Last Updated on May 29, 2021
My 22nd birthday was this past week on Wednesday. To celebrate, I received a few new bands to use with my Apple Watch. Most of the time, I choose to wear either my dark navy blue band or the classic NATO strap. Recently, I expressed an interest in changing up my style with new types of bands. I began shopping for leather straps and alternative color options to play around with. If you’re familiar with Apple’s product lines, you probably know their leather bands don’t come cheap either. (Then again, with Apple, nothing does.)
My favorite strap from Apple is their Hermès Single Tour leather band. The elite Apple Watch band costs roughly $340.00. As much as I love the look and style of it, I find the price tag pretty much impossible to justify. Not only is it overly expensive but I can’t shake the growing fear of obsolescence should Apple decide to change the style of the adaptor on the next generation of their Watch. That is the main reason I was so excited about discovering Valkit’s leather band available on Amazon.
For less than $20.00, you can achieve a very similar look and feel to the design of the Hermès Single Tour. While certainly not of the same quality, Valkit does a pretty incredible job of mimicking it at a fraction of the cost. The leather shape, cut, and color are about the same. The stitching is surprisingly neat and well done. The band is comfortable and looks really great when it is being worn. The imperfections are minor and really are only noticeable upon close inspection.
With fall right around the corner, I am really excited to be able to wear a brown leather strap on my Watch. I am sure it will look great with all the brown and olive green clothes that go along with the season. Plus, the leather band is nice back-up for more formal occasions where a plain Sport strap might look a bit tacky.
My sister and her boyfriend kindly bought me a new Nike Sport Strap. This was particularly exciting because I’ve been wanting to buy a Nike strap for nearly a year now!
I love the breathability of these bands. The airflow is very comfortable and makes for a great casual everyday wear band. I thought I wanted the new black & white Oreo Nike band that Apple offers but I decided having a plain black on black strap is a staple I should probably own.
I did seriously just reconsider swapping it out for this one. But I don’t think I will.
My third and final band was one I ordered myself. Sadly, it did not turn out all that great. I’m pretty positive it will be returning it for a refund. Again, with my recent Hermès obsession, I wanted a Cuff lookalike. This, however, was a total disappointment. First off, I wanted a black Cuff strap. What I received was more of a rosey charcoal gray.
While the leather strap was comfortable on my wrist, I felt like it didn’t look good on me. I have a friend who actually owns this very same band and it looks great on him! I just felt like it was too much on the sides of my wrist and you couldn’t see enough of it on the front. It is hard to explain but it just felt off-balance. 
I considered reordering it in a different color but I probably won’t. I think the Cuff style simply isn’t for me. That’s alright though. I have more Watch strap choices now than I did before and I think my new black and brown additions will be enough to keep me going for awhile. I’m really looking forward to wearing them.
Of all the bands that Apple offers, which is your favorite? Any third-party picks?
