I have been eyeing a two-piece silicone strap as a new summer alternative for my go-to Seiko SKX013, since the Bonetto Cinturi ZuluDiver tends to be on the bulky side at times with the true NATO style double under pass. By happy coincidence, the kind folks at BluShark NATO’s reached out to me to see if I’d be interested in trying some of their straps. This is the first of two straps I’ve received from them.
In full transparency, I asked if there were seeking anything in return, and/or if I had complete liberty to write up my thoughts on them, and they were very open and basically just said, we will send them, and it would be great if you could provide a review, no further direction (or compensation) beyond that, so what follows are my own opinions and findings.
The ordering process was straight forward, I received a nice confirmation email that my order had shipped with the tracking number included, and follow up emails on how to care for your strap, FAQ’s, sizing, etc., a really nice touch. The straps arrived in a nice BluShark branded box, and this silicone strap was in nice branded packaging and a branded microfiber chamois was even included, perfect for laying the watch face down while changing out the straps.
The smooth deep indigo / navy blue was exactly what I was seeking and everything has a nice quality feel to it right out of the box. The brushed steel hardware has a nice, subtle BluShark logo etched into it as well. Changing was very quick and easy with their “Kwik Change” spring bars, and fitment is spot on. The strap was a little on the long side so I did a simple cut with some rounded/beveled off corners to dial in the length.
The real unique part of this strap are the two floating keepers, which have a tab on the inside to sit in the strap holes to keep everything flush and in place. This makes the strap ever so slightly more difficult to pass through the keepers, but it’s a detail that I wasn’t expecting and really like since you won’t have any floating keepers and you can really dial it in to sit exactly where you want.
The little tab on the inside of the keepers fit perfectly into the tang holes and allow the keepers to stay in place and sit nice and flush.
The strap is exactly what I was looking for and has a great feel to it, is a nice versatile thickness, that one could even argue could be maybe slightly thin for thicker cased watches like the SKX, though it certainly doesn’t feel overpowered or anything like that, it sits nicely flush to the wrist compared to the watch’s thick case.
Going with the smooth texture (the offer a textured version as well), I wasn’t sure if the strap would pick up every bit of dust and lint along the way, but I’m happy to report it doesn’t, and it washes very easily, always looking like new despite grimey yardwork, sunscreen, pool duty, etc.
Overall, it’s hard to really hype up a strap that works as intended, but I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect since the BluShark straps are priced so well. I’m happy to provide a positive report on this one being the quality seems really nice so far at the very reasonable $18 with free shipping on orders over $25, and offers like buy 2 straps get 1 free and buy 3 straps get 2 free!
Last but not least, it’s worth noting that BluShark also sells a lower priced single pass alternative to the Bonetto Cinturini Zuludiver at just $15, presumably made out of the same material as this one. I have received one of their Canvasoft straps for review as well, and so far, I’m really pleased to have a found a nice affordable sport strap option. Head over to BluSharkStraps.com for more info.
