Crown and Buckle NATO Style Bands

[Outback in Idaho]

    Lowtech sent me a NATO style band a few years ago and it had survived well for the watch that was being used - a basic Casio solar watch. Yet I had been wanting one of them multi-sensor watches for many years and found a non-solar version at Walmart for $98 - so grabbed one on a good payday.



    The same thin band was a bit on the flimsy side for the heft of this watch... so decided to order a different NATO style watch online. After reading many a review Crown and Buckle kept being mentioned as a better alternative. So I ordered an HD version one night.

    That band came in today but I was in for a - it only had one band!


    Stupid me got in a big hurry and didn't read there were different versions of NATO bands there. Had assumed all NATO bands would be like the one I got from Lowtech.

    Did some reading and found the 3 rings, like what I ordered, had no secondary strap. Only the 5 ring version does, using heavier hardware + $2.50 more too. I cannot see why two buckles needs to hold the secondary band - so would probably end up cutting one off -  that is if do order a 5 ringed version.


    Oh well, least I have a band. Was actually browsing Walmart for Cat or Dog Collars (on the cheap) before resorting to ordering one online. Strange how a Cat or Dog collar, having more material, is cheaper than a watchband.

    Or perhaps I should of ordered one like this. like the thing NATO styled one I had originally.

[Outback in Idaho]

    Will be using the Crown and Buckle HD NATO strap a while, obviously. Have noticed the watch and even the Fitbit Charge HR like to move the outer side of my wrists instead of staying put on the center of my wrist. At one time I thought it was buckle positioning, guess that's just the way things go with wrist movement and gravity.





    In any case, I did notice one advantage with secondary flap in that it raised the Casio watch up off the wrist near the top of the watch some. Casio are not known for having very audible alarms/alerts.





    The HD NATO is much thicker and fills the Casio Adapters much better than the thin NATO band did. Will have to test the alarms & barometer alerts as they happen to see if the single strap will suffice, or of the raised portion of the secondary strap-flap would offer a more audible alarm/alert.

    Weather seems to be clearing up now and no projected storms for the next week so the barometric alarm(s) may not go off any time soon. 


    Thomas got back to me from Crown and Buckle and we had a small email discussion. So I now know one version of why the secondary strap was added. Besides of what I found about the audible alarm/alerts.

That's great information. The insight on the alarms and alerts is not something I had considered.
  The original design for the second layer of the NATO strap was indeed to keep the watch from sliding down the strap. As I understand it, pilots used to hang their watches on pegs on the wall in their barracks. The watches would slide down the strap and fall.
  On modern watches that usually isn't an issue. Spring bars are usually much closer to the watch, and friction alone provides plenty of resistance to the watch moving on the strap. However, adapters like the ones on your Casio are usually different -- they don't have a spring bar, and they usually sit underneath the base of the watch, which means the strap isn't curved/bent around the bars at all. That makes it easy for it to slide up and down.
  These days, it's more of a personal choice on whether someone likes the added bulk of a 5-ring strap or not.

- Xelkos

[Grant Lamontagne]

I have the one with the secondary strap on my Pebble and I find that it vibrates rather than chiming I miss a lot of messages because the secondary strap deaden the vibe.

I still prefer it to the rubber strap it came with though.

Def