What Makes Smartwatch Straps Special?

Last year, when I first saw the Apple Watch Series 7 (hereinafter referred to as Apple Watch S7), several friends around me, including myself, were amazed by its large screen; the size remained unchanged, yet a larger display was squeezed in.

After a brief moment of surprise, an uncontrollable thought emerged: Has the industrial design of smartwatches taken the same old path as smartphones—higher screen-to-body ratios, with products from different brands increasingly resembling each other?

Moreover, as a wearable device, the characteristics of a watch impose more limitations; it must fit snugly against the wrist and emphasize comfort, leaving manufacturers with little design choice other than whether the dial is square or round.

In contrast, the design of smartwatch straps is more diverse, both in terms of design innovation and experience; they not only establish a difference from traditional watches but also avoid falling into the trend of “optimal design”.

Today, let’s talk about smartwatch straps.

Rooted in Tradition, Innovative in Tradition

Before the advent of smartwatches like the Apple Watch, the traditional watchmaking industry had already perfected design and experience, with leather straps sourced from nature, meticulously crafted metal straps, and even precious materials like diamonds, all of which provide excellent texture and wearing comfort.

For smartwatches, the traditional watchmaking industry is like a mature father, rich in skills and resources for the younger generation to learn from.

However, smartwatches did not fully accept these gifts; they are taking a different path from the traditional watchmaking industry, standing in opposition from the outset. Choosing between a smartwatch and a traditional watch is often a binary decision.

The core of smartwatches lies in their difference from the traditional watchmaking experience. For the Apple Watch, this experience is reflected not only in the watch’s functions but also in the straps. For example, reducing seams, pursuing unity, and even eliminating buckles for a more comfortable and snug wearing experience.

In products like the iPad and Mac, Apple uses magnets to provide attachment functions, ensuring product design unity as much as possible, and the Apple Watch is no exception. The Milanese stainless steel strap and leather loop strap both use magnets; the former features a magnetic clasp, while the latter has no clasp at all.

The leather loop strap’s surface is handcrafted leather, embedded with multiple flexible magnets, allowing the strap to automatically attach with just a gentle touch, making it much simpler than aligning, inserting, and fastening a buckle.

The strap that takes unity to the extreme is the single-loop strap, especially the single-loop woven strap, which completely eliminates buckles. The strap itself shows no signs of seams, and together with the Apple Watch, it maintains a continuous curve for a better visual appeal.

Without a buckle, the usability of the watch is also enhanced; the single-loop woven strap has good elasticity, allowing it to be put on easily with a simple pull.

This is evidently the result of countless human body studies and craftsmanship adjustments; the strap must match wrists of different sizes, not too tight, and the elasticity cannot be too great, otherwise it may be too loose and fall off. Apple’s Vice President of Product Marketing, Stan Ng, has previously introduced the manufacturing process of this strap.

Woven from 16,000 recycled polyester threads around fine silicone threads, then laser cut to ensure precise length for a custom fit.

One of Apple’s biggest competitors, Samsung, is equally adept in this area. The Galaxy Watch features a radically different design from the Apple Watch—a round dial.

On the Galaxy Watch 4, Samsung adjusted the design of the watch body and strap, calling it the H-Wing design. The strap connects tightly to the screen, creating the appearance of a continuous curve. The promotional video for the Galaxy Watch 4 showcases this aesthetic of curve continuity vividly.

Apart from aesthetics, the Galaxy Watch 4 strap also offers great practicality. Its mixed leather strap features a double-layer design, with the inner layer made of sweat-resistant fluororubber (FKM) material, and the outer layer made of leather material.

The inner and outer layers share the same color, maximizing the visual unity while maintaining a high-quality feel, and the inner KFM material effectively resists sweat.

Interestingly, although Samsung and Apple are competitors, both have coincidentally chosen to use environmentally recycled materials for their straps. Apple has an environmentally friendly woven strap, while Samsung collaborated with designer Sami Miró to launch the Galaxy Watch 4 colorful eco-friendly strap.

Through material and craftsmanship innovation, smartwatches bring a different experience from the traditional watchmaking industry, carving out a new path, and these innovations also support the core functions of smartwatches—sports and health.

Good Design Should Serve Functionality

Unlike traditional watch straps, smartwatches have high requirements for strap stability due to various sports or health monitoring functions.

