A Nato Strap Special - Best Place to Buy, A Guide On How To Fit Them & What To Look For 

You shouldn't worry about or apologize for city noises while recording. I find them to make your videos more authentic and unique. Cheers.

3:50 I believe it is *not* glue around the holes. Nylon is a type of plastic, they burn the holes into the strap (presumably with lazers). The plastic melts around the hole which helps prevent fraying, like you see on the zulu.

When you told about string bar failure that reminds me, situation when I was in a raft on a river and I fell out of it, then springbar on my seiko snzk15 broke. I was so happy that a had nato strap on it.

As someone who's only ever worn bracelets and straps, this was a subject that was relatively new to me, so the information in this video was very useful. Many Thanks :)

Outstanding quality for the money. A true bang for the buck right here. Recently bought the strap featured 7:15, and I love it. Works magic with simplistic watches. I smashed it on an Orient Three Star, with white dial and black numerals. Beautiful.

Those areas of the strap are not glued, they are melted. You can shorten a nato strap by using two pennies as a guide to cut, then take a flame and melt the edges to seal.

I have to say, it's insane how there are big youtubers with small community strength, but with the urban gentry, I hear about this channel everywhere!

Have been watching your videos and love the insights you have on watches. Partly due to your recommendation, I just bought my 'beginner' mech watch Seiko SKX009-J1. My next accessory will be NATO strap. Thanks for your advice. One thing I like about your review is that you don't despise more affordable range of watch. Many watch-lovers can be a bit of snobs but not you. Keep up the good work and this kind of video is what we need! Very novice-friendly.

I have a Citizen Promaster GN-4-S dive watch that I used to wear as a beater when I went camping or running, but I never liked the rubber strap so the watch ended up lying in the watch drawer always there but nearly never worn. After watching this video I immediately grabbed the watch, headed to the nearest watch store and had a black nylon NATO fitted. It's like a brand new watch (albeit very well worn from a hard and memorable life) and the NATO strap really is very comfortable. Thank you TGV. You made my day.

Thank you. I didnt realise what the whole deal was with "Nato Straps" but I see the logic now. As a bodger and handyman I also appreciate the tips on thread-wear on nylon hot spots. If I find myself seeing that when using cheap nylon products at least I know a little glue or very precise melting will stave off the inevitable failure point. Appreciate the video mate.

Yeah I'm hooked on nato now. So comfortable. I recently got a citizen 7390 and put it on a tan nato from the Sydney strap co. Super comfortable and durable. Thanks for the advice.

Wrist Candy has poor customer service. 3 days no response, no tracking just a credit card charge. They won’t even returns emails. I do not recommend. Sorry but this is how I found them. Just FYI

For me the most important part is the buckle. I have one from a different maker that has a solid clasp. Most clasps are very thin and are bent around the buckle. If the buckle goes so does your watch, even without a spring bar failure. Great video just wish we got a better look at the buckle. Cheers

Good vid, thanks! They don't glue it, they heat it a little since nylon (like plastic) melts. Works fine.

I get mine from nato strap co. Both leather and fabric ones :)

Thank you introducing me to the hobby. I find the information extremely helpful and saved me a lot money. You've opened so many options to the watches I like, and I've started doing mods to personalize my collection.

I really enjoy your videos and advice/reviews on watches. I'm quickly learning that collecting watches becomes expensive :)

I took your advice, ordered a black and grey striped one and fit it to my new seiko 5 SNZH57J1..love it. Thank you for the recommendation sir. 🙂🙂👍

1:48 "I'll just give it a quick wipe" *proceeds to put thumb on the crystal*

Great review. I never had a Nato strap on a watch. Planning to get one soon.

I love your videos, it’s because of you I bought my first seiko skx007 and 6 years later it’s still May favorite watch in a collection of 42

Excellent video! A side note: not all NATO straps are created equal. Some companies do not use a secure buckle, they actually use a tiny little spring bar to hold the buckle on, which is a horrifying design flaw! Don't hesitate to contact the company and make sure they use a solid buckle design!

I just purchased a gold coin (1 oz) and tied it to a NATO strap to show my wealth. Much more elegant. I use my phone for accurate time. I get compliments all the time on my gold coin.

