Faulty Everest buckle?

Curious, and concerned... me being an idiot or a watch strap to alert others about?

I turned to £180 Everest rubber strap. Within 24 hours of use, broken.

Had fallen asleep with it on so the watch stayed in bed. No damage done.
Now, I'm happy to consider that I removed the watch in my sleep, that I rolled over on it, that SHE then inadvertently sat on it. But given mattresses are soft I still can't see that breaking a buckle on a rubber strap. Can you? Have never seen a broken buckle before.

So... either I should stay away from the brand and beg suggestions for a different make, or be grateful for the refund that the retailer has given me and take more care... (no apology or explanation after they inspected, but a refund. The retailer's initial thought was that the thread had gone, but I re-made the buckle and the cross pin fitted very tight, so it isn't that.)

This was after ruining a nice Nato because the Explorer spring pins are so close to the watch head, so it isn't going brilliantly.

Thanks!

Was anything actually broken or did the screw just come out of the buckle? Did some of the threads snap off inside of the buckle?

If nothing is broken you should just try some blue loctite threadlocker to make sure the screw stays threaded into the buckle.


We sell plenty of NATO-style straps to Explorer wearers. Which model Explorer do you have? You could probably remedy this issue with a thinner strap or curved spring bars.

Thanks!

Just unscrewed. Loctite sounds like a great idea.

The 39mm 214920 Rolex. I'll take a look at yours...

Didn't take the route of curved spring bars because I was concerned about the fit and possibly damaging the holes of the lugs with a curved bar end. Overly cautious?

(Would have been less concerned if the curved spring bars curved like the omega symbol with straight ends rather than a banana... if that makes sense!).