Why does the AMB-001 bracelet not have a "Quick Adjust" mechanism in its clasp?
Answer:
Let’s have a discussion about Quick Adjust clasps, and why we cannot incorporate one into our AMB-001’s clasp.
We respectfully ask you to take a few minutes to read through our detailed explanation below on why we believe our AMB-001 Milanese Mesh Bracelet's clasp is the "proper solution" for our Full Mesh bracelet. Thanks in advance for your consideration. 🙂
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Firstly, we wanted to keep our clasp as slim and low-profile and light as possible. Our whole bracelet (20 mm Standard) weighs just 56.0 grams (just under 2.0 oz). That means an Omega SMP 2254.50 paired with our Standard length AMB-001 bracelet weighs just 132.0 g total (76.0 g (SMP watch head) + 56.0 g (AMB-001 in Standard length)). According to available resources, the Omega SMP 2254.50 on its full bracelet weighs 158.0 g. Even accounting for the removal of 10.0 g of links, that puts a sized 2254.50 SMP at about 148.0 g; that means our Standard AMB-001 + 2254.50 SMP represents a 10-11% reduction in weight, over an already very wearable setup. Our AMB-001 bracelet never feels too light or insubstantial, yet it definitely never feels heavy or bulky on the wrist.
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Beyond not wanting to add unwanted bulk and weight to our AMB-001's clasp, the main reason why we cannot incorporate a "Quick Adjust" mechanism into our clasp is because we choose for our AMB-001 Milanese Mesh Bracelets to be Full Mesh or True Mesh bracelets. With Full Mesh (detailed explanation about Full Mesh or True Mesh here: Full Mesh Explained), you simply CANNOT break down the mesh and make it shorter or longer, as needed to accommodate a range of wrist sizes, and then fine tune that last 3-5 mm with a QA clasp.
Many OEM linked bracelets with removable links — and “partial mesh” bracelets that also use removable links that have “faux-mesh” glued onto them — allow you to size the bracelets ends down to approximate size, and then utilize the clasp with QA to adjust those last few millimeters on-the-fly.
We did not want to make “Partial Mesh” Bracelets. We, frankly, do not appreciate the way those faux-mesh links look and function. In our eyes, they are unsightly, and they take away the main benefit of Full Mesh bracelets, which is the way the Full Mesh or True Mesh conforms to the natural shape of your wrist. Those removable faux-mesh links create "hot spots" throughout the day as they rotate and articulate. Our Full Mesh, with its fine-scale links, constantly adjusts on a micro-level to the ever-changing shape of your wrist, without creating those hot spots in the first place.
In the photo, you can sense just how soft and supple our Full Mesh is:
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Just a quick anecdote to help illustrate our point. Thanks for your consideration. 🙂
We had a customer, not long ago, install on his own and against our advice a low-quality generic clasp with awful-looking QA extension mechanism to our mesh panels. This, he believed, was the solution that we couldn’t conceive of during our full two years of proper R&D. Setting aside aesthetic considerations, he may have cobbled together something that functions in the way he wants, FOR HIS EXACT WRIST SIZE, but it is a solution that we already determined, long ago, wouldn’t work for a true production model that needs to accommodate a range of wrist sizes, per product size/length/SKU. In his mockup, he uses our carefully sized mesh panels, which again, are not adjustable, and he installed a (truly unsightly) clasp that can adjust a few mm on-the-fly. That may work for his exact wrist size, but it would not work for someone with a wrist size that is any larger or smaller than his exact wrist size. Make sense?
The only way such a mechanical setup would work, in a series production capacity, would be if the mesh panels came in many, many lengths to fit every possible wrist size. Only then could the clasp be charged with nothing more than having to adjust that small "on-the-fly" distance. It is simply impossible for us to make varying lengths of mesh panels that go up or down in size by mere millimeters, just to make this hypothetical wide range of bracelet sizes. We simply cannot make mesh panels in XXXS, XXS, XS, S, MS, MS+, ST, ST+, ST++, ST+++, L, L+, L++, L+++, XL, XXL, XXXL, etc. just so the clasp can incorporate a Quick Adjust mechanism that can adjust up or down 3-5 mm, or slightly more, on-the-fly.
