Watch Straps

As you've noticed from my watch pictures I'm a fan of cloth straps. There are two major camps when it comes to how people like to wear their watches. First there are bracelet fans. People who prefer their watches on metal bracelets, either OEM or the aftermarket variety. Then there are the strap fans. There are so many different varieties of straps: leather, rubber, cloth, etc. They even have subvarieties of these types: calf leather, ostrich leather, kevlar, natural and synthetic rubber, and on and on. It's an industry unto itself. Just google "watch straps" and check out all the sites devoted to nothing but straps. Strap collecting has become a subgenre of watch collecting!

Getting back to my preference for cloth straps, the reason why I like them is mainly due to comfort. I find they breathe better and they can be easily adjusted to fit your wrist depending on the time of day or temperature (both of these factors can expand or contract the diameter of your wrist). Unlike rubber straps, cloth straps don't trap heat and make your wrist sweaty. And if they get dirty they can be easily washed with a little soap and water.

I particularly like one-piece straps because of their security advantage. If you happen to lose or break one of your springbars the watch will still be secure on the other end of the strap. Thus your watch be on your wrist and not on the ground in front of you in pieces, or worse yet, lost somewhere 10 miles back!

One of the criticisms of cloth straps is that they look cheap. Compared to some leather straps that can cost hundreds of dollars cloth straps are cheaper. However, I only wear tool watches so cloth straps look right at home on them. Now, I wouldn't wear a Rolex Day-Date on one and admittedly that would look cheap, but for example a Rolex Submariner or an Explorer on a grey G-10 just oozes class and exudes a purpose-built aura. Sounds like hyperbole for something as mundane as a strap? However, you'll be surprised at how much a strap can change the entire look of a watch.

My current favorites are the G-10 or "NATO" and the more simple milstrap. If you never have before, try them out on a dive or sport watch and you might become a convert.

Below is a picture of just a sample of the straps I have. This is by no means my exhaustive strap "collection." As you can see they're a lot of G-10s and milstraps with the odd synthetic rubber or calf skin strap thrown in for good measure.