Extended Wrist Time with NTTD Watch with Bracelet

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While I wear mine on the Milanese the vast majority of the time, I do like to change things up every so often. I recently got this beige NATO form Cheapest NATO Straps, it has a similar weave to the ones you got from Crown & Buckle. I like this color combo, kind of gives the watch a more military feel to me.
That looks nice I like that. I wouldn’t be opposed to changing out straps , I’m just too hesitant to try it myself. Is scratching the lugs inevitable ?
 
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That looks nice I like that. I wouldn’t be opposed to changing out straps , I’m just too hesitant to try it myself. Is scratching the lugs inevitable ?
Thanks. If you're not experienced in changing straps, I wouldn't risk it on this watch.

Scratching the lugs can happen, but I wouldn't say it's inevitable. With proper tools, experience and techniques one can minimize the the risk of scratching. For example, I use plastic tape to help protect the lugs when changing straps.
 
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Thanks. If you're not experienced in changing straps, I wouldn't risk it on this watch.

Scratching the lugs can happen, but I wouldn't say it's inevitable. With proper tools, experience and techniques one can minimize the the risk of scratching. For example, I use plastic tape to help protect the lugs when changing straps.
I took mine to get the bracelet swapped at my local boutique. Didn’t notice till I got home but I have some light scratches on the lugs only noticeable in the light. I hear since it’s Ti it’ll kind of heal over time. They are tiny and can’t be felt with your finger.
 
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I took mine to get the bracelet swapped at my local boutique. Didn’t notice till I got home but I have some light scratches on the lugs only noticeable in the light. I hear since it’s Ti it’ll kind of heal over time. They are tiny and can’t be felt with your finger.
Ah man, that sucks. It doesn't look too bad and it might self heal a little, but I'd still let the OB know they caused a scratch. I feel the OB should take some responsibility for that. We're all human, but that shouldn't have happened at an OB.
 
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I agree but then again what could be done? To be honest I had to work at that to get a clear enough picture. And I don’t have experience with Titanium but with how light that is (it has to only be in the surface, I can’t feel it at all) and what I’ve read I feel like that would oxidize and disappear, no?

here is another pic where I can’t even see it.
 
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I agree but then again what could be done? To be honest I had to work at that to get a clear enough picture. And I don’t have experience with Titanium but with how light that is (it has to only be in the surface, I can’t feel it at all) and what I’ve read I feel like that would oxidize and disappear, no?

here is another pic where I can’t even see it.
If it's really not that bad, just forget about it and enjoy your watch. It probably will fade some with time and all watches are bound to pick up some light scratches if daily worn.

OTOH, if it bothers you, perhaps just email your OB sales person, including that pic. I don't think they can do anything about it, but perhaps they "might" offer some kind of compensation.
 
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I think I’m OK with it. I would think it will fade away to almost nothing since it’s so small to begin with. As long as it wasn’t chipped. Nonetheless, I could’ve lived with the original band. It’s amazing how I was on the second to last hole and now I’m on the third hole from the beginning of the strap. It’s a tighter fit than the second hole from the end was, just a tad. My wrist is more rounded than flat so I guess the small strap was more necessary. I may end up buying the long strap again in the future just to have it.
 
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Let me report back after the wait for the shorter bracelet to arrive and after spending some time with it. Even though the shorter bracelet certainly helped to reduce the amount of overlap under the clasp and improved the overall look it unfortunately didn't help to provide a positive effect in terms of comfort on my 17 cm (6.69") wrist. On the contrary comfort got even slightly worse. Let me do a quick comparison which might also help others and let me start with the "setting" I'm most comfortable with and which also looks the best imo as the reference point ... at least when wearing the watch with the regular bracelet on a relatively small wrist.

- Reference point (A): Third to last hole (from the 6 o'clock positon) on the regular bracelet feels comfortable but slightly loose on my wrist and lets the watch slide.

- (B) Second to last hole (from the 6 o'clock positon) on the regular bracelet causes much overlap under the clasp, but prevents the watch from easily sliding back and forth.

- (C) Fifth to last hole on (from the 6 o'clock positon) on the shorter bracelet causes less excess under the clasp, but isn't as comfortable as (B) which came as a big surprised to me.

