Nothing speaks 'I have taste' louder than wearing a watch which resonates with your personality. Soon that unassuming small piece of metal becomes a part of the personality it first set out to express. And like every sane human being we want to preserve what we cherish and also add further differentiation to it without hurting what we spent our hard earned on. This is where aftermarket watch straps come in.
The first question that should pop in your mind if anyone asked you to get an aftermarket strap for your watch is 'why should I?', and that's a valid question. You paid for the whole watch and that always includes the strap or bracelet. But there is a very compelling argument to be made for why you absolutely should look for an aftermarket strap for your watch.
Reason 1
It preserves the value of your watch - Watch are some of those rare products which can come as cheap as 1000 rupees and as eye watering as multiple crores. And naturally the fastening equipment it comes with, may it be a strap or especially bracelet are a big part part of the watches' costs. Replacing the original strap or bracelet is a good way to be able to wear your watch daily with a relatively free state of mind as you know that the factory bracelet is safe at home and in pristine condition.
Reason 2
Opens the door for wider range of looks - Visually, the strap makes the majority of what is seen on your wrist therefore hugely alters the look of your watch when seen from a distance. One can take advantage of this fact and can either match the strap to the watch or to their outfit or can even randomly choose what they would like to see on their wrist. NATO and elastic straps (Also called parachute style straps), by far gives the most options to choose from.
Reason 3
Can increase wearability and comfort - Its not uncommon to see people who love to wear their watch but the leather strap it came with, reacts with their sweat and starts to smell and in many cases causes allergies and even infections. Or watches with bracelets catches arm hair and then painfully keeps on ripping them. Not a comfortable situation if you ask me. By changing the strap to perhaps a nato strap, one can avoid the allergies and irritation caused by leather and the pain of arm hair ripping constantly by that beautiful metal bracelet.
Reason 4
Protects your watch - Watch straps are strong and watches themselves are light so the risk of the watch strap snapping or failing on you is near to nothing. But there is one part that is NOT very strong and is prone to failure. Spring bars are tiny rods that connect the strap to the watch. every watch has two of them fixed between the lugs. If either one of those two spring bar fails the watch will simply fall off of your wrist. Best case scenario, it falls on the ground while you stand. Nato and parachute straps have a beautiful way of working around this problem. They both pass through both the spring bars so even if one spring bar fails the watch will still dangle with one spring bar making sure to give you an opportunity to secure your watch.
These are just four of the many reasons to get an after market watch strap. Once you get one for yourself, chances are you'll discover some new advantage that works for your situation. So give it a shot. We here at silverbezel have a wide variety of high quality leather, parachute and nato straps for you to give a go and explore this new realm of horology.