Artem Hydroflex Watch Strap

I think the best lessons are conveyed through stories. They stick with us, and this story telling to record history and lessons learned has worked for generations of people of all walks of life. When I was younger, we were not very well off. Not destitute mind you, just living a humble lifestyle. My parents split up before I started Junior High and for the most part, we lived a happy but very scaled down life. It was small but it was honest and hard earned. At the age of 17 entering my senior year of high school we lived in a single-wide trailer between a cotton field and a cow dairy down a winding road in central Louisiana on some land my mom inherited. It was a rural themed education in hard work and making do with what you had while being thankful for it at the same time. I would not trade it for anything as those humble beginnings were the ingredients of what made me who I am today. Keep reading this is going somewhere I promise.

My first car was a hand me down 1970 Datsun 510 sedan with a salvage title. It got me to work and was astonishingly reliable considering it was resting untouched in a barn for 10+ years before being drafted into service. My first car I bought was a 1977 Camaro in a lovely shade of faded bronze combined with a peeling white vinyl top and an ocean of white vinyl on the interior (snazzy I know). That car was masterclass in uncovering the extreme care GM took to build cars in the mid to late 70’s. Everything that could break, did, and with an annoying regularity in fact. When the people behind the counter at Autozone talk to you by your first name like Norm walking into Cheers you know you were driving a special automobile. Still, the love of old cars was being solidified into my soul with every busted knuckle and every stripped bolt, as the school of hard knocks was doing its best to teach me things whether I wanted to learn them or not.

Fast forward many more years and many more engine rebuilds and brake jobs and you name it, my passion for working on old cars and the lesson they taught me were core ingredients to my personality today. I was hooked on old school muscle cars and honestly, that rumble still makes my heart beat quicker today. However, my passion had to be put on pause because there was a mechanical engineering degree to be had and my glorious 1974 Trans Am (Bird on the hood and everything baby) was sold for some not so glamorous tuition and books (being a grown-up sucks sometimes). I told myself I would one day take everything I learned and build my dream car using all the knowledge I had accumulated over the past 5 years, and I would finally be able to do it right! My garage currently has two classics that I love to work on now and it brings me no shortage of satisfaction teaching my boys how to turn a wrench and how to do things right the first time.

So why did I tell you all of that on a watch strap review website. The watch strap I have today is a product of many iterations of making a singular thing. Much like the baker who only bakes croissants, or the mechanic who only works on Chevrolets, specialization breeds expertise. Artem makes synthetic Sailcloth watch straps and they have been laser focused on this for a long time now. The dedication to the subject shows in what Artem says is their flagship model, the Hydroflex. This is the embodiment of all the skills they have acquired over the years rolled into one product. They were kind enough to send me several of these to review. My impressions are written below. Please enjoy my review.

But first, in typical Strapsense fashion though, I like to let the vendor toot their own horn first. This is what Artem says about their new flagship watch strap.

Introducing our finest work to date, the HydroFlex watch strap. In typical Artem fashion, we’ve dedicated months to the painstaking scrutiny of every detail, ensuring optimal comfort and aesthetic brilliance. Every facet, down to the subtlest elements have been curated with intentionality. Crafted with a premium FKM rubber base and layered with our signature synthetic embossed material, “HydroFlex” captures its essence; water-resistant, flexible, and durable. 

— Artem Straps

DIMENSIONS

Having just picked up a titanium Hamilton Khaki field and a new Seiko Williard both with a 20mm lug width Artem offered to send me one of each color of the new Hydroflex 20mm straps to review. Any of the 4 colors would work with both of my new watches, so I played around with them for a while taking full advantage of the quick release springs bars to ensure maximum enjoyment (Really why these are not the industry standard by now is a mystery to me).

My straps came in at 20.1mm at the lugs with a very subtle taper to 17.5mm at the buckle and free end. The strap starts out 5.4mm thick immediately around the spring bar and gradually tapers to 2.5mm which is an ideal thickness and taper for a wide range of casual wear and sporty watches. Like all the other Artem straps, this will not look overpowered by all but the thickest watches (think deep sea or 3000m dive watches). The strap’s length was listed on the Artem website as 115mm/75mm for the free end and buckle end respectively. Mine was within a millimeter of this as best as I can tell. I have a nearly 7″ wrist and while wearing my Williard (which has a lug to lug of 46mm) I am on the third to the last adjustment hole for a good fit. But more on that later.

DESIGN

I have reviewed several Artem Straps before, and this strap feels more like an evolutionary step, more than a total revolution. Many of the same sailcloth details found in other Artem products are present here. The near indestructible synthetic sailcloth embossing Artem is known for is found on the outside surface of the strap, only now it is perfectly countersunk into an FKM base.

An FKM base?

“FKM is the American standard (ASTM) short form name for Fluoroelastomers or fluoro rubber material. F stands for Fluoro; the K is an abbreviation of the German word Kohlenstoff, meaning Carbon; and the M is the designation of saturated backbone rubber from ASTM.” [taken from https://www.uccomponents.com]

In the last 3 years or so we keep seeing this material pop up and since I am sure most of us are not elastomer experts, I thought I would take some of the mystery out of it. I have worked with FKM in various forms through my career at NASA. We have seen it called Viton, which is just the commercial name given by DuPont (back in 1958) to their version of the Fluoroelastomer and is commonly used for o-rings for many valves and flanges used in the space program. Other companies have different names but they all have roughly the same characteristics of high heat, high pressure and extraordinarily good chemical resistance. If the sweat from your wrist hurts this stuff, seek medical attention immediately.

