ZULUdiver Carbis Quick Release Silicone Rubber with Crazyhorse Leather Insert

Summer is here. Talk of beaches and bar b ques are on everyone’s mind. Laughter and fun and spending time with family are at every corner.  Summer vacations and relaxing make up the very fabric of what my best memories are sewn from.  However, if you live in certain parts of the world, summer carries with a slight and unavoidable issue that can only be described as a tax on that fun.  You guessed it, heat.  Unimaginable suffocating and unending melt your flesh heat. Those in the southeastern United States also get the added benefit of humidity that lingers about 90% most of the days from June to October.  This heat can be so bad that we tend to welcome the occasional hurricane with celebrations and parties to break up this monotony. 

But as watch lovers, this also means we get to dig out our very best summer watches! We tend to gravitate more toward those favorite divers and G shocks whose capabilities dare us to test them. Those will always be perennial favorites of the active crowd and I love those as much as anybody. They are a steadfast and solid choice as they are durable, rugged and can take being banged about on the ambulance gurney when you inevitably pass out due to heat stroke.

Some of us, however, still want to wear a nice leather strap every once in a while and that poses a real problem for those inclined to live in the tropics.  The common solution would be to put on a NATO and go about your business.  This will work but some people are not fans of NATO’s for all situations (myself included).   Next logical solution is to find a nice rubber strap which I have spent many years cultivating a collection of.  This solution has a limited effectivity as some watches just do not look particularly good on rubber straps.  So what is one to do?  Goat leather is a decent alternative as it is naturally water resistant and should hold up better than calf in moist situations.  They look good and tend to feel almost indistinguishable from quality cow hide.  But is that is all that is out there? Nope.

There is another solution to this problem.  Strap makers have known of the natural vulnerability of leather to sweat and moisture for eons and have made efforts to solve this with hybrid or compound material straps.  One of the most famous is Hirsch’s Performance line which are very high quality and look very much like a typical strap. They have a rubber portion that sits against the skin and a treated leather upper on the outside. This hybrid approach offers the user the best of both worlds and genuinely solves the problem of wearing a leather strap in the summer. There is a cost to this. No matter how big a fan of the Hirsch Performance line I happen to be (and I am) they are on the expensive side for most and a lower cost alternative would be fantastic. One of the places you can always go for quality and value is Watch Gecko.  They have certainly answered the mail with this Zuludiver strap.  Here is what WatchGecko has to say about this interesting strap.  

Comfortable and hard wearing this versitile watch strap would pair well with Diver watches as well as any style of watch. Our tried and tested Zuludiver Stainless Steel Hardware completes the look. The rubber watch strap comes fitted with high quality quick release spring bars for easy daily changes.

DIMENSIONS

I ordered the 20mm version of this strap on sale for the completely ridiculous price of 8.99 plus some tax on a Watch Gecko clearance. I think they retail currently at the time of writing for an equally practical 22.99 USD which is still 25% of the price of aforementioned Hirsch.  Mine came in at 19.9mm wide at the lugs and since this is a non-tapering strap, that width carries through to the very end on both the free and loose ends. The strap measures an even 2.9mm thick along its whole length which makes is slight above the 2.5mm average thickness and makes it very well suited for a larger or sportier watch. 

The length is 120mm on the free end and 80mm on the buckle end.  This means for my 6.75” wrist I am on the third to the last adjustment hole for a nice comfortable fit while fitted to a watch with a lug to lug of 50mm. Smaller watches should not be an issue nor should larger wrists. 

DESIGN

As mentioned before, this straps ending design and construction was to suit a specific need. This is a fantastic example of form being dictated by a clearly defined function(s).  It is very much a tale of two straps.  One being the ever malleable silicone underlayment which rests comfortably against the skin. This is feels and moves like a typical silicone strap with pliability and seemingly silky feel against most surfaces. It breaks no new ground in the material feel and look but does what a silicone strap is supposed to do in giving the proverbial finger to all forms of moisture. 

That does not mean to say I want to move onto the top layer of leather which bears the ‘crazy horse’ name. More on that in a second. There is one piece of very clever design on the Zuludiver silicone portion. The first inch or so of the silicone strap has channels of material removed about 4mm apart.  This intentional weakening of the silicone allows the strap to more easily curve to meet the wrist in the exact place were some straps tend to want to say linear and rigid.  I find this bit of extra detail to be extremely welcome and very well thought out. That is an innovation I would welcome on many other straps. 

Since there are no markings on the bottom of the strap to comment on, I will just tip my hat and say thank you Zuludiver for the quick release spring bars and move on to that crazy horse leather.  Well for starters I had to do some quick searching as it was a new name for me. However, www.steelhorseleather.com was able to give me a very concise definition which about sums it up. 

