Wtf I discovered your channel with knives and now I rediscover it while searching for watch straps. I see you are a man of culture as well. You sir, deserve a subscription.
"Spring-a-tude" :-) cracked me up. I bought 2 a couple years ago and I'm considering getting a 3rd. I got mine with the printed numbers and I love the look. They are easily my favorite cloth type straps I've tried. Fantastic comfort but what I like best about them is the way when adjusted perfectly the watch sits atop the wrist flat and perfectly centered and never wants to tip off the outside of wrist or slide up and down. Just stays put nicely. Also as your wrists swells or shrinks throughout the day you can easily micro adjust while on wrist.
A good strap can make an unwearable or clumsy watch fit really well. That is the case with this and that is why I spent the money to buy one. It is not for everyone but if it is for you then it is worth it. Holbein's sells them in US, fyi. That is where I bought mine.
Nick, Holben’s Fine Watch Bands carry Erika’s Originals and many other fine leather bands like ColaReb. They’re in Washington near Seattle, they sell them for $80, and they ship much faster. I have purchased many bands from Holben’s over the years, they’re a great shop.
Erikas Originals are €75,00, or $89 U.S. dollars. They are quality straps, but the Watch Steward makes a very similar watch strap, manufactures them in the US of A, and they're quite a bit less expensive, $24.99 and well, that's a beautiful thing! Always love your reviews! A little late to the party for this one, but as usual, very informative and enjoyable! Thanks!
Actually, Erika will make you one for fixed lugs if asked. She has 2 options available. No extra charge. I have 3 so far and love them. One is for my CWC with fixed lugs.
I bought one of these from Holben’s and it came in 3 days from the other side of the US. These straps don’t have to take forever if you don’t want a highly customized one.
Might just buy it from there. Wanted a trident sand with Canada flag but fuck it, I'll take it without and if I really like the strap, I'll buy more and cuztom later.
Btw. A few days ago I ordered 2 knock-off straps from Aliexpress Price for 2 pieces together for 14 $ including shipping costs from China to Germany. I'm curious how the quality is .. 🧐 By the way, Erika is from the Netherlands!
Update, straps have arrived, delivery time to Germany approx. Three weeks. Assembly is a bit fiddly, but overall feels good / 2 pieces € 14 including shipping Regards
Nick Mankey Designs, Hawkrigger, and Watch Steward all make comparable products for about half the price of Erika's Originals (now roughly 100 USD apeice shipped), with some differences in hardware and the rigidity of the elastic. Hawkrigger's version has a really interesting closure/buckle design, too.
Damn, that's insane for a strap. If you're not spending high-end mechanical money on the watch itself, I'd think some factory making a similar design for mass-production money would be better.
Yeah its a bit finiky at first but I love it on my paratrooper straps. Also I like these and the paratroopers cause you can get a perfect fitting. I love that.
I tried 'em. Don't like 'em. Two problems I had. Size-I have a small wrist so the total length is important. I had to have the clasp on top of the wrist and looked bad plus you can only shorten them so far. Once the buckle female part hits the watch head, you're done. I have arthritis and trying to hook the thing is fiddley and difficult for me. A better solution I found was regular, pass-through natos, with buckle and holes...that are stretchy! Just as comfortable without the fit or buckle issues. p.s. I agree, dislike regular natos, though the Blue Shark two-piece nylon ones with quick release pins are tops!
just bought one for my Seiko Street Blue prospex but realised too late that I like changing the strap to G10's and it naffs me off having to change the spring bars . .
I shared the same dislike for NATO straps as you until I tried straps made by Spring Made, which use a infinite adjustment system. Any chance you might try one out for a review?
Whatever you do, don't buy an Erika's strap before picking up a similar strap from B&R for one third of the price. I made that mistake and felt hoodwinked. There's almost no justification to pay nearly $100 for a bit of stretchy nylon. Some MN straps are absolute garbage - like what you get from Amazon for $10 - but companies like Watch Gecko/Zuludiver and the aforementioned B&R sell virtually the same strap as Erika for under $30.
I buy mine and the paratrooper version from cheapestnato and not had a proplem with them. There comfortable enough that I wore on for 2 months straight without taking it off and the only issue was salt stains on the inside of the strap from sweat. That was easy enough to wash out and they are only 15 to 20 bucks there. Much cheaper if you buy more than 5 at a time.
Shoutout to Froskemann watch straps, which are similar but have a slightly different clasp. I own a couple of them and prefer them to Erika’s. Check them out!