- (D) Sixth to last hole on (from the 6 o'clock positon) on the shorter bracelet causes even less excess under the clasp, but for this reason lets the watch even slide more than (A).

As many of you mentioned before, wearing this watch with the Milanese bracelet on a smaller wrist can be problematic. And even though there is a shorter version of the bracelet doesn't automatically fix that. In some cases like mine it makes things even worse.
 
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Let me report back after the wait for the shorter bracelet to arrive and after spending some time with it. Even though the shorter bracelet certainly helped to reduce the amount of overlap under the clasp and improved the overall look it unfortunately didn't help to provide a positive effect in terms of comfort on my 17 cm (6.69") wrist. On the contrary comfort got even slightly worse. Let me do a quick comparison which might also help others and let me start with the "setting" I'm most comfortable with and which also looks the best imo as the reference point ... at least when wearing the watch with the regular bracelet on a relatively small wrist.

- Reference point (A): Third to last hole (from the 6 o'clock positon) on the regular bracelet feels comfortable but slightly loose on my wrist and lets the watch slide.

- (B) Second to last hole (from the 6 o'clock positon) on the regular bracelet causes much overlap under the clasp, but prevents the watch from easily sliding back and forth.

- (C) Fifth to last hole on (from the 6 o'clock positon) on the shorter bracelet causes less excess under the clasp, but isn't as comfortable as (B) which came as a big surprised to me.

- (D) Sixth to last hole on (from the 6 o'clock positon) on the shorter bracelet causes even less excess under the clasp, but for this reason lets the watch even slide more than (A).

As many of you mentioned before, wearing this watch with the Milanese bracelet on a smaller wrist can be problematic. And even though there is a shorter version of the bracelet doesn't automatically fix that. In some cases like mine it makes things even worse.

I was actually thinking about this. While I don’t have comfort issues at all I was wondering if I should buy the regular bracelet again just to have it if I ever wanted to switch it back. Sounds like we wear it at the same positions. Here was my regular bracelet before I had it swapped.
 
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I was actually thinking about this. While I don’t have comfort issues at all I was wondering if I should buy the regular bracelet again just to have it if I ever wanted to switch it back. Sounds like we wear it at the same positions. Here was my regular bracelet before I had it swapped.

These images show you how the watch with the regular bracelet fits my 17 cm wrist on the third to last hole (from the 6 o'clock position) which is definitely looser than I would want but still the closest to achieve a comfortable fit in order to wear the watch over the course of a day.
 
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Let me report back after the wait for the shorter bracelet to arrive and after spending some time with it. Even though the shorter bracelet certainly helped to reduce the amount of overlap under the clasp and improved the overall look it unfortunately didn't help to provide a positive effect in terms of comfort on my 17 cm (6.69") wrist. On the contrary comfort got even slightly worse. Let me do a quick comparison which might also help others and let me start with the "setting" I'm most comfortable with and which also looks the best imo as the reference point ... at least when wearing the watch with the regular bracelet on a relatively small wrist.

- Reference point (A): Third to last hole (from the 6 o'clock positon) on the regular bracelet feels comfortable but slightly loose on my wrist and lets the watch slide.

- (B) Second to last hole (from the 6 o'clock positon) on the regular bracelet causes much overlap under the clasp, but prevents the watch from easily sliding back and forth.

- (C) Fifth to last hole on (from the 6 o'clock positon) on the shorter bracelet causes less excess under the clasp, but isn't as comfortable as (B) which came as a big surprised to me.

- (D) Sixth to last hole on (from the 6 o'clock positon) on the shorter bracelet causes even less excess under the clasp, but for this reason lets the watch even slide more than (A).

As many of you mentioned before, wearing this watch with the Milanese bracelet on a smaller wrist can be problematic. And even though there is a shorter version of the bracelet doesn't automatically fix that. In some cases like mine it makes things even worse.
I believe the main reason the short bracelet is less comfortable for some is because the holes actually start closer to lug end. The bracelet doesn't articulate enough where the holes are, hence it feels stiffer around the wrist. If Omega eliminated the first two holes on the short, I believe that would solve things for most. Except for those with tiny wrists who might need those holes. The other thing that would help is a shorter clasp.

As I showed on the first page of this thread, manually breaking in the short bracelet to allow for more flex around the holes solved the comfort issue for me.
 
