Can a strap save your watch? Show the pics!

[Gargamel35]

You have a watch. You liked it at first but slowly you lost interest in it. Somehow you didn't bond with it and you don't wear it anymore. Can a new strap "save" it? Makes the watch more comfortable, better looking and reignite your passion towards it? Show me your examples: Watch with a standard factory strap (nay) and the same watch with your favorite strap combo (yay!).

My example is blue Orient Ray.

Stock plastic black strap was not good.
I tried with brown leather strap...also didn't like it and it was too short.
Then couple natos: nothing special, looked cheap. Wife hated it:


I lost interest in this watch and wanted to sell it. But then i gave it a last chance and bought a blue leather strap with brown edge. It transformed the watch completely and is my favorite blue combo i have!

[woiter]

This basically applies to all the seikos i have. The stock strap/bracelet is rubbish, but throw on a nice eulit perlon, hirsh leather, or strapcode bracelet and it just looks and feels much better.

Keep in mind this was always the plan. I wish seiko would stop including rubbish straps and just sell the watch head by itself...

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk

[Gunnar_917]

Did this to my IWC, strap makes a world of a difference to make the watch less boring

[fetasigma]

This applies to all vostoks, much better with anything other than stock

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

[gossler]

I have had this exact experience!!
TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre 1
It came with both rubber and croc straps, neither of which made the watch look that good to me.

I don’t know if it was the lack of contrast between the black strap and black dial, but I never really bonded with the watch.

A few years later I purchased a TH Carrera Calibre 36 and came with both croc strap and steel bracelet. So I tried the bracelet on the Calibre 1 and absolutely fell in love with it. The Bracelet made the watch much better looking!
Stock foto from google

My Calibre 1

[Time Exposure]

I found a strap that transformed a watch and makes me want to wear it, but my circumstance differs from the OP.
I have an Elgin A11 wristwatch, circa WWII, that I raided from my grandfather's box of watches in the 1980's. He had it on an aftermarket Speidel metal expansion bracelet that just looked horrible. Problem was, I didn't have any straps that suited the watch. And whatever original strap it came with was long gone. Being an heirloom, I kept the watch in the safe.
Fast forward to early this year, I began searching for a contemporary watch in the A11 style (the MkII Cruxible came close but I chose a Hamilton Khaki Pioneer instead). While searching for a watch, I also searched for a strap that better matched the vintage Elgin. On eBay I found a green canvas two-piece strap that really makes the tiny (32mm) watch look "right." Since I haven't had the watch serviced in over 30 years it is at the watchmaker's now. I can't wait to wear it, even if it looks like a child's watch on my 7.5" wrist.

[TwentiethCenturyFox]

Not save but enhance!

[Synequano]

This one,couldn’t get the right brown until I came across this strap

[MJD999]

Oris Big Crown Propilot looked dull with the original strap. Almost sold it before trying this brown one. Transformed the watch IMHO.