Rolex Tudor Submariner on a Nato

It has been almost a year since my initial ill-fated attempt at putting a Nato strap on my sub. That resulted in me smashing the face to pieces on the bathroom floor.

Half of the time since then has been spent with the sub languishing with Rolex rather than on my wrist, waiting for them to sort it out. And only now have I felt confident enough to fit another Nato. This time I went for a gunmetal grey strap with black PVD hardware, inspired by the creations of Project X, in particular the sub they created for Daniel Craig.

Probably won't be long before the bracelet goes back on, but it's nice to have a change now and then.

Smashed sub: when time stood still

This is what happens when you drop a Submariner face down on a tiled bathroom floor. To be honest I wasn't expecting quite such devastation, but I have put this watch through so much abuse that I'm guessing time was up and the crystal couldn't cope with another full-force impact.

I blame the Nato strap. It seemed like such a good idea to replace the bracelet but the strap was always fiddly to get fastened. It was during one of these fastening manoeuvres when disaster struck.

The upside to this is that I will receive back from the watchmaker a fully refurbished, polished and serviced Submariner. When this will be I don't know - they've had the thing for weeks already.

Time has never passed so slowly.

Racing stripes part one: The Bond watch strap

I knew that racing stripes would be coming into my wardrobe sooner or later and so they have. This watch strap was actually an affordable way to sort out my Submariner without laying out £400 on a new stainless steel bracelet. The plan was to use it sparingly to help the original bracelet last longer, and also to refurbish the bracelet while it's off.

But I'm growing quite fond of it and there is obviously the James Bond nod (he wore a similar strap on his sub in Doctor No, in the days before M kitted him out with a Seiko).