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Most watch straps are an afterthought. The watch gets years of design work and the strap gets whatever the factory had on the shelf. Artem Straps started because two people in Adelaide got tired of that.
Two friends and a gap in the market
The founders met at university, in the gym of all places, and found they shared an obsession with watches. Neither was happy with the stock straps on their own pieces, and the aftermarket options they tried felt like compromises: stiff, rough, or simply not built to last. So in 2019 they started making their own.
The brand’s motto is “Ars est celare Artem,” a Latin phrase meaning that true art hides how it was made. That’s a fair description of what a good strap should do. You shouldn’t notice it. It should sit on the wrist, do its job, and let the watch be the point.
What sailcloth actually means here
Plenty of straps are sold as sailcloth, and the term covers a lot of ground. Some are canvas-like and coarse. Others feel like they’ve got a plastic spine running through them.
Artem’s version is a blend rather than a single material. The upper is a synthetic layer embossed with a fine sailcloth weave, which gives it that slightly satin sheen the brand is known for. Underneath, a leather base is coated with a layer of natural rubber. The combination is what makes the strap water-resistant while still flexing like something that’s been worn for months. Reviewers regularly mention how little it creases when bent, which is a small detail that says a lot about the construction.
The straps taper too, and not by accident. A 20mm lug end narrows to 18mm at the buckle, a 22mm to 20mm. That taper is what keeps a padded strap from looking chunky on the wrist.
The Loop-less idea
If there’s one thing that sets Artem apart, it’s the Loop-less design. Standard straps have a long tail that runs through keepers, and those keepers slide, stretch and eventually look tired. Loop-less straps do away with the tail altogether. The strap fastens with a folding clasp and the ends tuck away cleanly, so there are no keepers to adjust and nothing hanging loose.
The result looks closer to an integrated OEM strap than an aftermarket one, and it’s a large part of why Artem straps turn up on watches that cost many times what the strap does.
HydroFlex: rubber that doesn’t look like rubber
Rubber is the practical choice for anything that gets wet, but it’s never been easy to make it look expensive. Artem’s answer is HydroFlex, made from FKM rubber, a fluoroelastomer that handles heat, salt water, sunscreen and UV far better than silicone or ordinary vulcanised rubber.
The clever bit is the surface. The same sailcloth weave is embossed onto the rubber, so from a distance it reads as a textile strap. Up close it’s supple, waterproof and won’t absorb anything. The Loop-less HydroFlex brings the two ideas together: the keeper-free clasp system on a rubber strap you can wear from the office to the ocean without thinking about it.
Hardware that’s been thought about
Buckles and spring bars are where a lot of strap makers cut corners. Artem’s tang buckle is custom-made in 316L stainless steel with a brushed centre and polished edges, so it sits comfortably against most case finishes. There are deployant clasps in brushed, polished and black DLC finishes for those who prefer them.
Spring bars come in standard, quick-release, and fat bar versions, the last for Seiko divers and other watches built around thicker hardware. It’s the kind of option you only offer if you’ve actually paid attention to what people are putting the straps on.
Sizing that covers the awkward cases
Widths run from 18mm to 22mm, and that includes 19mm and 21mm. Anyone who owns a watch with an odd lug width knows how rare that is. Most straps also come in short, regular and long lengths, so a smaller wrist isn’t stuck with a buckle on the last hole.
Why it matters
The strap is the only part of a watch that touches you all day. It decides whether the watch feels right or just fits. Artem’s approach, from the material blend to the taper to the clasp, comes down to a simple idea: every part of the strap should be as considered as the watch it’s attached to.
That’s the unique bit. Not one feature, but the refusal to treat any of them as an afterthought.
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