Bought one from China, quality is great, I'm pretty sure the material of the original strap came from China too. Would love to have the MN logo on the buckle but it's for my Casio Duro, the Erika strap costs twice the watch, so thanks but no 😀
Nicky. My nato saved my watch the other day. So they are worth it. I was moving to a new place and my watched James hard in doorway while carrying something. One pin bent and gave out. The other held the watch. I honestly didn’t know it broke till I looked down at wrist after putting furniture in truck. Glad to save my watch from a fall on concrete
If you can find the aparent quality of this in a paratrooper strap IMO the paratrooper is simpiler, you don't need to remove the spring bars, and its made with the same type of materials and just as comfortable. The loose material you get under the strap seems like it would be janky but it starys in place without a keeper and is still supercomftable IMO on my 8.6 inch wrist. If your in doubt try one from cheapestnatostraps (in quit a few colors and patterns) to give on a try for like 15 bucks. I do have a couple of MNstraps and I like them but I like the even more simplicity in the single pass Paratrooper.
I was put off by the price so tried a cheap immitation that wasn't very comfortable, too elastic. Everyone says these are very comfortable so perhaps I need to try the real thing.
Having to remove the spring bars for a nato style strap is a non-starter. Be able to switch straps to fit your mood is one of the main attractions to all of the color variations of a nato. At any rate, another solid review. Thanks Nick!
Look for a paratrooper strap then. Its made out of the same material and metal work but you can slip it through spring bars but threading out the clasp and then threading it back on. The buckle is still sticked on but thats not a worry.
the price is an issue.. i have a few of them, but not the originals, from some other companys, all in good quality, what shut i say: i freaking love this straps. comfort and security is unmached. and, if you dig a little, they also have a nice heritage ;)
Had one of these, and the strap would constantly slip and listen over the day. So, you’re constantly tightening it up to keep the watch from flopping around. Not with the $75 or so I paid back then. Maybe they are better now, but not at the inflated prices. Also, CNS straps make the same thing for about $8.😂
How ruff are you with your watches? I've only ever had one fail when pushing bush when the watch got snaged on a tree branch. Then again these are military type bands so in that kind of evironment maybe its more comon?
i am 60+. Exactly once in my life. I was still a child and I had dismantled the strap shortly before. after I reassembled the strap there was one! Regards from Berlin.. ;-) Really, that's the truth...
Ahh, the fragrant aroma of a watch strap worn for a hot summer weekend. These things remind me of high school Timex straps that need regular toothbrush and dishsoap scrubbing to remain hygienic. Brushed stainless still needs the treatment, but doesn't reek like a gymsock after a couple of days in the heat. Too Ikea/kiddy for my taste.
Unless you really really love the M+N logo and the hardware style, there is literally no reason to pay $15 shipping and $75 for the strap. You can get the same exact product from the watch steward and tons of great straps from crown and buckle, the chevron strap is exactly the same as this without the dumb price and just as elegant, with slimmer hardware.
I ordered 3 from aliexpress. Why would anyone pay usd 80, when aliexpress sells them for usd3 per piece. Yes. They are the same thing, except free of any 'brand' name. I'm wearing one now on a seiko spb147 and it is glorious.
You really can't argue with that thickness, especially when you compare it against traditional NATOs. That might go out the window if you pair it with mechanical dive watch, but if you save yourself a half millimeter at the end of the day that's a little less nuisance in your life with chunky timepieces like that.
Strictly my biased opinion: nylon straps look cheap. I don't think I would like to wear it on a multi thousand dollar watch. For that price, I would not like to buy it for a cheaper watch. But if it provides buoyancy to your water craft, more power to you.
Great straps... not-so-great prices. $100+ for a single strap? Yeah... no, thanks. You can find comparable straps at much more reasonable prices ($10-30) at places like www.cheapnatostraps.com and www.thewatchsteward.com. As JAMaxe Restoration below also pointed out: What insane profit margin is she making off each strap? It's a bit of fabric and three bits of metal, for chrissakes.
Erika's strap are straight out rip offs. An elastic band, 3 pieces of hardware and some pretty bad stitching. 75eur, really? Got some Chinese parachute straps from ebay at 5-10usd a piece. Same quality.
OMG, totally! Pulling your phone out of your pocket every time you want to check the time is SUPER easy and buckles are just sooo complicated. You wear velcro shoes and sweatpants everywhere too, right? Way easier than laces, zippers and buttons. In fact, I'm thinking of switching to a mumu from sweatpants, it is just so much easier. No more getting confused by which leg goes into which hole!
12:56 "an organization to protect north atlantic"..whaaaaatt...Once again americans show how little do they know about world around them. To make long story short, its an political and military alliance consisting of thirty countries.
