“Wait. How many watch straps could you possibly need to travel with?” my wife asked.
It was not an unreasonable question. I had just explained that the two canvas things I was unpacking on our kitchen counter were 30-pouch strap rolls. I admitted it was unlikely that I would have a need to carry 30 straps out of the house, let alone 60, unless maybe I was bringing them to a strap swap at a watch get-together … but I digress. The good folks at Vario are always looking to help the watch-afflicted like yours truly, and this time, they have cooked up a rather ingenious storage solution. They sent me one in each color (Ash Gray and Army Green) for this review.
As any watch collector knows, you buy a couple of watches, and then you buy a couple of straps, and then some more watches, and then a few more straps. Soon, we discover that we need a better place for our stiff. Most people find watch storage pretty early in the game, if only because they are more expensive and prone to damage if left rattling around. Straps are almost an afterthought until you accumulate enough to make it a pain to find the one you want in your drawer, box, sandwich baggie, or wherever else you might have stuffed them. Personally, I use a combination of folder-style watch cases, shallow trays, and small-parts bins, which should tell you that I have yet to find my ideal solution.
The Vario rolls are not far removed from the watch rolls we are all familiar with, except that they are larger than most (about 24×12″ when laid flat) and have three rows of narrow pouches that are 1.75″ wide and 3.75″ deep. Could you use it to carry watches too? Unless your collection consists of vintage cocktail watches and childrens’ pieces, probably not, although nothing stops you from slipping a strap-changing tool in there. When fully packed and rolled, the whole unit is about 12″ long and 5″ wide.
The rolls are constructed from canvas, and I was pleased to discover that it is not the stiff and scratchy kind but a softer, more forgiving weave. Stitching is neat and straight with proper seams and reinforced corners. The ties are sufficiently long to loop around twice and still provide ample length for a knot.
You could certainly travel with one, but as mentioned above, that is not how most will be used. The strap roll was designed as an in-home storage solution so we could finally dump all of our straps out of their respective cigar boxes and sock drawers and keep them in a tidy yet still compact fashion. As I mentioned in my last watch storage solutions article, rolls are an excellent way to keep a small watch collection safe and sound. Strap rolls are a natural extension of that idea. It is such a logical, inexpensive solution I really wonder why no one thought of it sooner.
The Vario Canvas Watch Strap Roll is on sale now for $28 at Vario.sg, but not for long. I am told the price will be bouncing up to the full retail of $32 in the next week, so if you want to get your strap collection under control on the cheap, I’d suggest you move quickly.