We hope this aside helps to illustrate our point about how sizing is done on bracelets that use Full Mesh, or continuous and unbroken mesh panels as its main structure. Please contact us with any questions about this point. Cheers! 🙂
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In summary, with Full Mesh bracelets, ALL of the sizing adjustment is made right there at the clasp. The mesh itself never changes size. It’s ONLY the clasp that can help to make the bracelet longer or shorter. That’s it.
So, why do we choose to make Full Mesh bracelets with non-adjustable mesh panels, when some other companies choose to use faux-mesh removable links in order to incorporate the QA clasp?
The answer is: Because we firmly believe the merits and benefits of Full Mesh or True Mesh far outweigh the slight inconvenience of not having on-the-fly or Quick Adjust. (Again, please take a few minutes to read about what we believe are the merits of Full Mesh here: Full Mesh Explained)
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Next, let’s discuss the AMB-001's clasp itself. While in some online photos, almost always taken about six inches from the wrist with a phone camera, our clasp may appear large and bulky, we promise you, IRL, it is quite the opposite of large and bulky. That it appears that way in candid camera phone wrist shots, is an unfortunate result of the short focal distance and the natural “fish eye” effect of the phone camera coming together to make our clasp seem far wider, longer, and bulkier than it is, on the wrist.
Please see this wrist shot, taken with an DSLR, from about the distance of your eye to your wrist:
You can see how low-profile our clasp really is (at just 6.0 mm total thickness), and also how rounded and contoured it is, and how it follows the shape of the underside of your wrist. It is very form-fitting and ergonomically correct. We assure you our narrow, thin, and light fully-milled AMB-001 clasp, combined with our carefully sized Full Mesh panels, together create the most comfortable mesh bracelet wearing experience you will ever try! 🙂
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The length of the AMB-001's clasp also comes up a lot on the various forums. As you can see in the photo above it is not excessively long by any means. It is 43.0 mm long, and only 6.0 mm at its thickest, and a very narrow 18.0 mm wide (exterior dimensions). That makes our clasp slightly smaller in every direction compared to a modern Rolex G.L. clasp, which is approximately 45.0 mm long. (Our clasp is also less wide and less thick compared to the G.L. clasp.) Our clasp is also several millimeters less wide than the Omega OEM clasp for the standard linked bracelet, which comes in at approximately 21-22 mm wide.
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Our AMB-001's clasp incorporates two critical adjustment points, spaced just 2.5 mm (or 0.10") apart, on the 6 o’clock side of the clasp. These two holes allow you to really fine-tune the lateral fitment of the clasp. These adjustment points work in conjunction with the carefully considered lengths of the mesh panels — which are always unequal sized (detailed explanation of our unequal-length mesh panels here: Unequal-Length Mesh Panels Explained) — to ensure every wearer can dial in a very well-centered clasp fitment!
You can see our very important adjustment holes on the 6 o'clock side of the clasp here:
You can see our Unequal-Length Mesh Panels here:
A final note on our mesh panels. Our AMB-001 Milanese Mesh Bracelets always offer two different lengths of mesh panels on every bracelet. The 6 o'clock, or 6 hour (6H), side of the mesh is always significantly shorter than the 12 o'clock, or 12 hour (12H) side.
Other mesh bracelet companies will give you two equal-length mesh panels and ask you to try and find a "good enough" fit. Our AMB-001 bracelets are tailored down to the millimeter so that the clasp will never sit too far in one direction or the other.
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The final reason why we do not use a QA clasp is because they add bulk, weight, and complexity, and most importantly, they will eventually fail. Our AMB-001 bracelets were designed to be as pared-down and serviceable as possible. Every element was carefully studied and then refined. Our bracelets are built to last for many years, and hopefully even decades. In that way they are more like the robust 6-speed manual in a 997.2 GT3, than a more convenient but also more complex PDK in a newer GT3, if you understand the analogy. 🙂
(FWIW, the spirit of this car, which was sacrificed to start this company, lives on in every one of our bracelets. 🙂)
Thank you for taking the time to further understand our AMB-001 bracelet. We hope you will try one out on your favorite watch sometime soon! Please contact us at any time with any questions:
PLEASE EMAIL US FROM HERE WITH ANY QUESTIONS!
