Uncle Seiko Tropic Strap ($39.00)
June 7, 2018
I think it goes without saying that one of the greatest villains in all of fiction has to be Darth Vader. In terms of ambition and power and talent he is near unparalleled in depth and reach. He has a great many traits of a modern day superhero like cool weapons, a power that cannot be replicated or explained, and a very snazzy outfit. If it was not for the singular flaw of wanting to destroy all of the jedi and all the good things they stand for, I think it is safe to say he would be a really likable guy.
It just goes to show that sometimes all it takes is one bad trait to totally change how someone or something is viewed or characterized. I decided to write a review on a tropic strap I just received in the mail a few weeks ago that seems to have this exact same issue. I have previously written a large article on tropic straps in general and I focused most of my concentration around the tropic styled strap that came with my Oris Divers 65 from the factory ( and it was brilliant) . Take a look at that review here if you want some back story and history on the Tropic. (https://strapsense.com/2018/03/01/the-tropic-strap/)
If you read that, then great, if not, I won’t hold it against you! Now, lets take a look at the strap for this review up close. This is the Uncle Seiko Tropic Strap. Like always, I allow the vendor to speak first and up front about his product. Here are what the good Uncle has to say about this strap.
It has been a long time coming, but I finally am able to offer my own Uncle Seiko version of the classic Tropic Strap. The Tropic was a standard on many of the diver watches of the 1960’s and 70’s. Here it my version, revamped for a new generation of watch collectors. Available in 3 sizes–19mm, 20mm, and 22mm. It is made to hold the larger (2.5mm) spring bars, which are included. I will be uploading better pictures in weeks to come. The length is approximately 78mm for the short side and 128mm for the longer side. It has a single-keeper, and this is the only length available. I think you will love it!
DIMENSIONS
I ordered the 20mm strap from Uncle Seiko. I have a couple of 20mm divers and this was going to help reinforce that vintage diver look that is so popular these days. My strap was a solid 20.0mm at lugs as advertised. The buckle end tapers down to 18mm and the free end tapers down in stages, first stage tapers evenly to 17mm and then finally down to 11.4 at the very end. Makes for very easy insertion into the keeper. The straps profile is that of a padded strap with ridges on either side. But in general it is 5mm at the lugs in thickness and it tapers down to 3mm at the free end. A nice size of sport without being too heavy or bulky. Just as a tropic strap should be. The length of my strap is exactly 178mm as advertised on the free end and buckle is 80mm long. On my 6.75″ wrist that means I am on the 6th or 7th hole from the end. Unlike most straps, the Tropic has basically unlimited amount of holes in the strap. If it can fit around your wrist you will find an adjustment hole that works for you.
DESIGN
The design of the uncle seiko tropic is impressive. It has some well thought out features that have made this a recognized strap in the watch world. Lets start with the lugs. You may say a strap has no lugs, and I would say you are right, but the strap starts their and the first feature worth talking about is located their. The Uncle Seiko strap has holes molded into it to fit the BIG Seiko turtle style spring bars. Like all things Seiko diver no aspect of the watch or strap design is overlooked. These beefy springs bars which give so many straps issues, are welcome in the Uncle Seiko Tropic.
Right out of the package this strap impresses more than most tropics on the market. It has extremely detailed and crips mold lines. The basketweave pattern on the strap is very clearly defined and no two lines blur together. The diamond shaped holes for the pin on the buckle to go through are crisp and cleanly cut out, with zero flash left over like on cheaper Tropics. The edge border which can only be described as a sawtooth edge is very defined and precise and executed perfectly. On the bottom of the strap, the traditional Tropic styled diamond reliefs that keep the skin dry are present and like everything else on this strap physically they are without a flaw. From a geometric point of view this strap is darn near perfect.
So all is perfect then. Well sadly no. Plastics and rubber molding is a much an art form as tanning Leather. Their as as many different grades of EPDM rubber, and silicone, and plastic as their are stars in the sky (Disclaimer: that is a totally unsubstantiated claim as I have neither counted the stars nor the kinds of rubber with any real precision). My point is that the ways to mix and pour and harden and treat a phenolic of any kind is a game of give or take. Make a super compliant silicone or rubber and you will not be able to extract extreme detail from a mold. Make a rubber or silicone that will hold its shape and you gain the ability to match the mold with amazing detail, but you give up compliance and that wonderful supple feeling a nice soft strap can give you. Uncle Seiko chose detail over suppleness. More on that later.
