We talk a lot about watches, but very rarely about the easiest way to dress them up or down – straps. With that in mind, I’d like to introduce you to Cincy Strap Co., a husband/wife team in Ohio, who are continuously improving the quality of their NATO, RAF, and Mil-spec straps. Sure, it’s just bits of nylon, but baby, let’s let bygones by bygones. It’s strap time!
The seatbelt strap is commonly thought of as having started with the Omega black-grey bond watch style. It’s a soft, fine weave, and was great in the Omega iteration — at an eye-watering price of around 200 USD. Fortunately, Cincy Strap Co. has them for $24 USD, making them an excellent deal. The hardware is excellent, and features square loops and a flat buckle, in either brushed, polished, or PVD black stainless steel. One of the key details that makes a Cincy Strap Co strap worth it is, the stitching and heat-sealed edges have never scratched the inside of my wrist, unlike some other straps I’ve tried.
The straps themselves are available in a wide range of colors, whether it’s orange and black, gray, gray and black, black and white, a MN style green with yellow stripe, and much, much more. As mentioned before, there’s continued refinement on the hardware portion of the strap, with slightly beefier keepers, better squared corners, and a slightly thicker buckle, all making for a higher-quality strap.
Sometimes, I find myself wanting a pull-through strap, one that doesn’t have the extra fabric and loop that retains a watch head if one spring bar should fail. For this, Cincy Strap Co. takes requests: when you order, tell them in the notes that you’d like them to trim it to an RAF style, and they’ll trim the extra flap and seal the end, making it so much better than your basic Timex Weekender. Check them out at cincystrapco.com
