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The Great "Third Party Band/Strap" Thread

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doboy

macrumors 68040
Jul 6, 2007
3,779
2,959
Received Hoco Hermes 3 in 1 kit from Amazon and decided to try it on both aluminum and stainless watches. Double tour is for my wife, but I decided to model it for pictures. I personally would never wear the double tour outside of my house. :)

The leather quality is pretty good for a knockoff, but I really don't like the fact that the width is little too narrow for the lug and can shift around (see last photo) :( For a $40 knockoff this is little disappointing. Maybe they make one size and use it for both 38mm and 42mm watches.

Edit: after comparing the width of the Hoco band to my Sea Blue Classic Buckle, I've determined that the reason for the gap is due to the shape of the lugs used by Hoco. The Hoco lug is too square while the Apple lug is more rounded.
 

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Last edited:
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nicho

macrumors 601
Feb 15, 2008
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doboy said:
Received Hoco Hermes 3 in 1 kit from Amazon and decided to try it on both aluminum and stainless watches. Double tour is for my wife, but I decided to model it for pictures. I personally would never wear the double tour outside of my house. :)

The leather quality is pretty good for a knockoff, but I really don't like the fact that the width is little too narrow for the lug and can shift around (see last photo) :( For a $40 knockoff this is little disappointing. Maybe they make one size and use it for both 38mm and 42mm watches.

Edit: after comparing the width of the Hoco band to my Sea Blue Classic Buckle, I've determined that the reason for the gap is due to the shape of the lugs used by Hoco. The Hoco lug is too square while the Apple lug is more rounded.
Click to expand...

slightly picky, but it's not due to the shape but actually the size. the lugs hoco (and all the third party bands; there's probably only one factory making the knockoff lugs in China) use are the same shape as the hermes, and the bands are the same width/spec as the hermes ones. the difference is, apple watch hermes has specially made lugs that are not spaced as far apart as apple's regular ones or the knockoffs.
 
D

doboy

macrumors 68040
Jul 6, 2007
3,779
2,959
nicho said:
slightly picky, but it's not due to the shape but actually the size. the lugs hoco (and all the third party bands; there's probably only one factory making the knockoff lugs in China) use are the same shape as the hermes, and the bands are the same width/spec as the hermes ones. the difference is, apple watch hermes has specially made lugs that are not spaced as far apart as apple's regular ones or the knockoffs.
Click to expand...
It's the shape of the lugs. I've compared it directly to my new classic buckle and another knockoff that has the proper shape. The width of the band is exactly same between this Hoco and OEM classic buckle.
 
N

nicho

macrumors 601
Feb 15, 2008
4,253
3,250
doboy said:
It's the shape of the lugs. I've compared it directly to my new classic buckle and another knockoff that has the proper shape. The width of the band is exactly same between this Hoco and OEM classic buckle.
Click to expand...

what i'm saying is they should be that shape, but not so wide. apple's updated pages for the watches make it hard to compare, but see here:

http://www.apple.com/hk/shop/buy-wa...reSelect=false&product=MNP72ZP/A&step=detail#

and

http://www.apple.com/hk/shop/buy-wa...reSelect=false&product=MNQ92ZP/A&step=detail#

you'll notice that for the genuine hermes double tour the lugs are differently spaced to the classic buckle.
 
T

tlbwriter

macrumors regular
Nov 21, 2008
139
28
doboy said:
Received Hoco Hermes 3 in 1 kit from Amazon and decided to try it on both aluminum and stainless watches. Double tour is for my wife, but I decided to model it for pictures. I personally would never wear the double tour outside of my house. :)

The leather quality is pretty good for a knockoff, but I really don't like the fact that the width is little too narrow for the lug and can shift around (see last photo) :( For a $40 knockoff this is little disappointing. Maybe they make one size and use it for both 38mm and 42mm watches.

Edit: after comparing the width of the Hoco band to my Sea Blue Classic Buckle, I've determined that the reason for the gap is due to the shape of the lugs used by Hoco. The Hoco lug is too square while the Apple lug is more rounded.
Click to expand...

Is that gold hardware? In some pics it looks gold and in others it looks silver. I'm looking for a cuff with gold hardware to go with my gold watch and I can't find one. I don't really care about the buckle not matching, but I don't want the silver hardware against the gold watch itself.
 
D

doboy

macrumors 68040
Jul 6, 2007
3,779
2,959
tlbwriter said:
Is that gold hardware? In some pics it looks gold and in others it looks silver. I'm looking for a cuff with gold hardware to go with my gold watch and I can't find one. I don't really care about the buckle not matching, but I don't want the silver hardware against the gold watch itself.
Click to expand...
Sorry, not gold.
 
