[aliasfox]

For some reason, I wanted to wear my Hamilton Khaki Scuba this morning. It usually lives on one of my selection of NATOs, but as I was trying to pick one, I saw a brown pilot strap in my drawer that had never been used. So before the coffee kicked in, I swapped the strap onto the watch and went off to work. Wondering a bit how this works... opinions please!

 

[TheWalrus]

You know, I'd probably go without the pilot strap - but I think the brown on black looks fine with watches.

 

[Donf]

Mixing styles doesn't usually work. I personally don't think it does in this instance. Sorry.

 

[CADstraps]

As mentioned, the brown/black thing can work quite nicely, even though I think the 2 generally clash.

But, as far as i'm concerned, anything but a NATO.

At the end of the day, if you like it, the poll is moot - you're the one that wears it, and outside of this bizarre little WIS-world, no one else will really notice.

 

[summerpurchase]

Agreed that brown and black can work together - but I'm not a particular fan of this combo

 

[aliasfox]

Well, I was at best 'on the fence' about it - I've never put this watch on a leather strap before, and have always thought that diver-style worked best on NATO or bracelets. I just happened to have two spare pilot straps lying around, thought I'd try it for a day. Looks like this strap will go back into the drawer for now!

@CADStraps - I'm not the biggest fan of NATOs, but my wrist changes size too much to be comfortable in the Hamilton's OEM bracelet. Also, when I'm on vacation, I can switch out a bunch of NATOs depending on the occasion, so I can change style without having to bring a 2nd or 3rd watch.

 

[sticky]

The colour yes but I'm still undecided on the pilot strap.

 

[Hammi]

I like divers with brown leather strap. Dressier black faced watches with a brown strap - that's a no-no for me! But more rugged or sporty ones like divers and maybe fliegers, yeah why not. Just look at Panerai for an example.

But there are some rules, at least in my eyes: the strap must be thick enough (I once wore maybe 3 millimeters thick leather strap with almost like 15 mm thick watch - looked and felt terrible), you really can't mix styles (just like the OP did...), the strap should not have fancy alligator/croc texture and it should be matte finished, not shiny. But these are just some general rules I've drawn to myself and of course as I type them here, somebody comes up with the exception that looks stunning :-d

Actually, this is what I was sporting at the office today:

 

[Bwana1]

I wear a Black DiModell pilot with my Hammy Navy, it looks good to me. The rivets on yours are a dead give-away for pilot style, the brown color works fine.

 

[ffritz]

Actually, this is what I was sporting at the office today:

That one looks great, IMHO!

aliasfox: the black/brown combo works for me and I even agree with the pilot strap. Just the rivets plus the stitching make it look very busy around the lugs.. ..but then again, the mix of silver and white numerals on the dial does the same, so: judging from what I see on the photo, I like it.

 

[ajbutler13]

I don't think black works very well with dark brown. Maybe a lighter brown strap would look better. Best of all (in my opinion) is black on black, though:



I'm mixing styles here (field watch and flieger strap), but it looks great to me.

 

[bigvatch]

It's not just a color of a strap IMO, it's the specific look (or feel) of the overall strap that can make or break it for me. Double rivet pilot straps are the least flexible in mating with a watch head IMO, barely even for pilot watches IMO.

 

[Rad Red Brick]

Goes together like taco sauce and rice wine vinegar, i.e., not so well.

 

[watch_hor]

Not a big fan of straps in general but I am a bit if a stickler when it comes to pairing when they do come into play.

- brown and black can work well (love the Sinn 104)

- Croc patterns belong with dress watch watches

- sport or dive watches should be paired with smooth leather and ideally thick or padded. If they must have a pattern, I am a fan of pebbled leather (Magrette pulls this off quite well)

- lastly I think contrast stitching and or color matched under/side laminates are cool with sport/divers.

With all that said, I don't think styles should be matched, sorry but experimentation is definitely cool.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[aliasfox]

Well, the majority seems to think that black dials and brown straps work, but pilot straps on a diver are kind of a no-no. Considering that watch/strap combination wasn't particularly comfortable, I'm perfectly fine with that. One hole was just a bit too tight, the next hole down allowed the watch to go all the way around the wrist a little too easily.

So instead of a Khaki Scuba on a random drawer-strap, here's my Khaki Field on a natural-brown cordovan strap with white contrast stitching. Happy Friday!

P.S. Yes, that's the 38mm Khaki Field. My wrists are just that small...

 

[Hammi]

Now that's a lot better!