Guys, this is something (excited)! Today we are taking a look at something I really wanted to see and test. As I heard these are the best Nato straps for the money. Everyone from Properly Wound to Watchuseek suggests these. Even my watchmaker suggests these nato straps. So I reached out to them, and they sent me some samples to review for you guys.
PhenomeNato is specializing in producing and selling premium quality Nato straps for watches. They are located in the European Union, Hungary, Budapest. The straps are made in Hungary. I don’t know how long they have been in business, but damn, they perfected their straps! The shipping is free (with no tracking), but if you pay a couple of bucks you also get tracking.
The straps arrived, each in its own little box. So you really can see the attention to detail. The fabric is a little under a mm thick. It feels substantial, yet flexes easily. The hardware is thicker than any of the loops on other nato’s I own. The squared off loops are also a just a little under 1mm thick. And everything is heat treated, so they will also last longer than regular cheap straps. They’re very nice, and everything about this screams of high quality!
PhenomeNato straps come in 20mm or 22mm widths with two length options (Long or Short, 33.5cm/29cm – Short version for wrist sizes of 6.5″-16.5 cm or smaller, long version for those over 6.5″-16.5 cm). The hardware, made with high-quality stainless steel, comes either in a brushed or polished finish with two fixed keepers either side of the watch and one “floating” keeper. The buckle is a slender, sterile one and also made to match the finish of the keepers. Also under each strap, you have a label signed by PhenomeNato.
As I have the big wrists, I got the long versions. And damn they wear nice. And the floating keeper really helps to manage the end of the strap that you fold over and tuck in. It really helps you to get the perfect fitment. I got to say that in the past year I disliked the nato straps because of the Urban Gentry/TGV or whatever he calls himself these days and the UGWC facebook group (don’t join them) is advertising the nato straps everywhere as the best straps ever, that just gets on my nerves. And also the watch sits higher on the wrist and all the nato straps I own are kind of very thick and rough on touch. Also, most of the nato straps lack the heat treated ends and holes for the buckle. So after taking a look at these, I was super surprised how good they are and how good they wear. So I started to wear nato straps again. The strap also doesn’t make the timepiece so big. As you can see from the wristshot the strap does not mess with the size of the watch.
So you really get a lot of options to choose from, like length, size, colours and finishing of hardware. And the price compared to Omega nato strap which in my opinion is the same strap as this, at least from quality standpoints 4-5 times lower. One strap from PhenomeNato will cost you only 40$, which is a steal for such an amazing straps.
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