B

broadbean

macrumors 6502a
Jun 10, 2007
782
333
doboy said:
It's the shape of the lugs. I've compared it directly to my new classic buckle and another knockoff that has the proper shape. The width of the band is exactly same between this Hoco and OEM classic buckle.
Click to expand...

nicho said:
what i'm saying is they should be that shape, but not so wide.

...

you'll notice that for the genuine hermes double tour the lugs are differently spaced to the classic buckle.
Click to expand...

Based on Apple's photos, the lugs on the Double Tour do appear to be the same shape but narrower:
Hermes-lugs.png
 
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nicho

macrumors 601
Feb 15, 2008
4,253
3,250
broadbean said:
Based on Apple's photos, the lugs on the Double Tour do appear to be the same shape but narrower:
View attachment 665153
Click to expand...

thats comparing the single tour hermes to the double tour hermes... any chance you can do the same for dt to apple classic buckle?

it does raise the interesting point here about how can the genuine ST and DT be different widths yet the knockoff share one of the same pieces for both. that's also going to factor into the roominess i'm sure.
 
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biggrim

macrumors member
Jan 11, 2009
67
7
Glasgow, Scotland
I have a question for those of you who have purchased a third party, black stainless steel strap. Does the colour of these bands/lugs etc match the Space Grey Aluminium well?

I'm about to buy a Series 2 Space Grey Aluminium Watch (when they are back in stock) and was looking into picking up a more "formal" looking band for it. Just curious if there have been any issues with the blacks/greys being quite different from the actual watch casing.

Any feedback appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Graeme
 
R

risenphoenixkai

macrumors 6502
Oct 14, 2008
305
608
biggrim said:
I have a question for those of you who have purchased a third party, black stainless steel strap. Does the colour of these bands/lugs etc match the Space Grey Aluminium well?
Click to expand...

I have a black stainless steel Hoco band that's a clone of Apple's band. The band colour doesn't match the case perfectly, but it's not an unpleasant clash by any means.

I have another Hoco band that's a black stainless 3-bead variety. That doesn't match the space grey case of the Apple Watch either, and it's a greater colour difference than the clone of Apple's band, but it's still not enough of a difference for it to look garish or unnatural.

FWIW, I haven't seen any third-party bands with lugs that match the space grey case perfectly. However, when we're talking about matte black paired with a very dark grey, it's not a massive contrast.
 
spinedoc77

spinedoc77

macrumors G4
Jun 11, 2009
11,488
5,413
How well do the pins hold up on the clockwork ones with the spring pins? I still have nightmares when I was younger and could only afford cheap watches with those pins constantly breaking or popping out.
 
rwilliams

rwilliams

macrumors 68040
Apr 8, 2009
3,847
1,222
Raleigh, NC
I just bought the x-doria mesh band, and this thing has instantly become my favorite band. It is so comfortable, you can sometimes forget there's even anything on your wrist. I can't imagine that Apple's official version is better than this one, and at only $50, I'd highly recommend this over the official one.
 
B

biggrim

macrumors member
Jan 11, 2009
67
7
Glasgow, Scotland
risenphoenixkai said:
I have a black stainless steel Hoco band that's a clone of Apple's band. The band colour doesn't match the case perfectly, but it's not an unpleasant clash by any means.

I have another Hoco band that's a black stainless 3-bead variety. That doesn't match the space grey case of the Apple Watch either, and it's a greater colour difference than the clone of Apple's band, but it's still not enough of a difference for it to look garish or unnatural.

FWIW, I haven't seen any third-party bands with lugs that match the space grey case perfectly. However, when we're talking about matte black paired with a very dark grey, it's not a massive contrast.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the quick and concise reply risenphoenixkai. I suppose the thing I should really embed is that the black sports band isn't Space Grey and doesn't look bad against the body of the watch.

I think I'll look into a clone of the black stainless apple band.

Thanks again,

Graeme
 
C

cschmelz

macrumors 6502
Jun 6, 2007
347
113
Dino F said:
This one looks awesome from Nomad:

View attachment 664746




https://www.hellonomad.com/collections/apple-watch

Reasonably priced too!
[doublepost=1476198706][/doublepost]...this is the rear of the strap:

View attachment 664747
Click to expand...


Got mine today. Adapters are nicely built and match my stainless series 2 really well.

The band itself it softer/flimsier than I would have preferred. I was hoping it was gonna be a bitch chunkier, more like the rubber band on my Ball mechanical watch.

Nice feel though, the clasp is well designed/nice looking so I think it is a keeper, just not EXACTLY what I wanted.
 
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broadbean

macrumors 6502a
Jun 10, 2007
782
333
cschmelz said:
The band itself it softer/flimsier than I would have preferred. I was hoping it was gonna be a bitch chunkier, more like the rubber band on my Ball mechanical watch.

Nice feel though, the clasp is well designed/nice looking so I think it is a keeper, just not EXACTLY what I wanted.
Click to expand...

I dunno, but that's some bitchin' description! :D
 
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