Having the Superman like imperviousness of this strap settled let us consider the design of the Hydroflex. This is essentially a Hybrid style rubber strap. The Hybrid recipe typically goes something like this. Take a material that would normally degrade next to your skin and wrap it in rubber. Hybrid’s like to offer you the best design characteristics of two worlds that would normally be mutually exclusive. Some Hybrids have leather set in rubber, others have canvas set in rubber. Both of these seek to offer the aesthetics of a more aesthetically pleasing material while providing some degree of moisture protection. Simple enough.

Artem has earned a reputation for being a premier sailcloth style watch strap producer. Setting the synthetic sailcloth material into FKM rubber base may seem like overkill, but it provides a very cohesive look and is one of the best-looking rubber watch straps available today. I have always loved a good rubber watch strap. Let me refine that. I have always loved a great rubber watch strap. Most rubber straps sold today fall into one of the following categories. 1) A strap made for a Seiko diver (waffle or SKX style), 2) A flat piece of rubber that may or may not have a ridge, or 3) a Tropic style strap. All three of these can make a good rubber watch strap (with varying degrees of success), however, rarely can one approach the level of great. For clarity, for myself, an example of what could be the greatest rubber watch strap ever made can be found on the Omega Aqua Terra. This strap has varying materials, textures, details, and softness that make it almost organic in nature. It is a rubber strap so good; it could be considered an upgrade to the bracelet. I think this is the realm in which Artem is targeting with this strap.

The strap is very supple and flexible while still maintaining a bit of a back bone. The synthetic sailcloth is inset very neatly and uniformly into the top surface of the rubber base and is through-stitched together with black thread on the edges (this detail is more apparent on the blue, green and grey colors). This type of layered construction should yield many years of useful life. The underside of the strap mostly a smooth affair with lightly raised crosshatch patter and an Artem logo standing proud. A nice detail I admired was the way they wrapped the sailcloth pattern around the quick release spring bar and about 6mm down the strap on the backside. At no time does the quality of construction lapse as the synthetic inset is still perfectly even and flush with the rubber. On the whole, this strap offers benefits of a rubber strap, while feeling decidedly upmarket

KEEPER AND BUCKLE

The Artem Hydroflex uses the two keeper system where one is semi-fixed and one is floating. The first keeper is held in place by two rubber tabs on the strap near the buckle to that do such a good job of keeping it in place it may as well have been molded stationary. I have only seen this before twice, and it is a very thoughtful touch. Both keepers stay put where you want them after the free end is fed through and do an adequate job of holding the strap in place. Feeding the free end through the keepers on any all-rubber strap can be a balancing act. If I had to find a fault in this strap, I would have loved to have seen thicker keepers as they feel a tad thin. The first keeper did roll every now and then if I did not take care how I fed the strap through. This is due to the extreme angle of feed and the fixed placement of the first keeper to the buckle. I talked with Artem about this, and it turns out they tried many iterations on the keepers looking for a balance between material, thickness, tolerances and feel. Any time you have a rubber on rubber sliding interface you must find a balance. The conclusion they came up with is very workable and does the intended job.

The buckle used has a very high end feel. It has a similar design as many IWC style buckles and that is a high praise. It has beautiful linear brushing with very sharp and polished chamfers on the sides which contrast very nicely with matte materials used elsewhere. The thickness of the buckle and tang have a beefy tool watch feel and match the impervious feel of the rest of the strap.

HOW DOES IT WEAR

The expectation for any rubber strap is that it will wear like a second skin. However, rubber straps run the gambit from plastic to noodle-like. It is all in the polymer compound and construction. Artem straps are not as flexible as pure silicone straps. The material is hardier, and the laminated construction adds more rigidity. The strap is soft to the touch but has an underlying strength that is reassuring and makes the strap feel capable of delivering on the promises of a sport rubber strap. The best way to wear this strap is to find where it is just barely tight enough to hold the watch in place and go one extra hole. Speaking of those adjustment holes. I have not seen a shred of wear or stretching from extended use with this strap, the holes still look untouched.

I have worn this strap for the past 3 weeks on two different watches and comfort was never an issue. The strap was used extensively when I cleared out some brush on our property and did some work tilling and rebuilding part of our small dock. I chopped firewood, trimmed trees and even cleaned a couple of fish I was lucky enough to catch with it on and it still looks as if it came out of the package. I am not sure what it would take to mar the finish of an Artem Strap, but I have certainly tried with no success.

WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR

If you are to believe Instagram, they can be used for anything. I really like these on chunkier tool-oriented dive and field watches. Omega Seamasters, Hamilton Khaki’s, any Sinn or Damasko, and just about all Seiko Divers would benefit from one of these straps. I could also see it on a few Oris Big Crown Pointer Dates and even a Zenith Chronomaster. This strap needs to be around water and where action is to be found. If there ever was a good watch strap for a mechanic, police officer, EMT or fireman, this would be it.

My life is not nearly as exciting as those of a first responder, but I found the comfort and quality of this strap very enjoyable. I would hope that Artem embraces some more vibrant colors in the future so they can piggyback on the colorful trend that we seem to be seeing. I have worn Artem straps on everything from Omega to Timex and the sizing and construction lends itself to each watch with great aplomb. They never steal the show from the watch and err more on the side of function than form. As an engineer, I support this.

WHERE CAN I GET ONE

Artem straps can be found here on the Artem website:

Hybrid & Sailcloth Watch Straps (artemstraps.com)

SUMMARY

The quest to find a truly high end rubber strap will never end. After experiencing the Aqua Terra rubber strap (almost a 700 dollar rubber strap) the bar is set very high. Artem has been building sailcloth style watchstraps year after year and like any specialist with a laser focus on their particular craft they keep getting better. The Hydroflex is just the next evolutionary step for Artem. While the price is subjective from one person to the other, I can certainly tell you this. If you have always wanted to try a rubber strap, but always found they have a budget feel to them, this strap should be the first one on your list.