NATO watch straps ... a spot of advice please.

^^ The Casio .... I like. But then you knew I would

Had a quick look at a few Amazon comments and wonder if the back comes off easily to change the battery, and if you wanted to use a different strap is that possible? given the nature of this topic I guess I'm thinking a cheapy NATO

But at £12 maybe we shouldn't be worrying about any of this?

PS. Was previously unaware of the word quotidian Must remember to drop it in to regular daily use.

EDIT. Just spotted it has four screws holding the back on therefore a battery swap seems very possible if needed.
 
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Cristobal said:
Here is a watch for you:

Click to expand...

It's full of numbers but it's still a plain dial, nothing excessive IMO. They tried to pull it off... kinda. Not chrome plating those hands would have improved things significantly.

Vintage Стрела / Полет Chronograph cal. 3017 is my favorite watch!


 
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I think it is pretty easy to replace the battery, you could even put some silicon grease on the seal. As for the strap, I would keep the original, because it is comfortable and the lug width is 16mm, so even if you changed the strap the watch would look ridiculously big (and not in a JB/Goldfinger/submariner way).

'quotidian': due to the fact that English language has around 30% words of French origin and 10-20% of Latin, it is often way easier for us, French to use the words that are close the ones we use regularly in French (quotidien>quotidian). Moreover, it sounds often formal (I must have scored many points when I sat for English exams such as CAE and CPE). Oddly enough, in France, when taught English, we are forbidden to use them...
 
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Ta for the above.... all noted. Including the explanation of that word I'd never heard of.

Was interested that you mentioned silicone grease as I've been doing for years but always thought it was a bit "against the rules" and not approved. I try only to apply a smidgen - but doubt Rolex would approve.

Point taken re. the strap. Ta.
 
I bought one of those about 15 odd years ago, funnily enough I only went looking for it because I had a NATO strap fitted that I wanted to try on the Explorer. I probably haven't seen that watch for 4 years but it started up again as soon as sunlight hit it. Quite amazing really. I wore it diving in the Maldives and apart from the strap falling apart after a few years it's never had any problems.
 

The silicone grease helps keeping the seal supple and ensuring the waterproofing/water resistance (if the back came to press against the case because of high pressure; don't know if I'm clear...), so greasing is a good practice in my opinion, and I'm pretty sure that when opening a watch for a minor work such as regulating a movement, a watchmaker regreases the seal. On the other hand if you don't scubadive...
 

This. It also reduces shearing force against the seal when you screw the back down against it. Silicone grease is indeed the stuff to use a tiny amount of.

Slightly off topic, Vostok watches have a novel approach here - the back is keyed so that it can't rotate and the seal is like a big rubber doughnut. A locking ring is screwed down onto the back which is then pressed non-rotationally against the seal eliminating shearing force and allowing the use of a more robust rubber ring.
 
Collected the Citizen Eco-Drive from Argos on Sunday and one of the straps from Ali Express arrived today (the green £4. 60 one). Really quick considering it's from China. The website isn't especially tricky to navigate and they did respond to a message when I changed one of the the sizes on the order for the cheaper straps which haven't yet arrived.

Pleased with both. The Citizen strap is quite rigid but will probably soften in time. I like it but can see it's not for everyone. Still haven't seen it at a better price (£79.99) and have spotted it at lots more.

Would now be confident to order from Ali Express but will also go back to order something from TimeFactors. Probably this ... http://www.timefactors.com/tfnatobondtwist.htm as was discussed earlier.

Thanks for advice.


 
Someone remind me .... on the Pulsar, in the pic. above, I've fitted the green fabric strap with the grey "rounded" loops. What is that style ... i.e the round loops as opposed to normal squared off ones?
 
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