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James Bond NATO Strap

The trend of NATO Watch straps
The NATO straps were an essential part of the British military uniform during the Cold War. The grey coloured, nylon straps became extremely popular amongst the common population towards the end of the war. Today, many manufacturers and big brands deal in unique varieties of NATO strap that are renowned all over the globe.

The James Bond Connection
One of the primary contributors to making NATO straps a huge hit was it featuring in the James Bond movies. Sean Connery played 007 in the first two movies of the super hit franchise, and returned to play Bond once again in ‘Goldfinger’ in the year 1964. He wore a Rolex Submariner this model is one of best sellers in Rolex’s vintage collection today. In Dr. No, he wore the Rolex Submariner with a leather strap. However, in Goldfinger there are several close-up shots that clearly show Connery wearing the watch with a striped Nylon strap. The strap has achieved cult status and is known as the James Bond NATO Strap. Here it must be mentioned that this movie was shot before the introduction of NATO straps in the military.

Buy The James Bond NATO Strap

Speculations Galore
The Big Crown Rolex Submariner with 16 mm strap was not fitting enough for the watch that had a distance of 22 mm between its lugs. To this day, it is unclear as to why was this relative little nato strap, was used with the unusually big watch. Nevertheless, the watch has been a craze amongst watch collectors and enthusiasts for decades. The James Bond NATO Strap was originally thought of with alternating stripes of black and Admiralty Grey. Till many years, reproduction of this James Bond NATO Strap was sold around the world. But with the advent of high definition blue ray videos, it finally became clear that Sean Connery never wore a NATO strap, but a standard buckle strap. Also, the James Bond NATO Strap had 9 stripes instead of 5 in three colours, black, dark burgundy and dark olive.

The new James Bond NATO Strap
The shocking revelation is relatively new. Ironically, even the current James Bond, Daniel Craig worn an identical 6538 Big Crown Rolex Submarines with the grey and black alternating pattern NATO strap. The watch was a present from the current producer of the James Bond movies, Barbara Broccoli. At WatchBandit you can find the two versions of the original movie style James Bond watch straps, one in NATO version and another in RAF version. These are identical to Connery’s strap in every way possible.

Buy The James Bond NATO Strap