Artem expands its HydroFlex strap range with fan-requested pops of colour
Jamie WeissI’m tired of boring watch strap colours. One of the great joys of throwing an aftermarket strap on your watch is that you can experiment with different colours, textures and aesthetics – but so often I see watch enthusiasts simply swapping out black, grey and blue OEM straps for third-party straps in similarly unimaginative hues. I think this is a particular crime on a high-end watch; like painting a Lamborghini silver. If you’re gonna drive a Lambo, make it orange!
Thankfully, Australian strap maker Artem’s popular HydroFlex FKM rubber sailcloth watch strap range has expanded with two new colourful variants: a green/orange strap and a navy blue/white strap, both colour combos that fans have been asking for. These designs, with their contrasted stitching (and eye-popping under in the green/orange model’s case) are perfect for dive watches, or any watches where a hit of colour makes sense.
You might think the green/orange is a somewhat unusual colour combination, but it actually works well with a wide variety of watches. I put one on my Tudor Black Bay Pro – a watch with no notes of green to speak of – and it looks the business.
The navy blue/white colourway is a little more standard, but that hit of white from the stitching makes a world of difference. I can see it going very well with an Omega Seamaster Diver 300M ‘James Bond’, but I think it also works well with reverse panda chronographs, like this Norqain Freedom 60 Chrono Blue.
Artem’s HydroFlex straps rank as some of the best in the industry, too. A hybrid strap crafted with a premium FKM rubber base and layered with Artem’s signature synthetic embossed material, HydroFlex straps are water-resistant, flexible, and durable – yet butter-soft in a way few rubber straps can match. While they make particular sense paired with tool watches, their versatile design lends them well to all sorts of watches, from world timers to pilot’s watches and everything in between. They also make a great present for the watch enthusiast in your life this holiday season!
Artem HydroFlex straps retail for A$379 and are available in a range of lug widths, from 18mm up to 22mm. Find out more at Artem Straps’ online store here.