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Your Spring bars or fixed bars?

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 I've be able to examine some really nice tool watches recently and have been overwhelmingly disappointing by the spring bars used.  With our horses the saying goes, "no hoof, no horse".  Which means if a horse can't walk on his feet, he isn't a horse you are going to be using.   The future seems pretty bleak in most every micro brand watches I've seen originating in China that costs under $2000.  There are few noticeable exceptions no matter how "tactical" the maker's claims.   The bleak part is most use a shouldered spring bar, when a shoulderless version has a much better survival rate, if you are doing odd things like jumping out of a perfectly good airplane or looking for other ways to reach Terra Ferma quickly.   I generally have high quality, Rolex sized, stainless steel spring bars in stock.  20mm x 2mm x 1.2mm @ a shocking $15.00 price per pair, plus $2.00 shipping.  (please, one pair per customer as these a tough to g...
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The "Go-To" strap?

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  It is called the "Go To" strap because I got tired of buying overpriced straps, with some silly ass story line, that are considered junk in my environment.  Or may be even more painful, an inexpensive strap that fails in use. I hand build these straps for myself first. And now I am offering a limited number of them for sale. I own and have tried any number of straps. I have not been satisfied. This is my answer to a RAF style strap. They are 10.2" long and have a very tight, hand fit, keeper. The webbing is a ribbed nylon that I picked out specifically for my own use. The buckle is one-piece, stainless steel. There are no spring bars. All the buckle's corners are rounded and edges melted. The tongue is heavy for size, and rolled tightly around the buckle's solid bar. I spare no expense or time building these straps one at a time. You get what I make for myself. It may not be the answer for everyone. But it doesn't have to be. For my own use, it is the best ...
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How to sort a RAF strap quickly and make it more user friendly?

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" A high-quality strap is one of the most important components of an exceptional wristwatch. It’s a quintessential part of the modern wristwatch and not something that should be left as an afterthought." from the Tudor website Nov 24, 2022 Simple ways I have found to do a faster break in for your ribbed nylon and make any RAF more user friendly? I'm a big fan of the ribbed nylon.  But I have yet to find any fabric perfect for my own use.  Here are a couple of things I have been doing that you might find interesting or even useful. The first one is when new the nylon, seemingly any nylon, is stiffer than it could be after some use. I have no patience, so I spray mine with rubbing alcohol on my first wear. I used to just wash them by hand with dish washing soap, but the water takes longer to dry and I don't think it gets the nylon as soft as it could be with just one wash.  If I were to guess from my own experience, I bet the alcohol softens them faster (dissolving some...
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Products and payment?

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 Payment can be made via Venmo,  Zelle (either are prefered),  but PayPal or a personal check (are always acceptable). My apologies, currently,  US sales only, due to our current administration's tariff policies.  This is the only strap I offer, and my personal "Go-To" strap.  Take a look at the details of the "Go-To" strap in another post here on the Tool Watch blog.   The "Go-To" strap is $45.00 which includes USPS 1st Class mailing.   I generally stock, 20mm and 22mm sizes in black, OD green, khaki (brown) and dark grey.  You can email me with an order.  Please specify width and color preference.  Email is:  rdburns@cnw.com OD green on a Tudor FXD lt grey color shown below 22mm Go-To, in lt grey, on a Tudor Ultra.  My wrist size is 7.5'.   Maximum wrist size?  8".   Overall length of the Go-To  strap, with buckle is 10.25" +/-.   Some of the colors I generally have avai...
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What we do and why?

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  After 40+ years of wearing various Rolex Submariners, from a 1680, 16800 to a 16610 in every environment I could imagine, I finally found an environment where a stainless (and then a titanium bracelet on a Tudor)  simply was no longer comfortable.  So of course, my lovely wife wanted to move there.  Who was I to argue? 10 years later while raising horses and growing hay I have gone through pretty much every boutique fabric strap I could buy to be comfortable with the occasional 115F summer temps and the -30 winters.   It might be a strap off Amazon straight out of China, a tool watch strap from Canada or a hand made strap from England or France.  It hasn't seemed to matter on where or what the pricing is.  Something, some little detail was always missing.  The Tudor FXD has gained the name of a "strap monster" for good reason.  Enough so  that my first FXD was sold simply because I couldn't find a strap that was the same quality a...
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