While taste regarding the style of a NATO watch strap, the colours or hardware finish is subjective, there are a few general things that make for a great NATO watch band.
Featured item: Armilla Ice Blue on a Seiko Samurai SRPB09
Material
Although the concept of a G10 NATO watch strap was still interesting, I bet most of you were disappointed when you bought your first NATO strap. The chances are that you found the material cheap looking with an unpleasant gritty touch.
We use two types of super soft, silky and durable seat-belt nylon: a 1.4 mm thick weave nylon featured in the Aero-Ballistic collection and a 1.2 mm thin weave nylon featured in the Vestigo collection.
Featured item: Armilla Aero-Ballistic Moss Green on Orion Calamity Diver
Featured item: Armilla Vestigo Steel Grey next to Seiko Alpinist SARB017 and Rolex Submariner 116610
Adjustability
Another problem that you've probably had with NATO watch straps is the adjustability. It is either too short and not enough material is left to fold back inside the keepers or too long without the possibility of adjusting it properly.
In order to ensure optimal adjustment on any type of wrist size we use our signature length of 325 millimetres and a flying keeper. For more information about this please read 'How does the Armilla NATO strap fit on the wrist'.
Hardware
The hardware is another important part of a NATO watch strap, of any watch strap for that matter.
For that, we use full solid 304L stainless steel hardware for our straps.
Featured item: Armilla Aero-Ballistic Moss Green on Seiko Alpinist SARB017
Sizing Holes
Believe it or not, the shape of the sizing holes has an important role in the durability of the strap.
In order to further improve the durability against fraying we use heat sealed round-shaped sizing holes for all our straps. Like all the other features, this is a tested and well considered feature of our straps.