Straps: NATO, Zulu and leather

Mong.

doesn't care for Euro Palmolive
Group Buy Associate
2015 Sabbatical
Joined
Aug 9, 2012
Location
Melbourne
Those of you with horological interests, do you have a preferred vendor of straps? After a poke around, I'm wondering if there's all that much difference between so called "heavy duty" or "premium" NATO straps and the cheap eBay jobs.

I've been looking at Crown and Buckle for replacement straps because postage is reasonable and they have some economical leather ones. Any other contenders from those of you who switch up?

I am mostly interested in leather NATO or Zulu styles, but I'll settle for regulation buckle too.
 
I used www.natostrapco.com. The straps are great as far as I can tell, and the price was pretty good back then too, not sure about now as I haven't needed to replace any.

There is a free "MI6 Bond II" strap offer if you spend more than $30 on the site at the moment.
 
Thanks for the tip mate. Price is okay, especially when discounts for multi-buys are taken into account. It's a shame they don't stock 19mm bands, which is what I need for my Tissot. I wonder if I'm better off having a crack at an 18 or 20mm one. Too small and the spring bar will be visible. Too big and it might not fit at all.
 
I bought a heap of NATOs from eBay for about $12 and some I have never used.

I really like the leather one that I got on eBay for the Amphibian. Leather is still good with minor hole stretch, stitching is perfect. Inbuilt pins are awesome.
 
Just got these today for my son



From nato straps
 
Umm, what are they?
 
Umm, what are they?

from top to bottom three NATO and two ZULU straps from The Nato Strap Co. that @eggbert recommended.

He hardly takes his watch off and only has the one band which needs a good soaking. So he can have these for his birthday and get some variety in his life!

BTW - the pic and post was via Tapatalk on my phone using the iExplorer app for the BBcode on the pic. Thanks for the advice on that!
 
So they are watch bands? Ok. Got it.
 
I recently got 3 straps from http://www.cheapestnatostraps.com Took about 2 weeks to arrive but they are good quality. You should also try a perlon strap which they stock, mega comfortable and micro adjustable as you don't have to use the closest hole, the tang goes straight through the weave of the strap.
 
I recently picked up a used Orient Mako elsewhere for a decent price, and although it's a little banged up, it's quickly become my favourite road warrior for casual days. It came with a "Bond" and a plain black nato, as well as a good brown leather band and the original bracelet. Instant collection, and surprisingly, the nato's are my favourites because they're comfy and easily swappable. I'm told they're from Nato Strap Co, and they look pretty good to me. One is a "premium" one, and it's noticeably thicker in both the strap itself and the stitching. They look the goods, but to be honest, it looks pretty hard to go wrong with nato straps from anywhere as long as the hardware is stitched.
 
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