So you just bought your first watch, what’s next?

We all know the feeling of getting that first foot into the deep rabbit hole that is watches. I remember the hours poured into research and finally putting down a chunk of my hard-earned money for that first mechanical timepiece. And of course, for the first couple of months, you can hardly take the thing off. Then slowly, as you delve deeper into this thing that you have just bought for your wrist, you start to imagine, fantasize about what other beautifully crafted things could be sitting on your wrist.

If you don’t have the funds already available to immediately jump into your next purchase, the slow wait to save up can be excruciating. The one trick I learned as a new watch enthusiast is how the simple act of changing a strap, which is often not that expensive, can alter a look of a watch drastically, making you feel like you have a brand new piece. In my case, it was the Seiko SNZG15K1 field watch. As you will see, on the supplied nylon strap, the watch had quite a utilitarian feel to it, but the moment I swapped it out for a leather one, it became quite classy and even felt at home with a smart-casual outfit.

In this series of photos, we look at how a watch can take on various forms with a simple change of the straps. And just as a quick disclaimer, these straps came from Vario, who were gracious enough to loan us a few for this project. Enjoy.

Vario is a Singapore-based company that offer a wide variety of unorthodox watch straps and they have even designed their own Vario brand watches. You can find out more at their website vario.sg