I absolutely adore my bb58 on a tropic strap and have worn it day in day out for the past year.

I try to surf 2-3 times a week and the watch is always tucked safely under my wetsuit cuff. The spring bars (including the buckle) were recently changed.

For safety's sake, ive just bought a rubber nato but I feel the bb is now lacking a bit in vintage charm.

Are regular straps really that much more of a liability if the spring bars are swapped every year?

 

Well, you could always switch back and forth between NATO and regular straps depending on the activity you'll be doing that day. Or, you could just switch NATOs between rubber for surfing, and a vintage-feel leather for everyday wear. Plenty of places making nice leather NATOs these days, I'm happy to recommend a couple

 

Life is too short. Wear it how you like it. If you’re worried, make sure it’s insured.

 

Thanks for the suggestions

I don't fancy messing around with strap changes all the time.

Surely most dive watches are on straps, isofrane or similar and apart from the odd horror story, they're can't all be teetering on the edge of disaster.

I've been looking for a good insurance policy here in France but so far I've only found cover for theft, not accidental damage

 

A spring bar failure is highly unlikely as long as the bars are installed properly and you're using high quality ones (not the chinese knockoffs you can get for 5 cents apiece on Amazon). I wouldn't worry about it personally. Surf away.

As far as insurance goes, here in the US I think most people just insure their watches as a rider on homeowner's insurance. Not sure how it works in EU.

 

Back on the bracelet here.

Compared to a one or two piece strap, are the bracelet pins potential weak points?

For a watch that gets dunked in seawater a couple of times a week, how often should the pins be replaced?

Thanks!

 

Mesh dive strap

 

If you've ever disassembled or even just resized a bracelet, you know how secure those pins are. They aren't really weak points and should not need to be replaced.

Furthermore, the bracelet and all hardware are stainless steel and should not corrode. However, it's still a good idea to rinse the watch thoroughly with freshwater after every exposure to saltwater. This will also prevent the bezel from getting gunked up over time.

 

Good to know, thanks for this ! I always rinse the watch after a surf session all good

Loving the bb58 on the bracelet this week. A class act!