Wristwatches are durable. Often they are even passed down from generation to generation. But the watch strap is another matter. Straps wear out quickly, lose their appearance, become unusable. And anyway: sometimes you just want to give your favorite watch a new look.
Changing the watch strap is easy. There are many offers, you can choose something from what the watch manufacturer offers (recommends), or you can look for some author's options, fortunately there is no shortage of them today. However, this should be done wisely. Let's name a few basic criteria for choosing a new watch strap.
1. Material/style
It is important to avoid inappropriate combinations. No, of course, if you are completely confident in your taste, then you can’t care about any fusion - take risks! But there are also elementary truths, which are better to remember after all. For example: you have a “every day” style watch. They are just right for the office, and for a friendly party it’s normal, even for an official event it will be appropriate: the severity of shapes and colors decides. With this kind of watch, a rubber or silicone strap, decorated with perforation or relief, will look very strange. But strict leather is quite suitable.
And vice versa: “attaching” thin leather or, say, even more delicate satin to a diver’s watch is nonsense. Surrounding people will be surprised, yes, but hardly in a positive way. At best, they will consider it an eccentricity ... And besides the reaction from the outside: if you really swim (or even dive) in these diving watches, then what, excuse me, is an atlas ?! Here rubber, silicone, plastic - as they say, that's it! By the way, the lining of the strap also matters: if it "breathes", prevents wear due to sweating, then this is a significant plus.
For tourism, albeit extreme, albeit not very, multi-colored fabric options are good, such as the NATO strap and the like. And at the reception "to the queen" - hardly ...
You can’t describe all the bad options, and the good ones too, but the main thing is clear, right?
2. Color matches
So, for a watch, let's say, business style, you picked up a leather strap. But that's not all, because there are countless types of leather (calf, alligator, kudu, stingray, etc.), and even more so color schemes. And believe me: the combination of a green dial with a blue strap is not good enough. You can give other versions of dissonance, but again, the main thing is clear.
Details and accents are also essential. It is not uncommon for additional hands, such as the second time zone hand, to be highlighted in color. Red is especially common ... And if the black strap is complemented in this case with a red element - great! The bezel of the watch can also have color features, play with them, look for a response on the strap, and in itself it is interesting, and the result will be successful.
3. Dimensions
There is no time for aesthetics at all, the question is purely practical. First of all, the width of the strap. It will be a shame to pick up something good in material, color, etc., and then find that the strap "does not fit." The distance between the ears of its attachment is a factor of paramount importance! It is not always possible to have a watch with you when choosing a strap: for example, ordering it online. But in the documentation that comes with the watch, this parameter is usually indicated; if not found, measure to the nearest millimeter.
The characteristics of length are not much less significant. If the wrist is such that the strap does not “fit” on it at all, then it’s really bad ... Fortunately, this rarely happens, but the need to make extra holes for the peg in a new strap will also not please.
4. Price / quality
It all depends on your capabilities and priorities. Unfortunately, there are no guarantees regarding the service life. It may very well be that in a few months you will have to buy a new one. If that suits you, no big deal. If not, the choice is almost unlimited, if there were funds. Products of a high price segment (such as leather of a special dressing, which is made, for example, in Florence), as well as purely author's products, can cost a lot - a few zeros more than mass-produced products.
As always, it cannot do without dialectics: cheap straps need to be changed often - but your watch will periodically be “like new”, including in terms of image, and expensive ones are good in themselves, but updating the look of the watch will not be needed soon, no matter how tired ... However, if possible, no one forbids now and then to vary different straps, even expensive ones.
We have not said anything here about bracelets - steel, gold, ceramic, sapphire, and so on. Because this is a special topic, so - another time.
