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NATO Watch straps for Apple Watch

K

kovey

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 10, 2011
595
183
They're by far the nicest variety of watch straps I've seen, but unfortunately they'd cover the sensors on the back of the Apple Watch. I emailed the company to ask about the possibility of straps to accommodate for this and they said:

Unfortunately, all of the NATO Straps that we sell cover the back of the watch.
At this time, our straps are not compatible with the Apple Watch. This is something we are definitely looking into!

http://natostrapsco.com
 
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kwjohns

kwjohns

macrumors 6502a
Jul 4, 2007
700
12
I think the title you meant to use was "NATO Watch straps not for Apple Watch" which defeats the purpose of posting them here...
 
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K

kovey

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 10, 2011
595
183
That would be the negative way to look at it. The title is correct as I'm hopeful that it'll happen, and the manufacturer said that they're definitely looking into it.
 
kwjohns

kwjohns

macrumors 6502a
Jul 4, 2007
700
12
There's nothing negative about it. It's being honest. I clicked the thread thinking another company was releasing bands to find out it's a company that not only makes only regular watch bands, but watch bands that would remove functionality from the Apple Watch. lol
 
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T

tgewin

macrumors newbie
Mar 23, 2011
14
9
kovey said:
They're by far the nicest variety of watch straps I've seen, but unfortunately they'd cover the sensors on the back of the Apple Watch. I emailed the company to ask about the possibility of straps to accommodate for this and they said:

Unfortunately, all of the NATO Straps that we sell cover the back of the watch.
At this time, our straps are not compatible with the Apple Watch. This is something we are definitely looking into!

http://natostrapsco.com
Click to expand...

Definitionally, a NATO or Zulu strap will not work because those both require a single continuous strap and would, therefore, block the sensors on the back. There are some ways they could use a similar woven nylon band.

Crown and Buckle, another seller of good NATO, Zulu, and other straps, has also said they'll be trying to figure something out for the Apple Watch. They are currently working on some straps for the various Android Wear devices as well.
 
A

AKRowdy

macrumors regular
Nov 2, 2011
160
1
kovey said:
They're by far the nicest variety of watch straps I've seen, but unfortunately they'd cover the sensors on the back of the Apple Watch. I emailed the company to ask about the possibility of straps to accommodate for this and they said:

Unfortunately, all of the NATO Straps that we sell cover the back of the watch.
At this time, our straps are not compatible with the Apple Watch. This is something we are definitely looking into!

http://natostrapsco.com
Click to expand...

As it would happen, my dad is their patent attorney. He said they are very interested in bringing something to market for Apple Watch, but haven't been able to get one in their hands to use. I need to send pictures of the mechanism to my dad, but unsure how helpful that will actually be.

I do Love my nylon nato straps, though.
 
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S

sinsin07

macrumors 68040
Mar 28, 2009
3,608
2,668
I looked at the site twice.

Each time I was temporarily blinded.

I think my eyes were trying to protect my heart.

Horrid
 
K

kovey

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 10, 2011
595
183
sinsin07 said:
I looked at the site twice.

Each time I was temporarily blinded.

I think my eyes were trying to protect my heart.

Horrid
Click to expand...

It sounds like you have some kind of epilepsy combined with cardiovascular disease. Best wishes.
 
S

sinsin07

macrumors 68040
Mar 28, 2009
3,608
2,668
kovey said:
It sounds like you have some kind of epilepsy combined with cardiovascular disease. Best wishes.
Click to expand...

Nay. It's a line from Married With Children.

But it wouldn't hurt to get your eyes checked.

The straps are horrendous.
 
hcole623

hcole623

macrumors regular
Oct 4, 2013
112
27
I wear NATO/G10 straps of different varieties on my mechanical watches almost everyday.

It would be pretty easy to do the mod where you can use traditional watch bands, and use a 2-piece NATO strap (so as not to block the sensors).

Perhaps one of these

I was curious if anyone had done this yet and had some pictures? I think it'd look great!
 
K

kovey

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 10, 2011
595
183
Somebody posted this link in this forum (even with a picture of one they purchased), but the post mysteriously vanished. Perhaps it's spam and I don't know if this site is legit, but these appear to be NATO style watch straps for the apple watch:
http://www.band-clip.com/e-shop/?category=Nato
 
L

Lagmonster

macrumors 6502
Sep 22, 2007
286
1
Some real quick pictures and observations:

1) The orange band seems to work fine with the lock/unlock. Maybe enough light can get through? The black locks right away, sadly.

2) This sounds crazy but HR seems to work through the orange band...

3) Putting it on the charger is not as bad as I thought it would be, just open the strap a bit and good to go.

Long story short, I'm probably going to end up with a modified nato because I want to be able to wear colors and the locking is a problem.

t6Ske7N.jpg


75U38BT.jpg
 
nfl46

nfl46

macrumors G3
Oct 5, 2008
8,535
9,492
It almost looked like an SS in the first picture. The orange really brings out the Space Gray; it looks cool!
 
K

kovey

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 10, 2011
595
183
You're using an original Nato strap? lol, it blocks all the sensors. There's no way the heart rate sensor still works accurately. Just buy a 3rd party Nato style band that comes in two pieces.
 
X

Xtremjeepn

macrumors regular
Mar 17, 2014
141
74
I was wondering if anyone was going to try a Nato or Zulu strap. I love them on other watches.

On me the 42mm is so small I think I could actually wear it on the underside of my wrist with a nato style strap and a real watch on the top, :eek:
 
L

Lagmonster

macrumors 6502
Sep 22, 2007
286
1
I have a few two-piece on the way already but gave these a shot. No clue how the orange seems to be working with the sensor but the HR is matching my garmin chest strap... Magic perhaps.
 
N

NTFM

macrumors newbie
May 14, 2015
14
0
Xtremjeepn said:
I was wondering if anyone was going to try a Nato or Zulu strap. I love them on other watches.

On me the 42mm is so small I think I could actually wear it on the underside of my wrist with a nato style strap and a real watch on the top, :eek:
Click to expand...

That would be the only situation where I'd accept the look of a protection case.
 
lirn8

lirn8

macrumors 6502
Sep 20, 2013
370
38
israel
How to use?
It comes with adapter?
I personally don't care at all about the sensors on the back of the watch!
 
Last edited:
jaeb0922

jaeb0922

macrumors 6502
Jan 25, 2012
309
126
Rhode Island
mightyjabba

mightyjabba

macrumors 68000
Sep 25, 2014
1,586
328
Tatooine
lirn8 said:
They cost 5 times more
It's not like the watch sensors are good
Like telling you to stand while standing
I disabled all sensors and sport tracking features to save battery life
Click to expand...

The stand reminders generally work well for me, but in any case that feature doesn't use the sensors on the back to my knowledge. It's based on things like the gyroscope and accelerometer. It seems like you're missing out on some pretty big features of the watch if you turn off all of the sensors. Are you really that desperate to save battery?
 
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