*** The official Apple Watch Strap/Band Thread ***

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This is a thread for you to show off your Apple Watch straps/bands, for you to get advice on straps, post links to straps, share recommendations, etc.

Please try and post original images of the actual straps you've got rather than stock pictures produced by the manufacturers. Let's get some real pictures here and it would be really useful if you can post links and prices as well so people know where to get them from.

I'll start things off with some shots of what I've got.

First is the Apple woven nylon strap, I like this strap. It's got dirty a few times but it's a simple matter to wash it with warm water and normal hand soap, leaving it overnight to dry. It's available from Apple.

Here's the Apple Nike band. Although it's a nice band, I felt that the design just didn't suit me and I returned it within the two week period.








This is a Milanese loop copy which I picked up from Amazon for £15. It's OK, I found it caught the hairs on my wrist so I didn't wear it much. This went when I sold my original watch. It's not on Amazon any more but this is the same item.

Next I have a Simpeak Stainless Steel Band Strap for Apple Watch 42mm Series 1 Series 2 Series 3, Black which I bought from Amazon for around £20. It's on a special deal at £14 now and that's a bargain. This is proper big, chunky and heavy. I like it.






Now on to the new Apple Sport Loop in "Dark Olive" This is the one I received with my new watch and it's very nice. The colour is much lighter than it looks online and that's not a bad thing.

It's very comfortable and the velcro style adjustment means that you can get a perfect fit every time. It's also a little bit stretchy.








Finally onto a Bond Nato which was delivered from Amazon today and was just £15. I've only had this a few hours so it's difficult to be subjective about it but my initial impressions are good. It's quite soft but feels strong. It comes as a strap and a set of adapters to fit the Apple Watch along with a spring bar tool for fitting. I didn't need the tool, just managed to use my fingernail to push the spring bar in. It seems comfortable enough and I think it looks great.

 

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Great thread, should have made this a while ago.

Yes, I agree. This should have been done two years ago!

This is the default band if you order an aluminium Sport, the fog grey sport (fluoroelastomer) band.

Mine is an aluminium Sport - I just chose the different sport loop with it as I can't get on with the original sport band, I just don't find them particularly comfortable or attractive.

 

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If it's a cheap metal strap, I'd be wary of swimming in it, you have no idea what the material actually is, despite what is claimed.

If it were me, for swimming and at the gym, I'd change to the sport band every time. It only takes a few seconds and it'll be more comfortable as well.

 

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I like that (although the ss finish on the mount is a bit odd). OcUK don't sell Apple watch straps so you can say Amazon. Can you post a link please.

 

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Thanks @Blackhawk47, I might grab one of those.

Here we have the Apple Black Stripe Woven Nylon which I picked up today. Seven pictures in varying light conditions showing that it can look quite different.

These first two were taken in the Apple store itself.






Then I was in a restaurant with much warmer lighting and a very shiny metal table.








Finally quite intense bright focused lighting, this is still quite warm, not as natural white as the Apple store.





I wasn't sure about this when I saw it in person at the Apple store, it seemed much lighter than it looked online but I think that's largely down to the lighting in the store itself. Out and about and in actual wear, it's not quite so in your face. I'm liking this.

 

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My search for the perfect NATO style strap continues.

I ordered this from the NATO Strap Co. along with this set of adapters from Amazon.

It only took a week to get the strap which I thought was very good.

The light makes the stripes look very bright on these first couple of pictures - It's not, it's a definite grey colour as can be seen on the next shots.











I could tell as soon as I opened it that I haven't got the perfect NATO style strap. The short side is too long because on a NATO, the buckle is supposed to sit fairly close to the watch itself, on the edge of the wrist. This is probably the best I've found, at least the long side is a decent length and can fold back on itself how it's supposed to but it's still not right.

 

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I found another NATO style strap, this time one which looked better online from Roobaya in Germany. It wasn't cheap at £49 from Amazon but I thought it was worth a punt.

It was shipped via UPS and arrived this morning. I opened the package to find a very nice looking box.


Inside the box...


Looking very good - Long side is quite long and the short side nice and short...


Here it is fitted to the watch. I had to go with black adapters because they didn't have any space grey in stock but that doesn't matter.




It's great that the short side is nice and short, the buckle sits in exactly the right place, along the edge of my wrist, not the underside.

However there are some issues.




The long side isn't quite long enough, it doesn't fold back in as far as I'd expect. The inside of the strap against my wrist is quite scratchy and uncomfortable and there really aren't enough holes for a fine adjustment.

And the 'keeper' on the long side is utterly useless. I don't know why it's there, it's just all horrible and sticking out.

If this had been a tenner, I'd have kept it but for £49, I expect far better than this. It's going back, not recommended.

 

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Be interested to see whether you get stung for import duty and VAT on that.

 

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When I opened the box and looked at the strap I was quite excited but once I wore it, that feeling very quickly wore off. I'd already decided that if I kept it, I'd remove the odd keeper because that was just unnecessary but everything else added up to a naff product.

They were really good for the return, provided a pre-paid label for it to go back to Germany via UPS. My refund has already been confirmed.

 

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I suppose this is the best so far.

 

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That’s a really nice bracelet. What was the total cost (including duty/VAT)?

 

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The new Blue Horizon sport band is nice

Loving the pink

C'mon guys, play the game - Post links when you post pictures. We need to know where to buy these straps.

 

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As for this Pink strap, it was from the Apple Store Glasgow, Breahead.

Gotcha - So it's an Apple one? The colour is interesting, not one I'd wear though
I've gone off my sports loop and I'm back to the very first one posted in this thread, the Apple woven nylon. I've still not found a NATO style that I like enough to wear regularly.

 

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All straps fit all watches - You see above I posted a picture of a Nike strap on my non Nike watch.

 

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I believe there are some different faces that aren't available on the non Nike model.

 

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Complications are the widgets, the things that run on the watch. If you have an icon for [say] the weather on the screen then that's called a 'complication'. It's an horology term based on things that were added to mechanical watches which has carried over to the smartwatch.

/edit - Have a look here.

 

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I haven't bought anything else since my last post in here. The two I use the most are the Apple sport loop and the Apple woven nylon strap that I posted right at the top. I've still not found a Bond nato that I like well enough to keep. The Juuk bracelets mentioned in here get a lot of loving.

 

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I had a fiver discount code so I've just bought five which worked out at just over £11. Let's see what they're like.

 

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They arrived. Two of them don't clip in properly and won't stay in place so I've emailed the supplier.

Here they are anyway, these are all from eBay and worked out at £3.23 each because there's a 10% discount if you order five. The original price was £3.59 each although they appear to have gone up a little bit since last week. I also used the £5 discount code I had in my account so it cost me £11.15 for all five

I've strapped these on tighter than I'd normally wear them for the pictures. They really don't feel any different to my original Apple loops so it'll be interesting to see how well they last. They're about half an inch shorter than the genuine ones.

Colour: Dragonfruit


Colour: Cargo Khaki


Colour: Indigo


Colour: Hyper Grape


Colour: Spruce Fog

 

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I got a couple of cheap Nylon woven ones that arrived in similar packaging and the quality was great.

Yup, I'm the same, I've got a handful of them. A couple didn't lock in to the watch properly so I emailed and they sent me some more. They really are perfectly good and a bargain just a few quid each.

Ha, if they are in good contain I'd give them a good but yea I think I'll buy the ones of alibaba. Do they usually take the 30-50 days to arrive? Never bought from them before.

Mine turned up in about three weeks IIRC.