Frequently Asked Questions

• Installing Your New Strap

  Please visit our How-To page.

• Returns & Exchanges

  Please visit our Returns & Exchanges page.

• Shipping & Transit Times

  Please visit our Shipping Information page.

• Privacy, Terms of Use, Legal

  Please visit our Privacy, Terms, Legal page.

Straps - General

• What makes your straps affordable?

  There are many reasons, namely removing the middle man, economies of scale, and margins. We work directly with many manufacturers, factories, and workshops to bring you our very own 'Crown & Buckle' collection of watch straps. In doing so, we do not have to buy our straps from another brand name, who in turn is paying someone to make their straps for them. Next, we are able to maintain fair prices by stocking a very large inventory of straps and extras. We keep our margins as low as reasonable in order to reach you, our customer, especially in the current global economy.

  The big question is how this affects the quality of our products. It doesn't. In fact, we believe that we have more control over the product quality and can better adapt to changing trends in the watch industry since we directly control our own production. Simply put, you will receive an excellent quality watch strap at a very fair price.

• How are your straps made?

  We spent over a year developing the collection of watch straps that you will find available on our web site. Since then, we have continually invested in improving and refining our product lines as well. We have reached the best possible balance of quality materials, fit & finish, and affordability. Our leather straps are carefully crafted by hand, utilizing modern tools & machines. Despite our low price-point, our straps are not mass produced using hands-off manufacturing. Rather, our straps are produced to a quality and standard offered only by a hands-on production environment.

  Our leather straps are made using English, Italian, and American leather and are offered in styles current with today's watch strap trends (as well as timeless classic designs). Many models are inspired by the custom strap styles popularized by "Paneristi" and the vintage watch market, sans the lofty price tags.

  Our NATO ballistic nylon strap styles feature strong and resilient ballistic nylon webbing, which remains extremely comfortable and supple on the wrist. Our NATO straps are high-frequency welded, and our Premium NATO and Heavy Duty NATO straps are stitched together. Both constructions offer an extremely high tensile strength at different price points. All of our straps are finished with stainless steel hardware & buckles.

• How do I know what width/size/length to order?

  Please refer to our Sizing page for comprehensive information.

• What's the best way to find a strap on your site?

  Navigate our site by using the simple navigation bar at the top of every page. Once you have selected a category to browse, you can further narrow down your search by using the "NARROW BY" bar on the top right of each catalog page. The Narrow By bar allows you to specify a tighter criteria. Say you are shopping for a black leather 20mm strap. You could select first select "20mm Straps" from the "Width" drop down menu. From there, you can select Leather from the 'Type' selection, and then after that, select Black from the 'Color' selection.

  If you already know the name or a specific aspect about the strap you are looking for, you can use the Search Bar located at the top right corner of every page. Just type into the "Search..." field, and then hit enter or click on the magnifying glass to search. If you still need help finding something specific, give us a shout and we will gladly help you.

• Are your straps waterproof?

  All our nylon (NATO, Perlon, etc.) straps are absolutely waterproof. Our leather straps, however, are not. In order for leather to truly water proof, they need to be heavily processed with synthetic treatments and coatings. The end result is a material that isn't very recognizable as leather. As such, we steer clear of these materials for our product line.

  Our nylon straps make a great choice for diving and swimming. NATO straps are especially well suited for swimming, since they lace between the spring bars and the watch. That means if one of your spring bars breaks while diving, the watch will stay attached to your wrist via the remaining spring bar. Please note that swimming in chlorinated pools and repeated exposure to salt water can begin to fade the color on nylon straps.

• What is included with each strap?

  Of course, each strap comes with the keepers and buckle as pictured. However, any watch heads, spring bars, or tools pictured are purely for illustrative purposes and are not included with the sale of each strap. Additional buckles and spring bars are available separately, under our Extras section.

• Does each strap include spring bars?

  Spring bars have a long life and usually don't need to be replaced each time you change your strap. As such, and in order to keep our prices down (even if only by a couple bucks), we do not by default include spring bars with the straps when ordered. Spring bars themselves are inexpensive, it is the labor of sorting and pairing a set of bars with every strap sale that adds up for us. If you need spares or know your spring bars need replacing, we sell them by the pair in this section.

• Can I order a custom/one-off strap?

  We do not offer any custom ordering or one-off strap production. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Straps - Leather

• Are your straps more narrow at the buckle than at the lug?

  That depends on the model you have selected. The easiest way to tell is to compare the strap width to the buckle width that is listed under Strap Specs. For example, if you are looking at a 24mm strap, and the buckle specs say "Hybrid 22mm", then the strap tapers 2mm from the lug to the buckle. On the other hand, if you are looking at a 20mm strap, and the buckle specs say "Thumbnail 20mm", then it is a straight cut strap.

• How do I care for my leather strap?

  We advocate the belief of "wear it and forget about it!" The longer you wear your strap, the better it will develop it's own natural patina and become a true classic beauty. If you need to clean the lining or the top-side leather of your strap, please be aware that cleaning and conditioning products are likely to darken the leather. Only use pH balanced, made-for leather cleaners and conditioners. We like Fiebing's or Lexol products (Lexol is commonly available at auto parts stores).

