There are many strapmakers in existence today and even more brands that sell white-labeled, cheaply made straps for four times more than they should. With the risk of generalizing a bit, most straps we see everyday online are pretty much the same thing with little to differentiate one from another. Dual-layered seatbelt nylon straps, RAF-style cotton ones, and the multitude of FKM rubber fastening systems we are all too familiar with. However, if you are into a particular genre of horology, let’s say military timepieces, whether they are vintage or vintage-inspired or modern versions of field, diver, and aviation models, there aren’t many places to turn to in order to find something different. That different today will be embodied by Haveston, a British strapmaker whose entire catalog orbits around military straps designed and engineered to constitute the best companion for your professional-oriented timepieces. Haveston’s catalog is vast and fascinating; however this review will focus on three of its collections: the Corp. Canvas, the AAF Earth-613, and the Carrier-SC straps. 

Get your military timepieces out because you are in for a treat my nerdy watch friends! 

About Haveston

This British strapmaker and purveyor of fine military straps was founded in 2015 by one Alex S., an engineer watch enthusiast turned amateur watchmaker who realized, as the story often goes, that there was a gap in the strap game someone had to fill. This gap was not another narrow-minded-fueled one by which a watch enthusiast thought he or she would be the first one to make quality seatbelt nylon straps even though there are already many brands making this style of strap on the market. Or yet another dubious entrepreneur who got the lightbulb idea of tracking down whatever factory makes AliExpress or Temu’s $5 USD rubber straps to get his or her own ones made with a logo etched onto the buckle and sell for $80 USD on a fancy website. No, instead Alex thought that vintage or faithful recreations of iconic military watches, as well as modern tool watches infused with the same essence, should be equipped with straps whose design and character match that of said watches, which turned out to be not a thing in fact. 

I came to know Haveston in December of 2023 when I was looking for the perfect strap to pair with my then newly acquired Praesidus A-11 Type 44, as close of a modern recreation of the World War II era A-11 as they come, which means it is fitted with a 16mm lug width making the search for a good fastening system even more difficult. Besides $3 Temu silicone straps and a few rare 16mm decent-looking options, there weren’t much in terms of seemingly quality straps whose design and construction emulated the 1940s military vibes I was looking for and had gotten into by purchasing the Praesidus. I don’t remember how, but I did stumble upon Haveston’s Corp. Canvas series which includes four options for 16mm straps. At first glance I knew I had come across the perfect match, ordered a few of them in various lug widths, and I have never looked back on this purchase with one dash of regret. The Corp. Canvas straps are everything a military and tool watch enthusiast such as myself was looking for and a little more in fact. 

Specifications & Design 

Naturally then, we’re going to begin our study of Haveston by taking a close look at the Corp. Canvas straps I got in 16, 18, and 20mm widths, various colors, and with two types of hardware. It seems as if Haveston has been slowly phasing out the canvas keeper versions (my favorite) in favor of the metal keeper, or at least has been offering the latter with more variations of the Corp. Canvas series than it used to. And there are many versions of these straps, each coming with a specific color inspired by World War I or World War II military equipment, from which their reference numbers can be deducted. For example, I paired the M-1918C with the Laco Pro Flieger Stuttgart 37mm, whose color is based on shade ref. OD No.9 found in US field equipment in 1915-1942 service and M1918 also refers to the first German-made anti-tank rifle from 1918 or the American-made Browning M1918 automatic rifle which also came out in 1918. I further paired my original 16mm M-1944C with the Praesidus A-11, named after shade ref. OD No.7 from 1944. 

Thus, the military-inspired genius of these straps is their unique aesthetic and construction which make them naturally—symbiotically I would even say—pair with any vintage or vintage inspired military timepieces, as well as a plethora of such modern watches which are infused with the same historical character, as Haveston would rightfully put it. Which is why the M-1918C looks so damn good on the Stuttgart 37mm. At their core, the Corp. Canvas straps are made of heavy-weave cotton canvas constructed in a single-pass layout and equipped with canvas or metal keepers, one of which is fitted in a floating formation to guarantee the perfect fit. More than that, this nomadic keeper can travel great distances, almost from the rear edge of the buckle to the other one where the strap meets the case at its 12 o’clock position. The fabric is 1.5mm thick so it is neither too thin nor too thick, however it is dense and thus feels solid, as any piece of military equipment should. The canvas is complemented by 13 eyelets, stitched all-around. 

