Hi strap lovers, Rolex and Nato straps have been inextricably linked since Sean Connery as James Bond turned up wearing one in the 1964 movie “Goldfinger”. Rolex reputedly refused to provide a watch for Bond to wear in the movie and the actual watch that Bond wore was the director’s personal time piece (a scenario that seems incredible to us now, given the proliferation of product placements in movies today). I think this movie and ‘Thunderball’, the 1965 Bond movie has sold a million Rolex watches and has prevented the Nato strap for slipping into obscurity (the face that the strap Bond actually wore is not a Nato strap is besides the point).
Anyway, was not too surprising when actor, Rolex watch collector and all around cool dude Orlando Bloom recently appeared rocking a vintage Milgauss on a Nato, but was a bit of a twist is that the Nato strap in question appeared to be made from chocolate Crocodile! I must say this makes for a pretty stylish turn on the Rolex-Nato strap combo. So, when my good customer Robert from the UK contacted me to request I make him a copy, I had just the thing: a beautiful Chocolate Giant Round scale Croc flank that given it’s size must have come from a 10 footer and since its the flank section is soft and supple enough to be used as a Nato with proper backing in a thin layer of vegetable tanned leather to prevent it’s stretching. Here is the result. Robert is very please and I hope will send some photos of it mounted to his vintage Sub. soon.