  Using a soft cloth, apply a small amount of cleaner or conditioner to the strap. Work it in gently, then buff dry using a dry portion of the cloth. Remember, none of our leather products are waterproof, so avoid getting them soaked. Water aggressively dries out and shrinks leather.

• Can you change my buckle for me?

  Absolutely. All you need to do is add the buckle you would like to your strap order, and let us know that you would like us to install it for you (email us with your order number). We will include the original buckle from the strap with your order in case you want to change it again in the future. Additional buckles are available under our Watch Buckles section.

• Do "fat" spring bars fit your leather straps?

  For the most part, yes. The only exceptions are some of our slim and/or self-edged straps: the Gator and Rallye specifically,. The spring bar holes on these straps are smaller due to the way they are constructed. Feel free to double check the fitment of any strap by contacting us.

• Can Leather NATOs be shortened?

  They sure can! It's pretty simple. We have a video up on our YouTube channel illustrating the process.

Straps - Nylon

• What is the difference between regular, Premium, and Heavy Duty NATOs?

  Please see our About NATO Straps page for a detailed run-down.

• How do I care for my nylon strap?

  Keeping your nylon strap fresh is quite easy! It can be washed with mild hand soap and warm water. It can also be tossed in with your laundry. Whenever you get it wet, simply let it air dry. After swimming, rinse the strap with fresh water to wash away any chlorine or salt.

  Being a densely woven fabric with hundreds of nylon strands, it's normal to have some fraying on the strap throughout its lifespan. To seal a fray, simply hold the flame of a lighter close to the nylon, but not directly touching it. A couple of seconds of radiant heat is all it takes to seal them up, good as new.

• Do "fat" spring bars fit your nylon straps?

  This largely depends on the design of the watch lugs. Some lugs have only leave a tiny bit of space between the spring bar and the watch case, which would make fitting the fat spring bars difficult. For the large majority of watches, the fat spring bars will work fine with regular NATO straps. Fat spring bars will also work with the thicker Heavy Duty NATO straps on watches with ample lug space. The extra strength and quality of the fat spring bars make a great safety and strength upgrade when paired with a one piece nylon strap.

Buckles

• How do I order the correct size buckle?

  The safest way is to use a ruler or a caliper to measure the size of the buckle that is currently on your watch strap. If it is a strap that you ordered from Crown and Buckle, give us a shout and we will let you know the correct size to order. The buckle size for each strap we sell is also listed under the "Specs" section of the product listing.

• Are your buckles/hardware hyopallergenic?

  The hardware and buckles on all of our straps are stainless steel. However, the most common stainless steel grades (304 and 316) do contain up to 10% nickel! As such, our hardware and buckles are not considered hypoallergenic and should be avoided by those with nickel allergies.

• Can I change/replace a sewn in buckle?

  It is very difficult to do so without damaging the the strap, therefore we strongly urge you not to try removing a sewn in buckle.

• Am I able to change the buckle on my strap?

  With the exception of the sewn-in hardware on NATO style straps, all of our buckles including the Thumbnail, Hybrid, Classic, and Pre-V styles are all spring-bar buckles, which can easily be removed. Feel free to customize the buckle to better match your watch or personal preference.

• What is a Pre-V buckle?

  Pre-V is short for Pre-Vendome. Pre-Vendome refers to the period between Panerai's rebirth in 1993 and their acquisition by the Vendome group in 1996. All of the watches produced in that time period came with this style buckle, and even though you can still buy a Panerai with a "Pre-V" buckle to this day, the name has stuck.

• Do you sell deployant/deployment clasps?

  In general, we favor normal pin buckles over deployant clasps. Good quality deployant clasps are also very expensive, often times more expensive than our straps are themselves. As such, we do not stock any deployants for sale.

• Can you change my buckle for me?

  Absolutely. All you need to do is add the buckle you would like to your strap order, and let us know that you would like us to install it for you (email us with your order number). We will include the original buckle from the strap with your order in case you want to change it again in the future. Additional buckles are available under our Watch Buckles section.

Extras

• What size spring bars do I need to order?

  If your watch has 20mm lugs, order 20mm spring bars. The actual size of the spring bars you receive will be larger than the listed size -- they will be the proper size to fit a watch with the corresponding lug width.

• Are spring bars sold individually or as a pair?

  All spring bars are priced and sold as a pair. When you order a quantity of one (1) you will receive two (2) spring bars.

• I broke a pin on my spring bar tool. Now what?

  The "Basic" spring bar took comes standard with 2x extra tips for easy replacement. This tool should last many years of regular use. The "Keyring" and "Strap Multi-tool" both use hardened steel tips that are very durable. If one of these happens to break, reach out to us, and we can arrange for a replacement.

• What does your black PVD coating look like up close?

  It is a matte, brushed finished black PVD. It has a very nice stealth look to it, and it's perfect for matching black cased watches or black straps.

• Do "fat" spring bars fit my watch?

  In short, it depends on the application. Our fat spring bars have 0.78mm ends, which is the same as standard/universal spring bars, making these a great quality/strength upgrade for most watches. Please keep in mind that fat spring bars are usually too large in diameter to fit in any metal bracelet, and they may not work with various OEM or aftermarket straps from other companies.