KEEPER AND BUCKLE
The Uncle Seiko strap has but one floating keeper. It is finished in the same fashion as the strap with the basket weave pattern on the surface and a sawtooth border on both sides. It is appropriately sized and does a good job of holding the free end of the strap but the straps stiffness means you often must choose a position that allows the strap to bow out or the free end to hang out too far. The buckle on the strap is brushed and is actually quite flat in the plane of the strap, and fairly curvaceous around the edges. To my eyes it seems a bit out of place with the sharp edges and design of the strap. It is very flat, noticeably so, and has a hard time conforming to the wrist and staying flat on the strap. It is stamped Uncle Seiko on the inside of the buckle, which is a detail that I LIKE to see, but the finish is lacking in quality to my eyes, as it looks rough and cheaply made.
HOW DOES IT WEAR
As brilliant as the physical design of the strap is in term of detail, this is where I have issues with it. It wears more like plastic than rubber. Their is no good way say this. This straps wants to be straight as a ruler. It fights you when you ask it to bend and conform. When I wear it so that it is comfortable the strap is so rigid it has stiff leg syndrome, and holds the watch at a hard angle off my wrist. When I wear as tight as I dare to (meaning I can only get my pointer finger under it to the first digit) the watch lays flat but the buckle still sticks out at a noticeable 30 degree angle. The only way to avoid this is to make the strap so tight it is uncomfortable and leaves indention on my wrist.
The stiffness also plays havoc with free end when you place it through the keeper. It is so stiff it wants to be straight. So if the single keeper is kept close to the buckle then it sticks out straight like an antenna. If you move it close to the end of the free end, then it bows out like a warped plank of wood. This strap does not want to be curved. I am sure you could do some tricks to make it permanently curved, but having handled other softer straps, you should not have to.
The strap while looking brilliant, feels far more like plastic to the touch than soft silicone of the OEM seiko strap or the factory Oris Rubber tropic strap.
WHAT IS THIS STRAP GOOD FOR
This strap is very good for photography. Its crisp mold lines and fine detail make it a pleasure to behold. However, I would think that this strap is probably not the most comfortable Tropic strap on the market right now. Having said that, if you have a larger wrist and are very hard on straps, this one may be fine for you. The larger diameter wrists would keep the free end minimal so only one keeper is needed, and the plastic nature is sure to be more wear resistant than ultra soft silicone. Make no mistake, I do not doubt the quality of the strap, I just question the material choice.
WHERE CAN I GET IT
The only place I found this strap is from Uncle Seiko himself. Here is a link.
SUMMARY
Uncle Seiko has produced a beautiful strap. However, I hold that it looks better than it wears for average or smaller wristed people. If you do a simple search on Tropic straps you will find their is no shortage of them on the net. I have only sampled three of them so far. The OEM Oris is still the cream of the crop. The Uncle Seiko which came across as way to plasticy for me. Lastly is the Tech Swiss strap I found on Amazon for an amazing price: https://amzn.to/2Jfk3Ka
The Tech Swiss strap was actually quite good and does a decent effort at playing the role of a Tropic styled strap. The mold detail is not up to the same level as the Uncle Seiko, but it is soft and comfortable to wear and conforms to the wrist far more easily. It is going for about 12 dollars at the time of this writing and at that price it is really hard to argue with.
If you do some searching you can find a few more on amazon as well… but I cannot recommend or warn you about them as I have not tried them and I will ONLY comment on something I have handled and worn. If you want to be more daring, other boutique watch strap makers also offer their own version of the tropic. Look into Watch Gecko for theirs as I have heard good things about it.
In the end the Uncle Seiko has a lot going for it, but like Vader, it has one serious character flaw that I cannot over look. Unless you have large wrists, I would honestly look elsewhere for a more supple strap.