The NATO Strap

January 14th 2024 was a memorable day in Denmark.

After exactly 52 years on the throne, Queen Margrethe II abdicated. For more than half a century she had been a constant presence - monarch, figurehead and an institution of which the Danes are immensely proud.

Her abdication, the first voluntary one by a Danish monarch in almost 900 years, made way for her eldest son, Crown Prince Frederik, who became King Frederik X.

So what does any of this have to do with a NATO strap?

Quite a lot, actually.

King Frederik is what we in Denmark call a frømand - a graduate of the Danish Frogman Corps, the maritime special operations force of the Danish Armed Forces and roughly comparable to the US Navy SEALs or the British Special Boat Service.

It is an extraordinarily demanding programme and very few people ever earn the right to call themselves a Frogman. Frederik did.

And on the day he became King of Denmark, with just about every watch in the world theoretically available to him, Frederik chose to wear an Omega Seamaster made for the Frogman Corps.

On a grey NATO strap.

There was something rather wonderful about that.

Here was one of the grandest occasions imaginable, yet on his wrist was a proper tool watch attached to perhaps the simplest and most utilitarian watch strap ever made. No precious metal bracelet. No attempt at extravagance. Just a very good watch on a strip of grey nylon designed to do a job.

And somehow it looked completely right.

Rediscovering the NATO
Having worn our Admiralty Grey NATO strap again for the past month, I have rather fallen back in love with it.

The 20mm Enoksen Admiralty Grey NATO strap

At Enoksen we have introduced a number of new straps and bracelets over the years and, somewhere along the way, I think we almost forgot just how good the NATO strap is.

It is comfortable, robust, secure and wonderfully uncomplicated. It is equally at home in the sea, on a bicycle or under the cuff of a shirt.

Perhaps most importantly, it doesn't try to upstage the watch attached to it.

There is also something very Enoksen about that. We have always believed that a tool watch should be capable of being used rather than merely admired. The NATO strap follows exactly the same philosophy.

Everything about it exists for a reason.

Born for a purpose
What we now commonly call the NATO strap can trace its origins back to a British Ministry of Defence specification issued in 1973.

The original colour was Admiralty Grey - still, to my eyes at least, the definitive NATO strap.

The design itself is remarkably simple. The strap passes underneath the watch and through both spring bars, rather than being attached separately to each side of the case like a conventional leather or rubber strap.

That matters.

If one spring bar fails, the watch can remain attached to the other. It is such a simple piece of engineering that it is easy to overlook just how clever it is.

The nylon webbing is strong, lightweight and fast drying. Get it wet, get it dirty, wash it and wear it again. There is very little to go wrong and almost nothing to maintain.

Which, of course, is precisely why the military liked it.

Over the years Admiralty Grey was joined by black, navy, olive green and countless regimental and military variations. Then came the striped versions, including the grey-and-black combination that became associated with James Bond.

And somewhere along the way something designed purely as military equipment escaped into civilian life.

Fifty years later
That is perhaps what I like most about the NATO strap.

It wasn't invented by a luxury brand. It wasn't designed by a marketing department and it certainly wasn't created to make a watch look more expensive.

It was designed to solve a problem.

More than fifty years later it still does exactly that.

If I were going diving, hiking, cycling or travelling somewhere where losing a watch would be particularly inconvenient, a NATO would still be one of my first choices. But reducing it merely to an “adventure strap” rather misses the point.

Put an Admiralty Grey NATO on a good tool watch and there is an understated elegance to the combination. Nothing is pretending to be something it isn't.

Which takes us back to Frederik X.

On the day he became King of Denmark, he could have worn virtually anything. Instead, the former Frogman chose a watch connected to that part of his life, fitted to one of the simplest straps imaginable.

And it worked.

The original Enoksen Deep Dive E01/A - our first ever watch

 

Perhaps that is the NATO strap's greatest trick. It was designed as military equipment – inexpensive, secure and dependable. Fifty years later it can still do exactly that job.

But as the King of Denmark demonstrated, it doesn't necessarily look out of place on the grandest of occasions either.

And yes, King Frederik also owns an Enoksen Deep Dive.

But that is a completely different story.

Meanwhile you can take a look at our straps and accessories here.