Thank yo for the introduction to the Nato straps, TGV. I'm a more traditional guy when it comes to straps and bracelets. I used to wear leather bands or stainless steel bracelets. But I'm going to have a deeper look at the Nato straps. Perlon straps were very popular during the 60's to the 80's. I remember my father worn perlon straps a lot. And I got one on my first wrist watch, a Timex (!), too. And I was very proud to wear this "indestructible" time piece during the 70's. ;) Best regards and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

About stitching. Phoenix straps which are the original Nato straps issued to MoD in UK, are ultrasonic welded. That means the parts are practically "atomized" one into another by using ultrasound waves, so is not just stitching. And Nato G10 is practically the original Phoenix and their Admiralty Grey is the official strap UK armed forced use. If you saw the new BOND black/grey strap on the SM300 in Spectre movie, (of course we all saw that) then look again at the Phoenix and see the exact same material and color nuances, they were identical. Phoenix is the secret supplier for many Swiss manufacturers for their OEM Nato straps. So, if you don't plan to spend $300 and put an Omega Nato strap on your Rolex Sub, then Phoenix black/grey is the right choice. Phoenix company owner is Mike Steward and they sell on ebay, user is mickie500 or something. I am not affiliated in anyway with them btw.

I met a retired sas soldier in Asia and he told me that you could spot a member of the regiment by how they wore their NATO strap. First it's either British admiralty grey or black. Next is the way they wore the strap. Instead of having the under strap snug against the bottom of the watch , it actually wrapped under the wrist for a cleaner profile. Oh and the watch would either be a rolex or omega and the lucky ones wore the Tudor or sub with the sword hour and minute hands. He had a issued sub with the sword hands with perfect patina and absolutely gorgeous. "Those who dare, , wins" cheers!

I think the holes are not glued. Nylon is made out of polyamide fibers if I'm not mistaken, it's just molten plastic. You can easily repair frayed edges by quickly applying some heat with a lighter ;)

The nato on the speedy really compliments the watch well.

The first watch in space was a Sturmanskie worn by Yuri Gagarin. The Sturmanskie (Navigator in Russian) was fabricated by the Poljot factory and wasn't initially sold to the public, it's sole purpose was to be given to pilots, astronauts and high patents in Russia. Now anyone can buy one, as I did quite recently and I'm very proud and happy to have one :)

I do love a good Nato Strap, they can match and contrast an outfit so easily, changing a watches personality in seconds. A favourite of mine is the real black, red and green Bond that Sean Connery wore in Goldfinger, I fell in love with it as a kid even it wasn't wide enough to fill the spring bar.

The intro is a killer. Great job, TGV.

I never really had much experience with NATO straps. Thx for the info 👍🏻😁

You definitely know your fashion, TGV! Nice straps and good coordination; it's amazing how just a strap could change the look and feel of a watch so much. I need to get a few for my speedy and seamaster, and you have given me some good ideas. thank you for the video

you have literally every video I need, I love this channel!

Thanks for the link to this website. I was tired of buying cheap NATO straps from eBay. Love these guys. Thumbs up to you and them.

Hey everyone, We just wanted to say thanks for the awesome support, and thanks to TGV for graciously reviewing our straps. We are blown away at the response thus far and hope to continue serving the watch community as we're truly watch enthusiasts ourselves (well, more like watch nerds ;) We also wanted to address a couple items that have come up in the responses below. As TGV mentioned, we're a new company and as you can imagine, our resources are limited so we launched with a few select styles and patterns. It is our goal to expand our collection in the near term so stay tuned! Also, we are working diligently to update our system to accept international orders. Unfortunately, we ran into some web development issues right before this video went live, but we expect to have the international order system up and running within a week. We're not here to make a ton of money. Our goal is to bring the watch community high quality and unique straps at affordable prices. We are watch strap-a-holics ourselves and want to be a bigger part of the community than may be typical for a watch strap company. Hence, our name includes the word "club". We have a lot of cool ideas (well, cool to us) but as mentioned our time and resources are limited. But please be patient with us as we continue evolving. For those that have placed orders, many thanks again and as we greatly value your feedback, we will be reaching out to a few of you to get your feedback. As mentioned above, we'll be continuously evolving as time goes by, and hope to continue serving the international watch community (in the words of Jeff McMahon). In the meantime, wear your watches in the best of health! Cheers, James @WCWC

These look great, I've been searching for quality NATO straps for a while now. Thanks TGV!

Great review of the G10 nato straps. I have a lot of experience with these due to being ex military. I find nato straps by Phoenix, Timefactors and Maratec thee best nato strap makers. Strong and built to last. There's so many makers of nato straps that doesn't cut the mustatd. Not all G10 Nato straps are the same buyers beware. Regards. Connell

are you sure the holes are clued? as it is nylon i'd assume they are rather been burned or melted by something hot, so when the holes start to deteriorate is think you could re-melt it by heating up a nail and applying it to the hole

Many thanks, great suggestions, especially about dressing down or up watch with suitable strap.

Great video and great advice about the glued holes to prevent fraying. The holes are actually not glued but cut out by a hot iron (the hot iron sort of frizzle the edges). I prefer wearing nato the 'down under method' when doing outdoor and sport. The watch sits more steadily, snugly and comfortably.

