closing tag is in template navbar
timefactors watches



TZ-UK Fundraiser
Results 1 to 12 of 12

Thread: rubber nato from yellowdogstrap ?

  1. #1
    Master DimGR's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    HELLAS
    Posts
    1,598

    rubber nato from yellowdogstrap ?

    anyone has one ? are they comfortable ?

  2. #2
    Journeyman adamch66's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2017
    Location
    London
    Posts
    93
    Quote Originally Posted by DimGR View Post
    anyone has one ? are they comfortable ?
    Hi, I have one - the "plain" non-tropic one. It's a great strap and yes it's comfortable, but of course being rubber it can get a little sweaty...

  3. #3
    Master adesmith's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    Cheshire
    Posts
    2,483
    Bought one last week. Very comfortable and a good price at £25.

  4. #4
    Master
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    Yorkshire
    Posts
    2,329
    Have two, made extra long to fit over a dry suit.

    Dived all weekend with them and they work a treat. Workmanship looks top notch too.



  5. #5
    Master DimGR's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    HELLAS
    Posts
    1,598
    received mine today
    i like it


  6. #6
    Journeyman Narc'd's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2017
    Location
    Marineville
    Posts
    90
    Coot
    Have two, made extra long to fit over a dry suit.

    Dived all weekend with them and they work a treat. Workmanship looks top notch too.
    I have two Yellowdogs, one of which is extra long for a drysuit just like you Both of them are excellent quality and very comfortable, of course if you get hot then rubber can get a little sweaty as mentioned. The rubber is quite grippy against the skin though and this lets you loosen it a little but still not have the watch sliding about all over the place. I got them in the Zulu variety, ie: with the second flappy bit that goes under the watch removed. I prefer to keep the watch closer to the wrist with a single pass of rubber beneath it. Since getting them I've also removed the standard, large oval shaped keepers and replaced them with the lower profile, rectangular shaped ones from old NATO's.




    The rubber seems exactly the same as that used in a rubber weight belt and the surface texture even matches.



    Over a suit it's worn as any other strap.



    But when worn for normal daily use I wear the strap doubled back on itself. This lets me wear a long strap with very little excess tail to tidy up as well as letting me wear the watch directly against my skin for a lower profile than with a normal NATO.





    The keen eyed out there may have spotted a little rubber grommet on the strap in the photo above (above the 12 o'clock position). I added that myself and all it's there to do is act as a little bump stop against the lug bars so every time I fit the strap to the watch I set it in exactly the same place.

    When I ordered my second strap from Yellowdog, I decided to get the perforated "Tropic" style, this time just in standard length (which is custom anyway). I requested a longer than normal spacing between the keepers (30mm versus 10mm) and I also requested for the piece of rubber that's folded back on itself and stitched to hold the buckle and keepers in place to end at a specific dimension to act as a bump stop. Effectively acting as a bump stop like the grommet previously mentioned - but prettier.







  7. #7
    Grand Master Chinnock's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Essex
    Posts
    10,226
    He's based just down the road from me, I must check these out, especially after this review ^^^^^^

  8. #8
    Narc’d, love the vintage namron weights!!

  9. #9
    Journeyman Narc'd's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2017
    Location
    Marineville
    Posts
    90
    Quote Originally Posted by Manxdiver View Post
    Narc’d, love the vintage namron weights!!
    They're probably around the same vintage as this

  10. #10
    Master
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    Carlisle
    Posts
    3,546
    Quote Originally Posted by Narc'd View Post
    They're probably around the same vintage as this
    That’s a blast from the past!
    Great looking straps btw, how easy is it to change the hardware?
    Cheers.

  11. #11
    Journeyman Narc'd's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2017
    Location
    Marineville
    Posts
    90
    That’s a blast from the past!
    Great looking straps btw, how easy is it to change the hardware?
    Cheers
    Thanks. It's not terribly hard to change the hardware, there's a bit of stretching of the rubber involved but nothing that would damage the strap (or I wouldn't do it). The old keepers that get removed get destroyed in the process though.

    I took two pairs of pliers, grasped the oval shaped keeper at each end and twisted the pliers in opposite directions. This opens up the gap between the ends of the wire that the keeper is made from and takes place away from sight, within the strap itself. You just need to open enough of a gap to allow the rubber to slide out from. It's kind of hard to explain but it's a little like the way you mount a key on a key-ring in the way you get the rubber out from the keeper.

    Once the original keeper is removed you can bin it. I then cut the rectangular keepers from an old NATO - I cut the nylon strap material with a Stanley knife so the keepers were completely unmarked at this stage. Then with two large, flat bladed screwdrivers, I inserted them from opposite directions into the new keeper and twisted them to open the gap between the two ends of the metal so I could slide it onto the Yellowdog strap. Once I did a bit of pushing and twisting of the strap I got it into the keeper.

    At this stage it looked a bit ungainly as the ends of the metal forming the keeper were still in their separated state. I carefully pinched the strap with a pliers at this pint to squash the keeper back into it's regular shape. I also put a rag around the jaws of the pliers to protect the strap doing this.

    There were a few marks from the pliers on the finish of the metal keepers so I re-brushed them with maroon coloured Scotchbrite pad.

    Of course the best option would be to ask Alex if he can do this when he makes the strap in the first place - maybe he can, maybe he can't but it's worth a try. Personally, I'd definitely retain the buckle though, it's nice big curves spread the load on the rubber and avoid putting very tight bends in it.

    On both occasions that I did this it occurred to me to take photo's in case anyone like yourself may ask how I did it - and of course I didn't bother! Laziness! A few pictures would have explained what I meant a million times better than what I wrote above. Hope you got the gist of what I was trying to describe anyway.



  12. #12
    Master
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    Carlisle
    Posts
    3,546

    Thanks a lot for the detailed description, much appreciated.
    Will certainly give it a go.
    Cheers.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  

Do Not Sell My Personal Information