Pebble now uses screws and gaskets to close and seal the most recent Pebble Originals and all versions of Pebble Steel. Hopefully iFixit will revisit their teardown and, well, fix it :-). The latest hardware is much more repairable; here's a step by step photo gallery of a Pebble DIY screen replacement: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=...
Did the “intense reinforcements” include acetone or another solvent? That might have been a less destructive way to separate the bond.