2024 has been a landmark year for Oracle Time seeing the launch of our first collaboration wristwatch, the Christopher Ward x Oracle Time C65 Dune Shoreline. Now that the watch is out in the public, it’s great to see the interesting ways you’re using the watch to represent your personal styles. One of the easiest ways to personalise a watch is to give it an alternative strap. However, in our research we found that it’s surprisingly difficult to find appropriate straps as the conversation around straps focusses on style, pushing important practical elements such as lug width to the side. Hence, here’s a handy guide to some of the coolest alternative 20mm rubber straps to fit the Dune Shoreline, or any other 20mm lug daily beater.
Bonetto Cinturini 328 Premium Rubber One-Piece Watch Strap, £45
We’re starting with a duo of straps, the light grey and azure blue editions of the Bonetto Cinturini 328 Premium Rubber One-Piece Watch Strap. It’s effectively a rubber rendition of the traditional NATO strap design, which means it has a continuous loop that connects to the watch lugs and passes beneath the caseback.
This structure was originally designed so that in the instance of the strap breaking loose from one set of lugs, the body of the watch would still be attached to your wrist by the other lugs. Whereas on a standard strap, if the strap fails at any point, the whole strap and watch fall from your wrist.
In terms of colour, the grey edition works well with the steel of the case and grey dial while the blue emphasises the coloured hour markers and hands. Stylewise the strap has a fabric style texture that further emphasises the connection to traditional NATO design.
Available at Watch Obsession.
Hirsch JOHN Natural Rubber Performance Watch Strap, £81.95
The JOHN by Hirsch is part of their Performance range, meaning it’s dedicated to being practical and durable even in adverse conditions, making it the perfect sport and adventure strap for your timepiece. Or even to just give you piece of mind on the day to day for your daily wear tool or field watch.
In terms of sizing, it’s available for 20mm lugs and has a thickness of 5.9mm, which is fairly substantial for a strap. That’s because it has a large square grip on its inner surface that means your watch shouldn’t twist on your wrist while also allowing plenty of run-off areas for uncomfortable sweat.
Available at Watch Obsession.
TROPIC® Dive Watch Strap, £75
The Tropic strap is arguably one of the most iconic rubber straps of all time as it was popularised in the 1960s as a lightweight, inexpensive alternative to the streel bracelets on Rolex and Tudor dive watches. If it’s good enough for a Submariner, it’s good enough for your daily beater.
Characteristic elements of the design include the distinctive cross-hatched pattern on the outer layer of the strap and the off-set perforations along the strap’s length. Together, these allow the strap to wick away water quite quickly, hence its main use on dive watches.
As to colour, there are basically as many colours of Tropic rubber strap as you care to think of. For a daily wearer you might consider a more subtle colour like black or grey. Although if you have a dive watch like a Doxa with a brightly coloured dial, colour matching the strap to the dial is also a popular option.
Available at Watch Obsession.
Crafter Blue UX07 Turquoise FKM Rubber, £51.95
Crafter Blue’s UX07 Turquoise FKM Rubber is something of a hybrid. It’s made from the rugged rubber you’d typically see on a dive watch strap but is styled after a pilot’s watch strap. This gives it a blend of practicality and style, which is typically what people are looking for when searching for an alternative strap for their daily wearer.
Of course, we’ve complicated the matter further by pairing it with a field watch. But with the 20mm lug size, it still fits like a dream. Plus, the turquoise colour offers a satisfying parallel to the turquoise lume on the hands and hour markers.
I think the key take away from looking at these 20mm rubber straps is that once you know the size and parameters of the strap you need, there’s a huge variety of straps out there. Plus, when you put practicality first, you might discover some designs and styles you weren’t initially considering that could be the perfect match.
Available at Watch Obsession.