Crazy horse leather is made by applying a thick layer of a special type of wax to a full grain cowhide surface that has been smoothed and polished to give it a shiny and smooth feel. The wax will improve the fibers of the leather and cause small changes in the tone, shape and appearance of the material.

The waxy coating also gives the leather a multidimensional depth to the color as well. It feels almost suede-like to the touch but has no nap to discolor. The leather is sewn into the silicone backing so it sits flush with the black outer frame when viewed from the top. It very much looks like a modern and high tech strap from this view, however, that waxy leather gives it a bit of rustic charm that the Hirsch line up lacks. It is not as rustic as say a waxed canvas strap, but It certainly channels a little of that vibe. 

The ivory stitching is very well executed and is very neat and tidy.  The thin stitching keep this from going too far into the world of modern watch straps and the way they are executed is very much appreciated. 

KEEPER AND BUCKLE

I have purchased and enjoyed many Zuludivers in the past and the way they approach a buckle yields a great deal of credibility to the tough diver strap they espouse to be. The buckle is lightly brushed on all surfaces. The amount of material is uniformly beefy but not disproportionate to the strap. The buckle looks capable and robust but never awkward.  On the flat surface of the buckle ZULUDIVER is lightly etched into the metal very precisely in relief.  I like small discrete touches like that which shows the vendor felt the additional cost of adding a name was worth it. 

The keepers on this strap vary from the norm with both of them being of the floating variety.  My list of complaints is scarce when it comes to this strap, but I am not a fan of this set up. They work well enough after you get them positioned but it is an extra step you have to take.  Hardly the end of the world, but worth noting. The keepers have a light roll mark on them near the edge and are made of the same crazy horse leather as the rest of the strap. 

HOW DOES IT WEAR

As with most silicone straps, this requires absolutely no break in. The slots cut into the bottom of the strap near the spring bar really help the strap sit closely to the wrist. I have worn this strap in 90+ degree heat with at least that much humidity and came back dripping with sweat from walking my Brittany Spaniel, Wyatt. The leather was completely unaffected by this heat. It also brushed off all hand washings and yard sprinkler encounters both purposeful and accidental. 

The quick spring bars make trying this strap out on many watches a breeze and opens the door to finding surprisingly good combinations of watch and strap pairings. The two keepers do a respectable job of managing he free length of the loose end of the strap. However, I did notice that the silicone and waxed leather interface when sliding the strap through the keepers is not as easy as I would prefer. It will require some effort to get the strap through the keepers but once positioned, that extra friction repays the effort by keeping the strap in place.  

All day wear is generally quite comfortable but it should be noted that the flat silicone on the bottom lacks any crosshatching or reliefs to help move the rubber away from the skin. This can make the skin a bit sweaty as it cannot breathe very well if the strap is worn close to the skin and not loose.  This is one area where the Hirsch Performance performs better as it is fully vented from tip to tip. 

WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR

This is a strap made for summer.  Hot humid and moist environments are easily managed with this particular model Zuludiver. I like this for a field watch for sure, which will see all manner of outdoor activities and action.  Also any diver could benefit from this strap as it really opens up the envelope of how the watch can be used.  I did not use this underwater for any length of time, but the waxed leather paired with the silicone underlayment should make for a very robust and water resistant strap.  However, I will caution you, that even though mine has no ill effects from water, or sweat, or dog drool, leather is still leather and if true heavy use diving is on the ticket, I would probably stick to a bracelet or all silicone/rubber. If you want to splash around in a pool or maybe do some fishing, then this strap could be just the ticket. 

WHERE CAN I GET IT

I usually buy all my www.watchgeckostrap directly from their easy to use website: 

https://www.watchgecko.com/zuludiver-carbis-quick-release-rubber-watch-strap

I should mention that even though they are based in the UK, they have found a way to get straps to the US incredibly fast.  

SUMMARY

There is no getting around that an all rubber or silicone strap is perfect for water.  I like these infinitely better than a basic NATO in most situations.  Also, a quality stainless steel bracelet is obviously going to be ideal for dealing with moisture.  However, having said that I love having options and this laminated construction strap that gives you a blend of the best features of silicone and leather. 

As I stated earlier I found this strap in the clearance section of the WatchGecko webpage.  Never forget to shop in these clearance sections. Often they have straps of less desirable colors or oddball widths, but,  they can often have a few gems that tick all the right boxes.  Finding just the right strap at 70% off is a like Buying a used car only find a bunch of money in the trunk. Okay it is nothing like that, but a great deal is a thing of beauty I do not care who you are.