Apple’s Vice President of Product Marketing, Stan Ng, stated that until the Apple Watch S7, all strap innovations had to support the watch’s various functions.

In previous articles, we detailed the various indicators in Apple’s Health feature, such as aerobic fitness detection. For data accuracy, the strap must be tightened to ensure that the optical sensors on the back of the watch are as close to the skin as possible.

Whether for ECG or ordinary blood oxygen monitoring, various sensors in the watch emit signals to the arm, so most sports health monitoring functions require users to maintain a stable posture and wear the watch tightly to ensure accurate data.

In the single-loop strap, Apple provides up to 9 wearing sizes, along with a complete set of measurement methods, to ensure that the strap is comfortable while being tight enough to support all monitoring functions of the Apple Watch.

This increases the SKU count to 9, with different strap sizes for different watch case sizes, resulting in an explosion of styles, showcasing the company’s strong supply chain and inventory management capabilities.

Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 4 also follows this principle; the H-Wing design not only brings a more beautiful curve but also ensures the strap fits snugly against the arm, ensuring the functions operate correctly.

Amazon’s Halo smartwatch takes this to the extreme, completely eliminating the smartwatch screen and transferring all relevant support content to the phone.

This reduces screen content distractions while allowing the watch body design to be more “casual,” fitting snugly against the strap and wrist, fully dedicated to serving sports and health monitoring functions.

Another company that has shown innovation in strap design is Huawei, which recently launched a smartwatch called Watch D, with one of its key features being blood pressure monitoring, heavily relying on an embedded airbag in the strap.

To ensure data accuracy, blood pressure monitoring has certain posture requirements. When monitoring begins, a micro-pump inside the watch inflates the airbag embedded in the strap, tightening around the wrist until the monitoring is complete.

Does this sound familiar? There have long been similar wrist blood pressure monitor products on the market, which you may have seen during health check-ups; Huawei cleverly integrated this into the watch strap. Of course, the trade-off is an increase in overall watch weight; according to official information, the watch weighs 40.9 grams without the strap.

New materials, new processes, new designs; innovative design brings not only better aesthetics but also serves as a foundational aspect of new functionalities and good products.

1000 Choices

Companies like Samsung and Apple invest substantial resources in strap design, not only building the foundation for various smartwatch functions but also establishing consistency in product design, from the watch body to the strap, all crafted to the same standards.

The watch customization feature on Apple’s official website showcases this design consistency well; as the mouse hovers, the strap continuously changes, but regardless of how the strap style and design are adjusted, the combination between the Apple Watch and the strap is always seamless, closely resembling the actual product.

Years of design consistency help establish a unified product image in people’s minds, even a sense of identity. The design and functional innovations of the Apple Watch have made it synonymous with “new cool,” allowing the product to become a symbol of public recognition.

Just like Andy Warhol’s silkscreen prints of Marilyn Monroe, the popularity of industrial consumer culture allows companies to mass-produce products, establishing a unified consumer perception while offering uniqueness through different “codes”—colors, materials, etc., catering to people’s personalized consumption needs.

Over 1000 combinations.

Whether it’s Samsung or Apple, both emphasize the richness of their product combinations. The variety of watch sizes, materials, and diverse straps offers people ample choices, and it’s not uncommon to see individuals purchasing straps of different colors and styles of the same material.

Unintentionally, the push for strap innovation by companies like Samsung and Apple has squeezed the survival space for third-party accessory manufacturers. The price of the Apple Watch single-loop woven strap has reached 779 yuan, more expensive than the HomePod mini (749 yuan).

This pricing largely stems from innovations in materials and craftsmanship, but even if third-party accessory manufacturers offer similar quality, it’s still challenging for a strap to sell for nearly 800 yuan.

Smartwatch straps may be the most easily overlooked part, yet the innovative designs in this area by various companies are extremely rich, bringing better aesthetics as well as more convenient and practical experiences, meeting people’s consumption and usage needs.

As a result, smartwatches have carved out a new path in the face of the traditional watchmaking industry’s benchmarks.

In addition to straps, the Apple Watch also showcases innovation in dial design, offering a rich variety of options. Interested readers can check out our previous article:

Why Doesn’t Apple Watch Have a Dial Store?