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Since buying my Apple Watch in November I have been on a continuous search for Watch bands/straps for every occasion. I love the Apple Sports band for casual and exercising and have several other silicon, leather and metal bands of varying qualities. I have been on the lookout however for a "luxury" strap which would look just as good at work, at the pub or out to dinner.. After searching and reading so many reviews I got in touch with Meridio, an Italian leather artisan company based in Milan who tan and handcraft Apple Watch straps in an extremely wide variation of styles, colours and leathers.

Meridio deliver worldwide and the quality of the images on their site impressed me in terms of being able to have a really good look at the product from varying angles.

5 days later the Heritage Khaki Sun watch strap landed on my doormat ! The packaging screamed high quality, consisting of padded envelope containing a protective white cardboard box. Inside was a nicely produced coffee colour Meridio branded sleeved box and in there was a structured card envelope containing the Watch strap.

The Khaki Sun Heritage strap is only available for the 42mm Apple Watch but most of the other straps come in 38mm and 42mm versions. The strap would fit wrist sizes of 124mm to 169mm (inc Watch casing) so plenty big enough for my wrist but shorter than some other straps I own and I doubt it would be sufficient for anyone with a particularly large wrist. The Heritage Khaki strap is 20mm wide, the leather is approx 2.5mm thick and is available with stainless steel, rose gold, gold, space grey and silver lugs and buckle to match your specific Apple Watch case.

Straight out of the box I was really impressed with the strap, the leather looked and felt really nice and no where near as rigid as I expected for leather of this thickness. I really liked the Khaki colour and the stainless steel lugs fit and matched my Watch perfectly. Wearing the strap over the first week or 2 the strap was comfortable BUT I did feel after several hours of wearing that it was more rigid than some of the other straps I own so did set my Watch down on its stand for short periods. Into the third and fourth week however as the leather started to "wear in" the strap became more comfortable for the longer period and I only see it getting better with wear.

Overall I'm really impressed with the Meridio strap, with prices starting at €69 there are certainly cheaper options available however the style and quality of the handcrafted leather absolutely justifies the price in my view. Also in terms of bang for your buck the Meridio straps are for me as good quality but much better value than the Apple classic buckle or modern buckle at 2 to 4 times the price. Communication with Meridio was also really good and they have even provided offer code btw_10 for British Tech Network listeners valid until end April 17!

http://www.meridioband.com/

Author

Chris Campion

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