Benchmark BasicsBenchmark Leather Watch Band - Crazy Horse Oiled Leather One-Piece Watch Straps for Men or Women - 18mm, 20mm, 22mm or 24mm Widths

The media could not be loaded. Very high quality band, especially for the price. I purchased it to replace the original band on my Fossil watch that was "genuine leather", meaning nothing more than plastic leather, not actual leather. This band you can tell is the real deal made out of quality leather not crappy plastic "leather" by the way it scuffs and the smell.I have a Timex Weekender that has the same style of band and the original Timex band is significantly thinner than this band, I will be buying a second to update my Timex band as well.Changing it out was very easy. Took less than 5 minutes. The dark brown color with the silver is beautiful!This band is the perfect size for either a smaller wrist like I have or a large wrist. If you have a smaller wrist, you'll have to tuck the end into itself, which I don't mind at all. Actually, I prefer this look.It's a good stiffness and flexibility, not too loose. Not too stiff.It's too early to tell how easy or hard this will be to clean, but with it being leather all you'll have to do is condition it every once in awhile and it'll be looking good for a long time.

It's a soft, comfortable leather strap. Plenty of strap left over for my 7 inch wrist. Confident it can accommodate a 8+ inch wrist. Looks great on my bronze Alphatrident watch! We'll see how long it lasts.

Update: I liked the green one a lot so I picked up a brown one in the same size. The product I received is NOT as described or pictured. While the photo and description are of oiled brown leather, which should be a soft almost brushed finish, the band I received is a polished brown finish, and it's not as thick or supple as the green strap either. It's still well constructed and has the same quality hardware, but the leather is nowhere near as nice and I don't get the same feeling of confidence in its potential durability. Like the green strap, the brown one was dry and very thirsty, so I've made a couple applications of Obenauf's LP already to protect and soften it up. That said, it looks pretty good and I'm going to keep it, but will knock the rating of this strap down from 5 to 4 and while I really want to order the oxblood color I'm not confident now that I'm going to receive what I'm paying for.Very nice quality leather and stitching. Color in the photo is spot on, it's a dark spruce with a grayish tint. Stitching and hardware look substantial and clean. The leather was quite dry, a bit stiff, and scratched easily. That was remedied with Obenauf's LP, which I apply right away and regularly to most leather products anyway. With that treatment, the leather became soft and pliable. It was very thirsty. Color didn't change much, where sometimes LP makes stuff a lot darker. I've never used a leather NATO before, and found it to be even more comfortable than a nylon one. My small wrists, just under 7", have me using the tightest fitting on this strap. Once the leather stretches, I'll need to add a hole.

UPDATE: Seller reached out to me, and explained in great detail how this can happen with the Oxblood color because of the manufacturing steps. They offered a refund for my troubles. I have a brown band from the same company, and have never experienced the dye transfer issue.Ordered this strap for a watch on my wedding day. It looked great in photos, and was generally comfortable compared to other straps. It did require some curved spring bars to fit, but I already had those for other straps in my collection so no issues there.However, at the end of the evening it had severely stained both my wrist and the inside of the white dress shirt sleeve cuff. The stain never came out of the shirt, and took days to come off my skin completely.Overall, I would not recommend this product in the Oxblood color because of dye transfer issues. The natural brown color is great, and I get many compliments on it with no dye issues at all.

I bought the 22-mm Benchmark Basics leather strap, in dark brown with polished silver fittings. It installed quickly, fits properly, looks classy, feels good, and it should last a long time. I use it for a Seiko SRPE93 Prospex diver’s watch. For non-aquatic use, wearing the Benchmark Basics leather strap avoids the challenges of having a constantly-moving stainless-steel keeper on Seiko's factory silicone rubber strap.

I haven't had it very long, but so far I like it very much. It perfectly complements the Timex Expedition chrono I put it on and makes it truly look like a retro aviator watch. The leather color is perfect. The strap itself is a bit thin and I suppose it will stretch and/or wear rather quickly, and I do try to keep it dry, but as far as looks are concerned, it's a hit. I got a "Nice watch!" the very first day I wore it, from a gas station attendant. It's a $50 Timex chrono with this strap, so we're not talking fancy... but it wears with style, especially if you like that retro Long Range Desert Patrol or "Rat Patrol" look. Since I'm currently fascinated by pseudo aviators these days, this is a good way to make that statement for not a lot of money, and the NATO strap helps tremendously. I'm new to the G10 NATO and Zulu, but I'm already experimenting with others (I also like black nylon "special ops" style, which I just put on my old Chase-Durer UDT chrono). I hope this is as good a buy as it seems to be. If it is, I will try more. (After several months of use, this fairly thin band has stretched some and has become stained with sweat, so it doesn't look as sharp as it first did. If your watch is a rugged outdoor type, then it's probably all right, but it won't look as dressed-up as you might prefer. Knock a star off for this, but I still like the strap all in all.)--W.D. Gagliani, author of Savage Nights and other thrillers