I have always had a love hate relationship with the Tudor Black Bay Bronze.
I love the way it looks, my wife really loves the way it looks, it performs great, winds superbly, love the movement, power reserve, lume . . .
And yet it feels too big for my arm. The leather strap that comes with it is too short to be comfortable on my 6 5/8" wrist.
The NATO strap is great but the watch is heavy and never felt right on my wrist. While it did not move the cotton NATO feels overwhelmed by the weight.
So what to do? I purchased several third party straps from various sellers, my favorite being SNPR straps. Super high quality but expensive. The boars hide strap was the best and softest of the ones I have tried.
But the watch never felt right. Still, so I was rarely wearing it. That immediately makes it a candidate for the chopping block.
Finally I saw that Rubber B had released a strap for this watch and in Espresso Brown. I ordered based on their return policy and it arrived quickly, very well packaged with instructions, an eraser to restore color and warranty card.
The first thing I notice is that the strap is not as thick and lighter than it looks and what I thought it would be. For me this is a good thing. The color is subtle not too far toned in either direction, some might consider it boring.
The Tudor buckle fits perfectly and looks great. I am using my springbars (23mm) as none come with the strap.
The test fit on both sides is tight, perfectly tight. It took about 20 minutes of patient movement and a Bergeron tool to get the springbars to pop into place.
The fit is perfect, curved to the watch case with no play or gap at all.
Finally, the strap feels and wears great. For the first time this watch feels balanced on my wrist, the strap is comfortable, not stiff. The tail of the strap is a bit long but not overly so.
This strap from Rubber B may have saved this piece for my collection, I need to give it some additional wear time but I like what I have so far. For the money I feel this is a high quality addition to the watch. One of the reason I purchased this besides the looks (and my wife
) was the ability to change straps.
I recommend Rubber B based on this purchase.
Thanks for reading.