Bringing my 6000 Professional back to life

Dear forum members,

I am new to this forum and am hopeful you guys will be able to help me bring my Tag Heuer 6000 series back to life (well - back to my wrist anyway!). My watch is a 1996 6000 Professional (Quartz) that was a wonderful 18th birthday present from my father, and it did me a fantastic service everyday well into my early 30s.

Unfortunately the bracelet eventually failed, so it was replaced with a basic leather strap before I moved on to an Cermaic Aquaracer thereafter. I subsequently sourced a replacement bracelet on the internet but believe this was a reproduction fake (the 'Made in Italy' sticker on it did rather give the game away!) and I have never felt confident using the watch for fear that the bracelet would fail. I have serviced the watch several times and the movement is still sound (ETA955.11 I believe).

I would be extremely grateful for any help you can offer on the following questions:
- My bracelet is the later type without the 4 screws to attach it to the watch (it has normal lugs). I read lots about the unreliablity of this design of bracelet but want to understand if this applies to both versions or just the earlier type. If mine (the later type) is considered reliable I may save up for a proper replacement from Tag.
- I changed my Cermaic Aquaracer for a Breitling Super Ocean M2000 (I just prefer the reliability / accuracy of Quartz!) and love the rubber strap and neat clasp that I have on this at the moment (much neater clasp than the Aquaracer). Although I appreciate Tag will not provide a rubber strap for my watch as it is not the original strap do any of you have any ideas about an aftermarket rubber strap & metal clasp that would fit and offer a high quality alternative to the bracelet?

I would love to get more use out of my 6000 because it is an excellent watch and a great alternative to the enormous bulk of the M2000!

Yours faithfully,
Chris Hooper

- My bracelet is the later type without the 4 screws to attach it to the watch (it has normal lugs). I read lots about the unreliablity of this design of bracelet but want to understand if this applies to both versions or just the earlier type. If mine (the later type) is considered reliable I may save up for a proper replacement from Tag.
Hello Chris and welcome here at the forum.
I have handled several 6000's and can tell you both versions of the bracelet, the ones with the pins and the later ones with the springbars are the same as far as reliability is concerned, it's more a design fault to be exact.
In my opinion the stainless steel pins are of made of a stonger material than the stainless steel of the links and "eat" away the connections where the links come together, and thus break (Hope what I wrote down here makes sense to you).
That said, always go original TAG Heuer bracelet, not aftermarket, I haven't seen anything made well, all junk.
Tip: The tighter you wear the bracelet, the earlier it goes, best is to wear it a bit loose by micro-adjusting it on the clasp or add and extra link to it.
Succes!