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@Mspeedster manually breaking in the bracelet didn't do it for me as the sixth to last hole (D) was already to loose and the fifth to last hole (C) slightly too tight - at least after a certain amount of time. I'm starting to believe - as you also just pointed out - that it's much more the length of the clasp instead of the bracelet itself which is causing the problems on smaller wrists and a certain shape as it has a more or less fixed position at the backside of the wrist like the watch on top.
 
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@Mspeedster manually breaking in the bracelet didn't do it for me as the sixth to last hole (D) was already to loose and the fifth to last hole (C) slightly too tight - at least after a certain amount of time. I'm starting to believe - as you also just pointed out - that it's much more the length of the clasp instead of the bracelet itself which is causing the problems on smaller wrists and a certain shape as it has a more or less fixed position at the backside of the wrist like the watch on top.
I see. If you're in between holes, that's the other problem. I found the standard to be either too tight or too loose, while the short just fits my wrist better.

However, to illustrate what I mean by the positioning of the holes and how break-in can help, see these two pics:

This is the standard bracelet, from when I first tried on the watch at an OB.


This 2nd pic is my watch on the short bracelet, 5th hole from the lug end. On the above (standard), the side is almost all mesh, whereas below (short), there are more holes on the side. But the area around the holes doesn't bend as much. So this is where breaking in the short bracelet really made a big difference in my case.


After manually breaking in the mesh area by the holes, I can wear the watch either quite tight or loose. Either way it feels very comfortable now.
 
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Or in other words, I guess what I'm saying is if you break-in the bracelet even more, you might find it becomes more comfortable on the tighter hole setting.
 
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I love the watch but I hate the bracelet. I have a 6.6" wrist (16.75 cm) and with the medium length mesh bracelet on the second hole from 6 o clock it was not loose but created a red hot spot on my wrist after only a few minutes. I sent the watch back to the Omega Boutique and they exchanged it for a short mesh bracelet. On the 5th hole from 6 o'clock it's not too snug with a bit of play, but after 30 minutes it creates an uncomfortable red indentation. I was wearing it on the 6th hole and it flopped around but at least there was no indentation on my wrist. After reading all the threads on this forum I wore the watch backwards to move the clasp to the thinner side of my wrist near my pinky finger. This seems to be comfortable on the 5th hole from 6 o'clock and so far no red indentations. If this continues after wearing it for a whole day I will change the straps to the opposite sides of the watch.

If this doesn't work I will remove the strap and use the Theage titanium mesh strap from Amazon.
Edited:
 
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The bottom line is the bracelet is a god-awful design. When it comes to any deployant clasp, a custom fitting bracelet/strap is an absolute must. If this bracelet had removable links, it would be great. Personally, I prefer this watch on the nato.

I was really surprised to see Omega doubled-down on this shitty design and offered it in stainless steel.
 
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I guess I will leave my short straps alone. Found out with heat and exercise my hand and wrist swells up enough that wearing it on the 6th hole from the lugs doesn't slip anymore. 5th hole for indoor A/C environment. 6th hole for hot outdoors.
I agree with the_drunk_dial, the bracelet is horrible. I tried on a Seamaster 300 Heritage today and I love the tapered bracelet with micro adjust, that watch in blue is beautiful.
 
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I think the issue is that Omega didn't bother with a short clasp for this bracelet. The end result is that the bracelet can't wrap around the wrist for smaller sizes.
 
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I went with Staib, quite happy about it.
 
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I think the issue is that Omega didn't bother with a short clasp for this bracelet. The end result is that the bracelet can't wrap around the wrist for smaller sizes.

This is a correct assessment. The length of the clasp interferes with the mesh's ability to wrap close the wrist, depending on its position.

Here's a tip that could help some folks - depending on where the clasp sits and how much the mesh is sticking away from the wrist.

Bend the clasp along the factory curvature gently, little by little until it gets closer to the skin. Makes an incredible difference in comfort and appearance. Keep in mind that titanium bends more easily than steel. Be patient and do it in small increments. At each increment, make sure the clasp is functioning as it should.

You are welcome! 👍

Disclaimer: Taking advice from an Internet rando can result in rendering a $1500 bracelet unusable... 🤔