Besides telling time, watches define class and fashion. Watches are archetypal symbols of career and lifestyle classification. Telling the quality and uniqueness of a watch requires more than just checking the model, brand, and design. Features such as the clasps, closures, and buckles also count.
Clasps are areas of the watch strap that tightly secures and tightens a watch on your wrist. When buying a watch, don't overlook this essential feature. Check out the many different types of watch clasps to know which ones to consider;
1. Deployment Clasps
Deployment clasps are traditionally and presently the most used types of clasps. They are found on metal, wood, and leather watch bands. These types of watch clasps are characterized by secure but hidden wings that unfold to let loose the watch for you to take off your hand from the wrist hole.
Deployment clasps are naturally strong, secure, and will less likely fail. They are elegant but the most perplexing to use. However, if the watch deployment clasp you buy doesn't fit you well, you can get a professional to adjust it to your wrist size. Deployment clasps come in diverse designs, styles, and functions, and here are few choices to consider.
2. Push-button Deployment Clasps
These types of watch clasps are characterized by small spring-loaded buttons that can be pushed to open the clasp, allowing you to take off your watch with ease. The unique button mechanism of the clasp enables it to stay intact on your wrist.
The integrated spring-loaded mechanism prevents accidental opening of the clasp when you close the buckle or flex your wrist. It's the ideal watch clasp for first-timers as it's easy to use.
3. Double-Locking Fold-Over Clasp
This is a rare yet durable clasp type commonly found in sports watches. Most double-locking fold-over clasps are made of steel and feature a flip-lock safety tab to enhance locking strength.
4. Fold-over Push-Button Clasp
This clasp type combines two mechanisms, the fold-over latch, and the push-button feature. The push-button feature only needs to be pushed to open the clasp. The fold-over push-button clasps have either high-key or low-key styles.
5. Hidden Fold-Over Clasp
This is another excellent deployment clasp that has a unique design and function. Its clasp mechanism doesn't appear out of the band. That gives the watch strap a seamless look once closed, ensuring high security and beautiful appearance.
6. Velcro Clasp
Looking for something unique and impressive that matches your lifestyle tastes, watches with the velcro clasp are a perfect fit. Velcro clasps are adjustable and super easy to use. All you need to strap it comfortably on your wrist is to adjust the clasp's length to match your wrist size and then strap both sides together.
6. Velcro clasps are durable and versatile. They are commonly found in sports and military-style watches. They come in a range of colors and are affordable enough to match the average buyer's budget. Sadly, they aren't the most aesthetic choice of clasps available as loose fastening leaves one side unattractively loose.
7. Jewelry Clasp
The jewelry clasp functions, feel, and look like the clasps used in jewelry and bracelets. The jewelry clasp is composed of a hole one side and a latch on the other side. It employs the mechanism of the latch going through the fold, folding, and then closing to secure it on your wrist.
To let loose the clasp so you can take off the watch, all you have to do is to lift the clasp and disconnect it from the latch. It's quite a popular choice of clasp in modern women fashion watches. Watches fitted with this type of clasp are easy to adjust and use.
8. Tang Buckle/Clasp
Tang clasps are mostly found on tactical, plastic, textile, leather, and fabric watches. They are manufactured of stainless steel, which makes them quite precious and durable. Tang clasps have a pin that tightly secures the watch to the wrist.
This tang clasp is ideal for holed straps. They use the same working mechanism as belt buckles, that is the user has to pull a strap through the buckle frame, attach the pin into the hole, and then slide the band piece through the keeper loop.
These clasps are easy to use. Unfortunately, when used for a long period, they are likely to get damaged. But the good news is, you can always replace them with minimal to no effort.
9. Safety Strap Clasp
Did you recently buy a safety leather or rubber watch and discovered some deployment clasps? Was it in the form of a push-button deployment clasp but looks and functions the same way metal watch clasps do, those were likely safety strap clasps.
The safety strap clasps are mostly found in leather and silicone watches. Safety strap clasps are quite hard to adjust. They need the use of special equipment to adjust and set in place. The ends of the safety strap clasps are often secured to the watch bands, and so for you to shorten the band, you must take off the ends and cut the excess band.
If you mess up while cutting off the band, you'll end up rendering it useless. Cutting it too short will only mean that the watch will never fit you, and unless you buy another piece, you'll have to use it that way for the rest of its useful life.
Conclusion
The ultimate best clasp for you is the one that meets your lifestyle and career requirements. In the above discussion, we mentioned some of the well-known types of watch clasps you can always consider. We might not have touched on all the watch clasps available in the market, but you can be sure the clasps we mentioned are the most popular choices.
Watch owners need to choose the type of watch clasps that meet their preferences based on the value they want to leap from their investment. Check out the features, function, benefits, and drawbacks of each of the watch claps before you make a purchase. Don't be in a hurry not to look for top-rated brands that have borne the test of time.
