars should remove (also very likely since a mass produced fashion watch wouldn't employ a design that made things difficult to put together). What if you get a pair of needle nose pliers and grip a bar tightly ... can you get any side-to-side movement?

As to the setting of your watch it's a Miyota 6P29 movement so easy to track down a spec document for: http://miyotamovement.com/pdf/spec_6P25.pdf. In this case it's the single-click out to set the date; two clicks out to set the time and day.  

[cduke]

An Oasis owners manual online states that there are three crown positions for this watch.  position A, position B for date-clockwise and position C- counter-clockwise for day.

[GleaveandCoLuke]

From experience I would say that this is 99% a non-telescopic spring bar.  See this picture. http://blog.esslinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/single-shoulder-spring-bar.png  Usually they are used in watches with holes drilled right through so they can be removed by pushing a pin in from the outside.  However some watchmakers like them as once they are in, they won't come out... unless they are ripped or cut out.  So the solution is to cut them out and replace with a normal spring bar.  I would say I have to cut these bars out for maybe 1 in every 50 straps I change, so the issue does come up.

 

However you need to be sure.  Fixed bars would be very unusual on a watch of this style and age.  Does the bar twist?  If so then likely  spring bar.  But cut at your own risk as cutting bars on a case with fixed bars will screw up the case.

[wilding]

Well I have cut out both the bars. DEFINITELY NOT spring bars! And now I CAN use spring bars with a normal strap.

[GleaveandCoLuke]

They should still be spring bars, just a different type without a shoulder.  They are usually used when there are drilled lugs like this, but always be very careful before cutting out.  Old watches, often gold cases have fixed bars but they are usually obvious.  Very rare to find fixed bars on something modern like this with a relatively modern quartz movement.

[cduke]

Some things can't be helped.  If it looks like a spring bar and smells like a spring bar and you can replace it with a spring bar...its a spring bar.  Mystery solved.

[wilding]

I STILL can't find the crown/stem position to set the date. Am I missing something?