A torque wrench has an elongated lever arm with working and distal ends, the lever arm carrying a wrench head at the working end, a selector mechanism at the distal end and a torque-responsive mechanism coupled to the selector mechanism for movement therewith among plural selectable positions respectively corresponding to preset torque values, the lever arm having a longitudinal axis and an outer surface spaced transversely from the axis no more than a maximum transverse distance, the selector mechanism including retaining mechanism disposed axially beyond the distal end of the lever arm and spaced transversely from the axis a distance greater than the maximum transverse distance for retaining the selector mechanism in a selected position.