These are replica cuff type straps or bands for a WW1 era fixed wire lug Military, Trench, or Officers, watch. Because the lugs on these watches are only 10mm or so wide, they often get fitted with narrow bands of leather or ladies straps, which look completely wrong and ruin the appearance of the watch. These two piece cuff straps are replicas of period military pieces. They look good and chunky on the wrist, and show off your vintage timepiece at its best. No mans' fixed lug watch looks right without one of these style of straps. I wanted a strap like this so that I could wear my grandfather's 1918 silver Rolex watch but I couldn't find any of satisfactory design and quality, so I had some made!
The Two Basic Designs
Two Basic Designs
There are two basic designs, each made of top quality double sided leather with white metal buckles as standard. Gold plated buckles can be supplied to special order at no extra cost. The Type A design has straight sides and the back piece is 25mm or one inch wide all the way along. The Type B design is about 35mm wide before flaring out to a wider section of about 40mm diameter behind the watch, with a notch for the crown. This size of the Type B design suits watches of diameters around 33mm to 37mm best. I can also supply two larger sizes of the Type B strap that suit watches of (1) 40mm to 45mm and (2) 45mm to 50mm.
Special Orders and G10 replacement
In addition to these stock straps, I have also been asked to make some special straps to customers own specific requirements, and also straps for wrist compasses. I am always happy to try and help customers achieve what they want for their vintage watches - just drop me a line with your idea, and I will let you know if it can be done. The price is the same as for one of my stock straps, and will be well worth it if you have a specific strap design in mind that you just can't find. If you have a NATO G10 style watch with fixed bars, or a watch with spring bars, then I can supply bund style straps, with open ended inner straps which will fit to the bars - the standard one-piece inner strap won't fit between the fixed / spring bars and the case. I can also supply a full leather direct replacement for nylon G10 straps at £10.
Leather Colours
Both types of strap are available in:
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Most of these colours are illustrated in the picture on the right, and there are more pictures showing the different leathers on the pictures page. If you want a colour I haven't illustrated, please ask - I can supply red, yellow, blue, white etc as well!
Strap / Band Width
The narrow strap, or band, that loops through the lugs on the watch I try to always keep in stock in 10mm an 12mm widths. I can also supply 14mm, 16mm, 18mm, 20mm etc. wide straps to order, which takes a couple of weeks, but if you need one it is well worth the wait!
The standard Type A design does not look right with straps larger than 16mm, but I can supply wider Type A style, i.e. straight, back pieces in 35mm and 41mm widths which will take wider straps. As I mentioned above the Type B back piece is also available in bigger sizes which will also take wider straps, although the standard Type B back piece can easily accommodate 20mm widths. I you have a watch that none of these options suits, then get in touch; I can always come up with something - try me!
To find out what width of strap you need, either carefully measure the inside width of the lugs on your watch, or cut a strip of paper so that it just slides through the lugs, and then measure the width of the strip. Remember that I can only supply straps in even numbers i.e. 10mm, 12mm etc.
Strap / Band Lengths
The length of each strap is adjustable between about 190mm and 215mm, but the fit depends on how chunky your watch is, because of the way the strap loops through the lugs. The watch I am wearing in the photos has 10mm fixed lugs and is 35mm diameter, excluding lugs and crown. My wrist measures just over 7" around, and with the strap comfortably loose and the leather still stiff from being new, I have two more holes and about an inch of adjustment left, so I reckon as supplied they would fit wrists measuring up to about 8½" around, and there is also space for another hole.
Double Slot Strap Model
Single or Double Slots
I came across this picture of a watch with a strap that had closely spaced double slots so that the thinner strap ran on the outside of the backpiece over most of the circumference. I liked the somehow more rugged appearance of this strap so I have now had some more cutters made to reproduce this appearance, and also sourced some tan morocco leather like on the strap shown. You can see my version of this strap on the "Pictures" page fitted to an early Omega. This design can only be made for 10mm, 12mm and 14mm straps due to limitations in the cutters
Wrist Compass Straps
I have recently supplied an adaptation of a Type B strap without the winding crown notch for a World War One era wrist compass. You can see this wrist compass fitted to the strap on the customers' pictures page. If you have similar project in mind, then please contac me - I am always happy to help on something out of the ordinary.
Wrist Strap for Pocket Watch
Wrist Straps for Pocket Watches
I have recently been asked if I can supply wrist straps for pocket watches like the one used by the Captain in the North Staffordshire Regiment referred to on the History page. At the moment I have nothing like this available. I would need to get at least two cutters made, and a mould to form the cup. This would be quite a capital investment as the cutters and mould are expensive to make, so at the moment I don't have any plans to go ahead. However, if you are interested in one of these straps, then do let me know and I will add your name to the list. If I get enough interest then I will go ahead with the cutters and mould.
Prices and Postage
Please bear in mind that after a lot of searching in 2004, I paid a London dealer £48 for a similar strap so that I could wear my grandfather's silver Rolex. I thought the price was OK because I had been searching for ages and had had difficulty finding this kind of strap, and the quality was good, but I wasn't happy with the design - it had been put together with a narrow strap on a modern back piece which only went half way around the wrist, leaving half a wrist of narrow strap alone. I wasn't happy with it, so I sold it on eBay. It didn't look half as as good as these, which is why I had them made!
Each strap costs £25 UK Sterling. Remember these straps are made to my specifications in small quantities, so are bound to be more expensive than the mass-produced items you can find in your local watch repair shop. But you can't get straps like these in your local watch repair shop, and they do look great, even if I say so myself! Because they are made in small quantities they are bound to be expensive compared to mass produced items, but the price is a fair reflection of the cost of producing, selling, packing, shipping, and my time, and I am sure you will agree that it is worth it to get a good looking, high quality, strap to set off your vintage timepiece.
Packing and postage within the UK is £1 UK Sterling for any number of straps by Royal Mail First Class post - one to two days delivery. International packing and postage by Royal Mail Air Mail is £2 UK Sterling for any number of straps. This normally takes about two days to Europe, and about five days to the rest of the world.
The easiest way to pay is by PayPal, particularly if you want to use a currency other than Sterling, but let me know if you prefer to use another method. You can email me at You don't need to copy the email address, just click on it. I look forward to hearing from you!
Regards - David
eBay Link
If I have an eBay sale going, you can use one of the links below to make your purchase via eBay. (NB: If you are using Firefox with AdBlock, you won't see the link unless you turn off AdBlock.) Please use this link to email me: to make sure I have the strap you want in stock before pressing "Buy It Now" otherwise there may be a delay while we make one for you.
Link to all eBay Listings
This link takes you to all my eBay listings. It is rather simple, but it is the best that eBay.co.uk could come up with.
Link to eBay.com Listings
This is a rather more sophisticated live link to any listings I currently have on eBay.com:
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