What we do and why?
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 as the watch.
That experience stung a bit more than I realized. But it also sent me on a journey to find what I considered a "proper fabric strap" for any tool watch. Be it a Chinese watch for the user looking for a price point (and very often a better-quality watch that expected) or my 5 digit, now neo-vintage 16800, 14060M or 16610 Sub, all bought new from my old AD or @ duty free in a European airport.
The strap shown on the Tudor Ultra below was my first venture into making a better strap. I knew what suited me, but I also was learning what others didn't like about my first designs. I've learned a lot since that first strap. Still the basics were there at the beginning. Which are: good webbing, good buckle and seriously tight fabric keepers.
What I needed to do better up front was a much better buckle and tongue. Then eliminate any spring bar or a screw in pin to attach buckle to strap, a better keeper, or two depending on the strap length required and finally the proper sizing for the strap and the resulting adjustment holes.
First I needed to start my production with exceptional fabric strapping. It needs some hand. But I didn't want it too stiff. It needs to be soft but not too soft. It simply needs to be a "Goldilocks" fabric. Then, cost no object, you build on the basics. The best buckle offerings, the best keepers all properly sized and placed.
I good strap is a piece of engineering. But it isn't art, it is common sense. It needs to be strong. But it needs to fail before your wrist or arm are injured if caught on something that could damage you physically. So, we start with breaking strength testing of the webbing, then the buckle and tongue. Losing a expensive watch, or any watch, is one thing. Losing a hand or arm is something totally different.
Losing a watch because a .05 cent buckle or tongue failed (as I have) is simply bad business and worse yet, terrible design work. This is a brand-new buckle from a well know maker that fails every time with just finger pressure. I trusted my watches for literally decades to these straps. And I lost a watch off my wrist twice in those years because of their .05 cent (or less very likely) buckle and tongue that I had foolishly trusted, no questions asked. Just one of the reasons I am building straps. A lot to be admired about this strap or I wouldn't have used it for so long. But sadly, the buckle is terrible, which makes the rest of the strap.."terrible" and worse yet, unreliable.
My R&D is 40+ years wearing a tool watch as intended. And just some of the dozens of straps I've found lacking over the years.
I have a lot of hobbies, some advocations. Everyone is gear intensive. Even if all that is required are ear plugs, a swimsuit and a watch.
The best gear, IMO, is gear you pick up to use for the intended purpose and never, ever, think about it again, until you put it down and then it away for the next time.
That is the strap I built for myself. If I didn't like it I wouldn't bother selling them. I hope you trust me at least enough to try one. You can make your own decision once you have one in hand. This business will only grow if the straps I design are as good as YOU think they are.
"If you know, you know" is not a sales slogan here. The saying has been around a long, long time.
If you have the need for a better strap, "you already know".
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