Strap, band, bracelet, dear child has many names, but all these terms refer to the bracelet that straps a wristwatch onto the wrist for convenient mobility.
There are many different types of watch straps. They can be made of widely different materials including leather, plastic, silicone rubber, cloth, nylon or metal, and even the closures can be very different depending on the type of strap.
This time we will try to answer the question: What Is a Waffle Watch Strap?
What Is a Waffle Watch Strap?
The waffle watch strap, or simply, the waffle strap, was originally developed as a strap for diving watches.
The original waffle strap consists of two parts made of black rubber with a Heavy Duty Stainless Steel clasp signed with the text “SEIKO ST. STEEL JAPAN G”.
The nickname “waffle strap” comes from the pattern embossed on the surface of the rubber strap, which is reminiscent of the pattern known from a waffle iron.
| Dimensions ZLM01 | Size (mm) |
|---|---|
| Lug Width | 19 |
| Length - Tail Part | 127 |
| Length - Buckle Part | 77 |
| Strap Width - Round Tail End | 15 |
| Strap Width - Buckle End | 16 |
| Buckle Width (max.) | 24 |
The Origin of Waffle Watch Straps
Seiko launched Japan’s first diver’s watch as early as 1965, but it wasn’t until 1967 that the waffle strap saw the light of day for the first time. It happened with the launch of the Seiko 6215-7000 diving watch.
Seiko’s first in-house designed diver’s strap itself was identified with the model number ZLM01 and was produced through the years 1967-1971.
The strap was also seen in ads and brochures with the launch of the diving watches 6159-7000 and 6105-8000.
A genuine waffle strap in mint condition is hard to come by, but they are sometimes for sale on eBay and Amazon. Only drawback is that you will easily pay $1,000 or more.
However, there are cheaper alternatives that are not authentic, but come quite close to the original. Here we recommend to take a closer look at William Jean (WJean) or Uncle Seiko.
Producers Manufacturing Models With Waffle Watch Straps
It’s hard to track down a perfect copy of an original Seiko waffle strap from 1967, but perhaps the money would be better spent on one of Seiko’s upcoming re-creations, The 1968 Professional Diver’s 300 m.
This stunning automatic will be available from August 2020, but will be sold in a limited edition of 1,100 only.
Seiko is celebrating their first high-beat diving watch from 1968 with the Model SLA039J1 and this timepiece almost 100% identical to the original, will be equipped with a waffle strap in a seductive dark blue colour.
Granted, the strap is a reissue, but it is nevertheless produced in house by Seiko, so in that sense it is completely original.
The case is made of what Seiko calls Ever-Brilliant Steel, a special corrosion resistant type of stainless steel, and houses a Cal. 8L55 movement.
As mentioned already, it’s an automatic with manual winding capacity and the power reserve is about 55 hours.
The crystal is made of dual-curved sapphire and has been treated with an anti-reflecting coating on inner surface.
The diving watch is classified water resistant to 300 m and that’s sufficient for saturation diving.
Measurements: 15.7 mm x 44.8 mm x 51.4 mm.
Price Range: Unknown.
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Although the SEIKO SLA041J1 doesn’t come with a waffle strap, it seems appropriate enough to include the model here as the waffle strap was originally developed by Seiko with diving watches in mind.
And this watch is indeed an incredible diving watch by Seiko.
The case is made of titanium with Ever-Brilliant Steel and houses the Cal. 8L35 movement.
It’a an automatic with a power reserve of about 50 hours which is less than the SLA039J1, but still well above average for this type of watch.
The crystal is made of sapphire for best protection against scratches and hands, indexs and bezel has been coated with LumiBrite.
The original model from 1975 was water resistant to a generous 600 m, but Seiko has improved on this single parameter tremendously as the classification has been upgraded to a water resistance of 1,000 m.
Measurements: 17.2 mm x 52.4 mm x 53.5 mm.
It’s available only in September 2020, but if you must have it now, Seiko offers per May 2020 a special commemorative box including this model as well as the SLA039J1 and SLA037J1.
The box celebrating Seiko’s first diving watches is limited edition as just 100 sets will be released.
Price Range: Unknown.
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