One of my favorite types of straps! as a surfer and sailor, leather strap doesn't fit well with the sea so i leave it to wear on the land I like using Nato straps on my Casio watches that have thermometer feature located near the back plate, because the warmth from my body interferes in the temperature sensor so I need to wait for about 20 minutes before I can read the ambient temperature accurately, the nylon strap being located between my wrist and the metal back plate solves that problem =)

Good video. I actually install my NATO straps backwards, because they seem to ride on my wrist better that way. Buckle to the bottom.

Just ordered the black/grey/orange NATO to go with my new Citizen Navihawk (black/orange) - they deliver to the UK now!!! thanks for the recommend

I must admit I've got zero ability or confidence in coordinating colors. As such I am eternally envious of your bold choices. Well done man.

Just received some NATO and perlon straps from wrist candy for my Seiko alpinist. The perlon doesn't look like much off the watch but is very comfortable on the wrist. Green strap looks surprisingly good . the NATO straps feel bulky and unwieldy to me . Don't think I'll be able to forget I'm wearing it. We shall see.

By far, my favorite intro

I recommend Watch Obsession UK it's a good place to get high-quality nato straps for around a tenner.

Just got the Seiko skx009 after doing research that mostly consisted of watching your videos, thanks!

Love your videos TGV! I'm a huge fan of your videos, and personally, I am a young watch enthusiast in my teens. Always look forward to your videos, especially when I'm a bit tired from studying.

Phoenix supply the MOD with their straps and have done so for around 30 years so in my opinion you cannot get any more authentic, quality is supurb too and you can buy them on Amazon.

Great vid. Love the various colors/styles! They really enable you to create entirely different looks and options to tweak your collection.

I wear NATO’s on most everything since they easily fit my 8.5” wrist. Wrist candy is great and so is Nato Strap co.

I enjoyed the video, and some other videos you have made. I'm your new subscriber... Love from Mexico/US

Blue Shark nylon nato straps are way much better than your recommended Wrist Candy nylon straps. Tried both of them and there is no comparison.

The red, gold, black striped NATO band is popular on Speedmasters because of the 007 series of movies. James Bond has always had the coolest and most stylish watches in film.

I just saw your video and ordered a grey NATO for my Black Bay. forgot to add a note to say your video brought me there. Keep up the great reviews.

The material on these looks really nice and soft compared to all of the other natos I've tried. I really like the hardware on the BluSharks.

The holes and edges are melted not glued. You are correct about it stopping the frays

TGV, just bought the WristCandy TGV tribute NATO. It's currently securing my 2006 Breitling Chrono Evolution 44 to my wrist. Looks great. Keep doing what you're doing.

You can pre-treat your soiled NATO straps with Clorox 2 Color Safe Bleach prior to washing, then it add to the washer as well an they’ll come out bright and clean again. Especially noticeable with the bright colors like the orange which I wear as well with my SKX.

Tip: if the tang holes aren't glued or if they start fraying, get a soldering iron with a needle tip, heat it up and CAREFULLY use it to melt the nylon a little. It'll bind the fibres and stop the fraying.

Just ordered two NATO straps from Wrist Candy. Thanks for your review.

Thanks so much for the great video. I knew nothing about Nato watchbands 2 days ago but you changed that...I feel very knowledgeable in fact...Thanks for all the info.

TGV, a little correction, the "glued" look is actually the result of laser-cutting. The heat melts the surrounding Nylon material thus the glued look.

AFAIK, and commensurate with the NATOs I own, the buckle holes are NOT glued. They are heat fused as are the ends of the strap. The worn and frayed strap you can be refreshed by poking the hole with a cheap electronics soldering pencil. If there are any stray strands coming out between the holes, rather than binning the strap, you can carefully pass a lighter close to the band. I have some cheap nylon stapes that have metal eyelets in the holes, but I have need seen a NATO with them

The NATO spec MOD watch to go with the strap specifies that the "Strap bars are to be inserted into holes drilled completely through the case lugs. The bars are to be hard soldered intoposition". This makes it even harder to lose the watch if the strap breaks as there are no weak spring bars. I have two CWC watches to this spec. Actually the case lugs on the 3 o'clock side are drilled right through but the 9 o'clock lugs are not. The lugs at 3 are visible if you look carefully.

You can fix that worn Zulu strap by pushing through the holes a metal rod, heated up to ~240°C. The metal rod (an Allen screw driver for example) has to fit very snug in the hole you want to repair. After this is done, trim the remaining frays around the hole (you can use the flame from a gas cigarette lighter, a normal one not the wind proof types). I suggest you try this process at first on a strap you no longer need. If the metal rod is to hot, you could end up enlarging too much the hole in the strap.