With so many holes for adjustments, the Corp. Canvas straps were engineered to fit wrists measuring anywhere between 14.5cm-22.5cm/5.75"-8.75" in circumference which makes them appropriate for most watch enthusiasts’ wrists. And this great versatility also stems from the design of the strap as, in addition to the floating keeper that travels in leaps and bounds against the fabric, the single-layer design and how the top portion (where the keepers are) were thought-through, means the watch head can easily be slid closer or further away from it to indeed accommodate a great variety wrist sizes. The one thing to note however is the fact that the Corp. Canvas straps a little stiff fresh out of their packaging but soften over time and become much more pliable the more one wears them*. And then there is the question of the keepers’ hardware: I prefer the canvas keepers as they are more period-correct and give the straps a more unified aesthetic. However, the metal keepers are well manufactured and thin enough to keep a low profile. 

*Evidently, those of us who strap such timepieces on our wrists do so with the goal of wearing them to the proverbial ground. 

Moving away from the single-layer pass-through Corp. Canvas straps, we are met with a different kind of design with the AAF Earth-613 strap, albeit one equally anchored into military history. First by its name: AAF stands for “Army Air Force” and was the major land-based aerial warfare service of the United States Army which operated between 1941 and 1947. Many of AAF’s vehicles and aircrafts were painted in a desaturated olive brown color which was referred to as ANA 613, where “ANA” stands for “Army-Navy Aeronautical Board” paint standards. This strap has a two-piece construction and is made of 3.2mm thick woven nylon complemented by a light grey suede-like backing and a darker grey leather piece to reinforce the generous 13 eyelets to help find the perfect fit. In pure aviation strap fashion, the two pieces are decorated with 6mm engraved rivets and come with a 20-18mm taper which starts further in as it normally would on most straps, ensuring a perfect and comfortable fit for wrists measuring between 14cm-22cm or 5.50”-8.70”. 

And have you noticed the massive aviation-style bead-blasted roller buckle by the way? Yes, quite neat indeed. Naturally, I paired the AAF Earth-613 with one of my new favorite pilot watch: the RZE Resolute Type A. 

And lastly, the Carrier-SC strap, another single-pass strap equipped with Haveston’s nomadic keeper, also strongly linked to military history, specifically the 1943 USN Tri-Color camouflage paint scheme many aircraft-carrier operating fighter planes were decorated with in the Pacific Theatre during World War II. From the center to the outer edges of the fabric, we find Non-Specular Sea Blue (ANA 607), Non-Specular Intermediate Blue (ANA 608), and Non-Specular Insignia White (ANA 601) which followed a top-to-bottom application on the planes. (“Non-Specular” means “non-reflective.”) And the Carrier-SC strap is another robust one, as we now know it is how Haveston likes to make them, however, the fabric is only 1.3mm thick but made of A2 Polyamide Weave which is a form of nylon interlaced together on an air-jet weaving machine which spits out tightly-fused fabrics which feel and look ultra resistant. They are so much so that Haveston simply had to heat-seal the 13 eyelets that fit many wrists, between 14.5cm-22.5cm/5.75"-8.75”. 

Even though its color scheme was inspired by fighter jets, I paired the Carrier-SC with the MKII Hellion-BAKU whose design is partially inspired by the A-11 which was used by both U.S. Paratroopers and Infantry soldiers during World War II. 

Conclusion 

A great part of this review revolved around the Haveston Corp. Canvas for I have a deep fascination for them, on account of their vintage military design and period-correct character as well as their robust built and on-wrist comfort, which I assumed would have worked extremely well for World War II service members. They come in a variety of colors and widths (18, 20, 22 and even 24mm), with canvas keepers or metal ones, and will set you back $30.45 USD a piece. The AAF Earth-613 comes in 20 and 22mm widths and will also set you back $30.45 USD a piece. And lastly, the Carrier-SC strap comes in 20 and 22mm widths and retail for the same reasonable sum of money. So, whatever kind of military-inspired timepiece you have, or vintage ones should you be so lucky, you will certainly find one or two or three from Haveston’s catalog that will match the purpose-driven nature and straight-forward character of your favorite tool watches. 

Thanks for reading.