Precista PRS-10 - New Spring Bars & New Straps

[jonno]

I purchased a PRS10 back in late 2019 and found it hard to identify NATOs that don't get frayed by the tight lug spacing. Last straw was when my $40 phenomenato got frayed on both sides. Even the grey NATO it came with constantly frayed even after sealing the frays with a lighter. PRS-10 went into storage for a while.

No reviews mentioned the tight lug space or else i probably would not have bought it.

I bought a pair of 1.5mm diameter spring bars...the ones the that came with the PRS10 are 1.8mm. This is the main body of the spring bar diameter, not the diameter of the tip. The tip is a standard 0.9mm.

Lo and behold the difference in 0.3mm made almost no difference. NATO straps thicker than 1.2mm will not pass though and fraying still does occur on certain types of NATOS...especially those soft seat belt ones.

There is a seller called North Straps based in England that sells NATOs almost identical to the ones from CWC. The only NATO that passes through the tight lugs of the PRS10 are the ones from CWC. North Straps calls them Super NATOs and while almost identical to CWC's, they come with the added length of 320mm, a floating keeper and more closely space holes for much better fit. The best part is they do not get frayed at all. Pricing is similar with CWC.

So if u own a PRS10 and had a prob with the tight lugs spacing, don't bother with thinner spring bars...just give North straps Super NATO range a try.

[magirus]

Alternatively, buy some curved springbars.

[sier]

I have a lot of watches with tight spacing for straps. There's simple way to stop your straps from fraying.
Remove the spring bars, put the strap where you want it, press it against the case, then insert the spring bar over it.

If you have high quality spring bars, you can do it with no tools at all. Just use your thumbnail.

[Seamaster73]

I swap between Timefactors and Phoenix NATOs on mine and though the fit is snug, I’ve not encountered this problem.

As an aside, my PRS-10 strap gripe is that I wish the grey Timefactors NATO was the same colour in reality as it appears on the website. It’s nothing like, and much lighter than shown (ditto the grey two-piece nylon with deployant, which I also like to pair with this one).