The Best NATO Straps To Suit Any Watch

From classic to unconventional and premium to budget, we’ve got a NATO to suit your style.

The world of Military Nylon, watch straps have come a long way since their conception as a military issued strap for the British Armed Forces in 1973, though their function as a typically inexpensive, functional, and most importantly durable watch strap is what still makes them popular today. Add to the fact their modern Military Nylon strap counterparts come in a wide range of colours and materials and you’ve got yourself a watch strap that’ll keep its appeal in the years to come. Here at WatchGecko we have a huge range of Military Nylon watch straps to suit any style and budget, with a variety of materials and designs from classic nylon to vintage leather and durable rubber.

Check out some of our favourite Military Nylon styles below…or you can browse our best-selling military watch straps collection.

The Classic Military Nylon

The textbook Military Nylon strap, easily interchangeable with a classic design that harks back to the original Military Nylon strap. The design has been refined over the years where you can expect fray resistant woven nylon and hardwearing stainless-steel buckles and keepers. Naturally all our Military Nylon benefit from a single-piece construction with the additional watchkeeper strap (keeping your watch securely on your wrist in case of a spring bar malfunction). Our classic Military Nylon watch straps also offer a wide selection of colours and patterns, one of our most popular styles here is the Classic Bond Military Nylon.

The Specialised Military Straps

The Tudor Submariner fitted to the Elastic Military Nylon Strap - Image credit WatchGecko.

With the Specialised Military Strap range, you’ll find the same tough design you’d expect from a Military Nylon strap, with a range of more unconventional designs and materials. These straps favour more canvas-like materials as well as elastic and rubber options, and incorporate more rounded hardware also known as ZULUs. An example of a canvas Military-style straps would be our popular ZULUDIVER Vintage Canvas ZULU Watch Straps.

The Premium Military Nylon

The Premium Military Nylon straps are our *chef’s kiss* Nylon straps, the best of the best. These Military Nylon straps use tough seatbelt nylon for a silky-smooth feel and are upgraded with solid and tactile hardware. The keepers on these watch straps are larger and have a bigger presence on the strap. A favourite of ours are the ZULUDIVER Military Herringbone, with a choice of polished or satin hardware. With their enhanced durability, the Premium Military Nylon straps can withstand any adventure.

The Leather Military-Style Strap

Our range of Leather Military-style straps combine the ruggedness and utility of a Military Nylon with the vintage leather appeal to suit any vintage timepiece. Our ZULUDIVER Crazy Horse Pull-Up is cut using oiled ‘crazy horse’ pull up leather, a natural and premium leather material. The look of this strap will age like fine wine as the ‘crazy horse’ leather becomes more subtle with wear, absorbing the natural oils from your skin to create a glossy sheen. Over the years this Military strap will look more and more vintage from being rubbed or scuffed, the ideal companion to your daily beater. True to the Military-style look, this strap comes fitted with stainless-steel buckles and keepers.

The Moonwatch LUNAR Strap

If you’re a history fan of the early NASA space missions and lucky enough to own an actual moonwatch like the Omega Speedmaster or Bulova Chronograph, you’ve probably tried to get your hands on a copy of the original NASA Velcro strap. With the ZULUDIVER Lunar watch strap you can finally make your own moonwatch mission ready. ZULUDIVER undertook extensive research studying original NASA blueprints and vintage photographs of astronauts to create a space-ready strap that stays accurate to original designs that’s functional for daily wear.

The Lunar strap is made from high strength nylon with a shuttleless weaving process for superior friction resistance and colour retention. The strap can be fastened and adjusted in seconds (and securely over 5000 times) using a military-grade hook and loop fastening system. The strap is designed to be hypoallergenic, functional in temperatures as low as -30° Celsius and features a corrosion resistant loop embossed with the ZULUDIVER name.

The Rubber Military Straps

Our range of rubber straps offer a twist on the classic Military strap design, offering extremely hardwearing rubber materials with brushed or polished stainless-steel hardware to fit your dive watch securely and comfortably to your wrist. They’re an excellent choice for water sports and activities thanks to their resistance to seawater, aggressive chemicals and extreme temperatures – not to forget they come in a variety of standout colours to add a bit of flare to your watch. Looking for something extra vibrant? check out our ZULUDIVER 328 in yellow.

Whichever strap you end up choosing, the fun lies in experimenting with different designs to find the right Military-style strap for your personal style and thanks to their affordability, its easy to build a collection of different Military straps to swap between for new combinations.

Be sure to check out our full collection of Military-Styled Watch Straps here.