My timex weekender chronograph has a black leather nato strap. It works very well with that watch

Great selection of NATO straps. The squale and omega look fantastic!!

The price of the extra security is comfort. On many different NATO"s I have and tried, the extra ring digs into the wrist, or protrudes enough to cause discomfort from external contact. No trouble with that and ZULU straps. This is the reason Bertucci uses ZULU, and instead compensates for the security with welded lugs...the best of both worlds, keeping in mind, a true 'field watch' is ultimately a functional tool, and therefore, security already isn't an issue if you're using removable lugs, whereas 'fashion' is a priori rationale with a NATO. Even the British W10 issue has welded lugs.

I love Nato and Zulu straps. So man different colours and combinations of colours to choose. Buying NATO and swapping out straps gets addictive.

Thank you for the information on the NATO straps, Just placed an order. Also love the Glycine combat sub, a brand I was completely unaware of until your channel. Already saving money towards the purchase.

I bought a couple Nato straps from Wrist Candy, and while I do love them one has begun to fray (in-between the holes) after a month's use.

Great in depth video; thank you for showing us what to look out for in a quality band.

Speedy looks great on the striped nato, very envious!

what about NATO strap burns on the back of the watch from daily wear and tear?

So annoyed my Aquaracer has a 21mm lug size... Limits the heck out of options 😫

Need to buy a couple of natos now! THE ADDICTION CONTINUES!!!

I was hoping to hear some comments regarding the length, and since the straps I get are always 6-7 cm too long, what you can do to fit them, or what to do with the excess strap material.

thanks for the video TGV. Living in UK i could not buy Nato strap from your recommendation of wrist candy but i have found a good alternative. Sniper Bay. The straps have sewn in buckles and heat treated ends and strap holes and available from amazon at good price.

You can reseal the holes on that old zulu by just holding it to a lighter flame for a second and then pinch it between two fingers. I do it all the time on my old Nato/Zulu's.

Excellent channel let me start by saying. I was in the mind to get some Nato straps for my Seiko 5 7S36. I am happy to have seen this review when I did. I purchased 2 straps form WCWC. They are splendid! If supple can be a good adjective then these nylon straps are supple. They are thinner and lighter then I had imagine, supple yet very well made. Thank you for the review.

another superb video, love watching you faff adjusting there positioning on the desk top total o.c.d. love it !

Great opening teaser to your video blog!! Ive just gotten into watch collecting and having so much fun picking out NATO straps! Have a great day and holler form San Marcos, Texas!! PS thanks for the tips on color pop!! Us ladies love NATO straps too =) !!

Thank you, TGV. I seem to learn something every time I watch (see what I did there?) one of your vids. I did not know about these straps before today. After seeing this, I went ahead and bought a NATO "Bond" strap for my ultra-cheap Swiss Army Brand quartz. I'm hoping the colours of both the watch and the strap will really coalesce. If so, I will send you a pic, if you are interested. Cheers, J.

Ordered the navy blue NATO strap from Wrist Candy. Thank you for your recommendation!

I think the holes are made with a hot hole press/punch. This would melt the edges of the hole, sealing the nylon and prevent any fraying. (Same principle as whipping a nylon rope)

Hey Tristano, First of all I wanted to thank you for your great content that really helped me! So after long researching about a new beater watch, I am now planning to buy a Seiko SNZH55K1. Best regards, Thomas

The best thing to do to a NATO strap is to cut off the extra strap piece, to change it to a single pass through. I just put on a "bond type" NATO strap on my dive watch, after I cut off the extra strap piece. Single pass-through bond type straps are hard to find.

love the combinations♡

I wonder...if the holes are not secured, could you reinforce them by fusing the borders with a soldering iron?

I went straight to their site to shop. Great prices!

Great review, thanks for sharing. Based on your review I just ordered two nato straps. A "Bond" black and gray and a "vintage Bond" blue, green, red. I'll let you know how they do! Thanks again.

Really enjoyed the vid TGV, love your color choices too, you have a knack for picking just the right strap for the watch.

These look beautiful.

I have found from past experience that cheap NATO straps that have inferior metal fittings that will corrode quickly over time. If your buying NATO strap make sure it has stainless steel fittings.

FYI the 'glue' you suggested is applied to the holes, isn't glue, nor is it applied. It's merely a melting (a cauterizing if you will) of the nylon during the laser-cutting process.

Would be very nice if ytou would add the watches name in the description in your videos , often i see really beautifull watches in your videos , but its hard to tell or find out sometimes wich pieces they are , thanks and keep up the great work!

Thank you for the vid, it was really helpful as I was planning to change the strap on my Omega Speedy and my Squale