A little bit of modding to a strap.

This CWC G-10 has been wearing a gray NATO strap for months. I want to change things up a bit, but the watch has fixed lug-bars in the true mil-watch tradition.



I've got some leather options around the home for this. For the last week I was wearing an aviator-style strap with snaps. But the snaps are pretty shiny and clash with the watch finish. Also the leather width was a bit too narrow, exposing too much gap between the lugs for my taste.

So I brought out this Russian Bund-style strap. I bought a batch of these years ago, but they are very cheaply made. The buckle and keeper are really some of the worst type of stamped sheet metal. I decided if I am going to use the strap comfortably, I would need to upgrade that hardware. I dug up a donor buckle and leather keeper from a slightly-beat-up old strap. The original keeper was actually sewn-in to the strap, so I had to carefully make a cut into the buckle with a metal shears.

Here's the old hardware removed.


And the watch on it's new strap.






I agree, the replacement buckle is too shiny, but at least it is not visible when looking at the watch.

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