Ti-MNPara Strap 20mm - Black

The Marine Nationale strap was not designed in a workshop. It was improvised at sea.

In the 1960s, the French Navy was issuing dive watches to its combat swimmers, the Nageurs de Combat of Commando Hubert, without straps. Tudor Submariners, Doxa Sub 300T, Jacques Bianchi JB300, Triton, ZRC. The watch heads arrived. The means of wearing them did not. Faced with the need for a strap that could be sized in the dark, adjusted over a 7mm neoprene wetsuit, and survive repeated salt water immersion, the operators reached for what they had on hand: surplus elastic webbing recovered from French-issue parachute rigging. They cut it, stitched it, fitted it with simple metal rings and a folding hook closure, and went to work. The result, recognizable today by its olive-and-yellow or red-striped weave, became one of the most quietly influential pieces of military horological gear of the 20th century.

That original field-made strap is the direct ancestor of every modern Marine Nationale style strap on the market. The reference Tudor 9401 dated 1977, now held in the Tudor archive, is documented as having been issued with a strap fashioned from parachute belting. Tudor itself acknowledged this heritage publicly in 2021 when it formalized its partnership with the Marine Nationale and launched the Pelagos FXD.

The SPD Ti-MNPara takes the original concept and rebuilds it for the modern wearer who carries a watch alongside other tools. We start with a heavy nylon webbing woven with Spandex, which holds its elastic memory significantly longer than the generic rubber-cored elastics used in lower-grade straps. We then replace every piece of metal hardware with Grade 5 6AL-4V titanium: both keeper rings, the buckle, and the closure. Titanium delivers three properties stainless steel cannot. It is fully non-magnetic, so it will not become magnetized by rare earth magnets used in modern wallets, key fobs, and EDC pouches, and it will not transfer that magnetism to the movement of a mechanical watch. It is fully corrosion-proof, indifferent to salt water, sweat, and chlorinated pools. And it is roughly 40% lighter than stainless at equivalent strength.

The non-magnetic property matters most to the wearer who pairs a watch with a wrist-mounted compass. Stainless hardware, once magnetized through prolonged contact with strong magnets, will deflect a compass needle by several degrees. Titanium will not. The Ti-MNPara is built to be worn with the PDW Expedition Watch Band Compass Kit, a wrist compass, or any field-grade navigation tool without introducing magnetic error into the bezel.

One strap, no spring bars to lose under load, an infinite range of micro-adjustment, and hardware that will outlast the watch it is fitted to. Carryology named the SPD Ti-MNPara a Best New Carry selection in February 2023. It works on a many Tudors. It works on a Panerai. It works on a 1970s Submariner. It works on whatever you put it on, as long as the lugs measure 20mm.

Find a way or make one.