I bought a lot of bad straps before I built a good one. Some cracked. One smelled. One yellowed in a single summer. POPSTRAP exists because I got tired of being let down by the thing strapped to my wrist every day.
So before you spend a cent on a strap for your 40mm Swiss pocket-watch — or any watch — here are the mistakes I made. Skip them.
Mistake 1: I bought on price alone
My first silicone strap cost under €10. Felt like a win. Three weeks later the keeper tore, the surface went chalky, and the "silicone" turned out to be cheap TPU pretending. A strap touches your skin every day. Buying the cheapest option is the fastest way to rebuy it four times in a year.
The real cost of a strap isn't the sticker price. It's the sticker multiplied by how often you replace it. I broke down the honest numbers in what a €130 strap actually costs to make. Cheap is expensive. I learned that the slow way.
Mistake 2: I ignored the material spec
For years I didn't know TPU, FKM, peroxide-cured silicone and platinum-cured silicone were different things. They are not the same. Cheap straps hide behind the single word "silicone" and tell you nothing else — because the rest of the spec sheet would lose the sale.
Now I read the spec first. Shore hardness. Cure type. Medical-grade or not. If a brand won't publish those numbers, that silence is your answer. Start with our silicone strap guide, then the full material reference. Five minutes of reading would have saved me a drawer full of dead straps.
Mistake 3: I never measured my wrist
I guessed. Every time. Too loose and the watch slid to the back of my hand mid-meeting. Too tight and I had a red groove by lunch. A strap that fits correctly disappears — you forget it's there. That only happens when you size it properly. The watch felt cheap, and I blamed the watch. It was never the watch. It was the fit.
Ninety seconds with a tape measure fixes a problem I lived with for years. Our size guide walks you through it. Measure once. Wear it forever.
Mistake 4: I treated the strap as disposable
I'd wear one strap into the ground, never rinse it, then act surprised when it smelled or stained. A good strap is not a paper cup. Rinse it. Rotate it. Let it dry. A medical-grade silicone strap will outlast the watch if you give it thirty seconds of care a week.
Here's the short checklist I wish someone had handed me at the start:
- Read the spec — cure type and Shore hardness, not just the word "silicone."
- Measure your wrist — once, properly, before you order anything.
- Rinse weekly — warm water, mild soap, air dry.
- Buy fewer, better — one strap that lasts beats four that don't.
- Ask where it's made — a real answer means real accountability.
What I do differently now
Everything I got wrong became a rule for how POPSTRAP is built. The contrast is the whole brand:
| The mistake I made | What POPSTRAP does instead |
|---|---|
| Bought the cheapest strap | One strap at €130, built to outlast the watch |
| Never checked the material | Platinum-cured, medical-grade silicone, Shore A 50, spec published |
| Didn't know where it was made | Made in France, end-to-end, in our Loiret workshop |
| Owned one tired strap | Six colorways made for rotation |
The strap I should have bought first
If I could hand my younger self one thing, it would be the strap we make now. The POPSTRAP cage strap is the answer to every mistake on this list: medical-grade silicone, Shore A 50, platinum-cured, and made in France from start to finish. No mystery material. No guessing. No rebuying in three weeks.
It's a closed edition — six colorways, €130, free worldwide shipping. If you're choosing a strap for the Royal Pop, learn from my drawer of failures and start with the POPSTRAP cage strap for Drop 01. Built once. Worn forever.
POPSTRAP is an independent French brand and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or associated with Audemars Piguet® or the Swatch Group®. All trademarks belong to their respective owners.