Watch straps attach a watch to your wrist, so they're both important in terms of day-to-day use and also have a big impact on the aesthetic of a watch. There are lots of different types available in a range of materials, styles and colours.
Depending on what type of watch you wear, what you use it for and the look you prefer, a certain type of strap may be more suitable. Watch straps also tend to be much cheaper than watches themselves, so changing the strap can be a nice way to change the look of the watch on your wrist.
Watch straps tend to come under three general categories; fabric, leather and rubber. Below we go through some of the more popular types within each category.
Note that this article focuses on watch straps, where generally you may see straps/bands made of softer materials like fabric referred to as 'straps' and harder metal bands referred to as 'bracelets'. Watch 'band' might be used to refer to just metal bands or to both softer and harder materials.
If you're more interested in metal watch bracelets, where there's a range of bracelets made up of chains of links/meshes of metal such as stainless steel, see our article on watch bracelet types to learn more about them.
Watch strap sizes
Watch straps are attached to watch cases either directly or using lugs, which would allow the strap to be changed more easily.
If attached directly you tend to be limited to the straps available for that particular watch. Where lugs are used there's a wide range of straps available. For this, the space between the lugs is important as it affects which straps can be attached to it. You need to make sure a particular watch strap fits the lug of your watch. See our article on watch lugs to learn more about them.
Fabric watch straps
Fabric watch straps are made up of interlocking fibres of a particular material such as nylon. They're durable, lightweight and come in a range of colours. This type of material tends to absorb water, so can smell a bit if not cleaned often/after exercise.
NATO strap
NATO watch straps are a popular type of fabric strap typically made of nylon. They're based on a design originally issued to soldiers in the British Army in the 1970s. This design tended to have fixed bars on the watch lugs rather than detachable spring bars, so the design is made up of one piece of material that goes through the watch lugs rather than two parts that would attach/detach on each side.
The name 'NATO' comes from when early versions of this strap were sold, where when the Cold War ended these straps were sold in military surplus stores and had a NATO stock number. It was around this time that they started becoming a fashionable watch type. Early NATO straps were grey, but now you can get them in a range of colours, often with designs that have one or two bright coloured stripes along them.
The way this strap attaches to the case/your wrist can be tricky to visualise and there are a few variations of it. Generally speaking, there are two layers of the strap between the case and your wrist. The first goes beneath the spring bars and behind the back of the watch case, and the second goes behind the spring bars/watch case. This type of strap has the added benefit that if the lug/bar on one side breaks the watch would still be attached to your wrist, although the case/lug would likely need repair in this scenario.
Perlon
Perlon watch straps are a fabric design that was launched in the 1950s and peaked in popularity around the 1960s/1970s in Europe, so they're not as popular today. They're typically made of nylon like a NATO strap, but rather than using a strip of material the nylon is woven into thick threads and these threads are then weaved together to form the perlon strap. This makes the weaves you see on the strap very thick, making the texture more visible and the strap thicker.
An interesting feature of perlon straps is that it unlike many other types that use buckles, it doesn't have holes stamped in it. Instead, the buckle can be put through any of the openings on the strap, making this useful if you find that other types don't fit your wrist properly. The gaps in-between weaves also makes it quite breathable.
Leather watch straps
Leather watch straps are fairly comfortable, durable, not too heavy and can have a range of colours/textures. They tend to have a classic/elegant look to them.
Generally leather straps aren't water proof, so you'd tend not to wear them with a dive watch for example. Similar to fabric straps they can absorb water and so smell if not cleaned for a while/after exercise. You can get leather straps coated in waterproof materials to make them more resistant. They also tend to be harder to clean than fabric straps, so you may want to be particularly careful to avoid getting non-water-resistant ones wet.
Regular leather straps
A regular leather strap is a fairly broad type, typically consisting of two parts attached to the watch case using lugs with lots of varying looks to them. They come in a range of colours and might be quite plain or have a design stitched into them.
Rally straps
Rally watch straps are a type of leather strap inspired by motorsport racing in the 1960s, where at the time parts of the cars had holes cut in them to decrease their weight. This gave the cars a certain aesthetic where the frame, seats, pedals, etc. often had these holes in them.
Rally straps have a similar aesthetic where they have circular holes cut in them, typically with three large holes on each strap and sometimes with other smaller ones around them. The version with just three large holes might be referred to as a rally strap and the version with three large holes and smaller ones around them or just lots of smaller holes might be referred to instead as a perforated strap or perforated rally strap. This type of strap is often worn with chronographs, in particular vintage ones as they tend to have a similar aesthetic.
If you wear one of these today it has the benefit of being lighter and cooler than other leather straps. The reason why these holes were originally added isn't really certain, where some say it was to decrease the weight similar to with cars at the time and others say it was to make the strap cooler on the wrist, as drivers would have gotten very hot. It might have been a bit of both.
Aviator/pilot straps
Aviator/pilot watch straps are a type of leather strap often worn with pilot watches, a simple military-esque designed watch. They're based on a design originally issued to German pilots in World War II, where they were worn over the pilots' jackets.
More recent versions of aviator straps have shorter straps but still have a similar aesthetic, with features such as metal rivets beside the lugs to prevent the watch/strap sliding off the wrist and strong tapering close to the watch case, where the band gets wider quite close to the case.
Bund straps
Bund watch straps are similar to aviator/pilot straps and were created around the same time, but they have an extra part to them, a leather pad on the back of the watch case. This type of watch strap was most popular in the 1970s.
This type of strap may consist of three pieces, the two straps and the pad with the pad having a loop at both ends that the bands go through, or you may also get it as one piece of leather with the two bands and the pad attached together. The version with three pieces might have less tapering than an aviator/pilot strap so that the loops on the pad fit around it, but the version that's one piece gets very wide at the case and typically covers the whole back of it.
Due to the pad on the back of the case this type of strap can be feel quite warm/bulky on the wrist, although other types like NATO straps also go behind the watch case.
Rubber watch straps
Rubber watch straps are lightweight, waterproof, durable and fairly cheap. They don't have the classic/elegant look of other strap types like leather/metal so tend not to suit more formal watches. As they have more of a sporty look and they're waterproof so can be easily cleaned, they're often worn with sports and dive watches. They come in a range of colours and patterns.
Tropic straps
Tropic watch straps are the first type of rubber strap that was made. They were launched in the 1960s as an alternative to metal straps for sports watches at the time. As they're fairly cheap, light and considered fairly comfortable, they made for a good alternative to metal straps.
This type of watch strap tends to have a basket weave pattern on the outside, is fairly plain on the inside and has square holes cut along it, so it's fairly breathable and comfortable.