Gone in 60 Seconds: Quick Change Straps from Panerai, Cartier, and Hublot

There are certain pastimes and hobbies that lend themselves to infinite accessories. Cars, motorcycles, boats, and articles of pure fashion support entire accessory industries that beget sprawling subcultures. Watches, on the other hand, are the main event to watch collectors.

Surely, there are winders, loupes, and travel cases to offer a degree of tangential intrigue, but no peripheral bauble rivals the allure of the watches themselves – unless you count aftermarket straps. When watchmakers meet the strap aftermarket halfway with quick-release lugs, a gateway to a new obsession opens.

The 1916 Company presents three premium watches whose designers laid the groundwork for infinite makeovers. Panerai, Cartier, and Hublot may hail from different quarters of the luxury watch world, and the target customers of each may bear no resemblance to the others, but among enthusiasts, the appeal of new “shoes” is universal.

Officine Panerai unarguably is the brand that opened the floodgates to the modern replacement strap phenomenon. During the late 1990s, the company was among the first to ship do-it-yourself strap replacement tools as standard accessories with its watches. Given the massive size of the Panerai straps (24mm and up), the visual impact of a strap swap could change the entire character of a Luminor. An aftermarket monster was born, and it rages in rude health to this day.

During the mid-2000s, Panerai acknowledged and embraced the Paneristi fan ardor for replacement straps by incorporating a foolproof quick-release mechanism into the lugs of the Luminor cases. Whereas the original Panerai strap tools became involuntary engraving implements in the hands of unsteady owners, the new system, as seen on the PAM024 Luminor Submersible, is as user-friendly as touchtone phone.

Simply use the included styluses to depress the tab under the each crown-side lug, and push the strap retention pin out of the lugs. It’s that easy. The PAM024 Luminor Submersible includes an accessory waterproof technical fiber strap with yellow accents. This strap will withstand sweat, water, and abrasions to a degree that leather equivalents cannot. Officine Panerai offers several attractive straps that will fit this PAM024 to keep your Panerai all-Panerai.

Of course, if you want to venture beyond the Panerai company store, the aftermarket has you covered. Warning: remember the old Snickers commercial slogan, “Not going anywhere for a while? Grab a Snickers!” If you Google “Panerai aftermarket strap,” you had better have one of these.

At the black tie end of the Richemont spectrum, Panerai stablemate Cartier offers an alternative take on quick-release straps. Unburdened by Panerai’s need to secure watches that may be used for watersports, vigorous activity, or combat, Cartier set out to create a quick clip lug that could release and receive alternate straps and bracelets without tools. That’s right; Cartier’s quick clip requires nothing more than a fingernail to operate.

Underneath the Cartier Roadster Chronograph XL, each strap is anchored within the lugs by a spring tab. Each strap end incorporates two short rails that slide into corresponding tracks in the lugs. A spring tab protrudes from the strap-to-case junction. When the spring tab is pulled away from the case, the strap is unlocked, and it will slide out from under the lugs.

When fitting a replacement, securing the surrogate is as simple as sliding the new strap’s rails into the shaped slot underneath the lugs. A crisp “click” assures the owner that his two components have become one.

Since its 2005 resurrection under Jean-Claude Biver, Hublot has made a name for itself by beating industry leaders at their own games. The Big Bang, which debuted at the ’05 Baselworld trade show, was a shot across the bow of Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph, then the segment-leader in the oversized sports watch category. In 2008, Hublot launched the King Power 48mm line to go toe-to-toe with Panerai’s enormous paramilitary cases.

With the 2012 debut of the Big Bang Ferrari, Hublot made its play for another of its rivals’ cash cows: the accessory strap market. Following the 2006 launch of Panerai’s tool-lite quick release lugs, Hublot took notes and prepared its counterpunch. While the Panerai system was designed to reduce the need for a steady hand and jeweler’s tools, it still required the twin styluses.

Accepting that Panerai’s system would more secure in a violent, worst-case scenario, Hublot’s engineers were willing to accept a small compromise in light of the usage habits of the Nyon watchmaker’s glitterati clientele.

A one-button system, the Hublot quick release works with the seamless ease of an automotive seatbelt clip. Make that a Ferrari seatbelt clip; this thing feels like money. Each strap features a twin-prong metal mating interface that inserts into the lugs and locks with a positive “thwack.” Like onomatopoeia, Hublot’s quick release strap is fun to use and certain to entertain friends.

The Hublot Big Bang Ferrari features two straps, one with a contrasting red single stitch and one in solid black for occasions that demand aesthetic discretion. Ah, you’re still paying attention, and the irony of using “aesthetic discretion” and “Hublot Big Bang” in one sentence has raised an eyebrow. That’s the beauty of Hublot’s bedrock “fusion” concept; every Hublot is a mass of contradictions, playfully united.

When the urge for a makeover calls, answer it. Accessory straps can revitalize a watch and create the illusion of an entirely new timepiece. With any of our quick-change watches, your old strap could be there and gone in 60 seconds.