How much does NATO/watch color coordination matter to you?

I like them to match. And with nato’s the nice thing is you can buy 3-5 at a time and just see what sticks cause they’re generally cheap. I have bought 1-2 at a time and then eventually just dump the one i never wear

That’s the nice thing about them, for sure.

I choose things that are close enough to "work", rather than obsessing about perfection. 

I have a MN on my DS30 Yellow, that doesn't match, but it close enough for anyone taking a quick look. 

Matching? Not a big deal. Complementing? Absolutely 

I agree with @rocksinger89 - complementing is what I strive for, which sometimes is like throwing spaghetti at the wall 😂

I see it as slightly more complex than that. There is a difference between clashing and contrasting. In my opinion- grey, black and white always work. A hue that matches the dial in a similar or darker tone is also a good idea. You can also match the strap to subtle accents on the watch. Contrasting takes some trying to get right and adding some bright color to a monochrome piece also tends to look good

I definetly isn’t a spagetti on the wall type. Straps is great fun for me and I invest some effort to get it ”right”. Once I found  a combo I’m pleased with that I don’t change so often. My watches are often bought pre-owned so first step is to find a strap that will have my DNA, litterilly, and make it my watch. Like ”bojanbn” I more often look for contrast with accents if there is one to pick up. My clothes, including shoes and belts, are none black so I don’t wear black straps often.

I agree. There’s a big difference between the two. I guess I also count matching and contrasting as being in the same camp, because you have to keep coordination in mind for both. 

@OlDirtyBezel,

I'm going to put myself in a different camp than the two you named.  I try to either match or nicely contrast my straps with my watches (and the rest of my outfit, since I swap out straps often), but I don't find it to be a time-consuming or random process.

When I match, I don't necessarily try to get something in the exact same color.  Anything in the same color family is a match.  (This is why a blue oxford cloth button down shirt works well with navy slacks or dark wash denim jeans.)

For contrasting colors, I prefer something at least 1/3 of the way around the color wheel (e.g. red and blue), or even completely opposite (e.g. red and green).  Colors with less contrast can coordinate, but they coordinate less frequently.

The color combinations that typically coordinate the worst are the ones that are in close color families, but not the same one.  For example, emerald green and loden green don't work together, because they're in adjacent color families.

To illustrate...

Example 1 (matching - different colors in the same color family):

Example 2 (contrasting - red & burgundy contrasting with loden green):

In each of these examples, I purchased the watch, bezel and strap separately.  But I knew that I could coordinate them before I spent any money on them.

Yes, I could definitely benefit from a “choose smarter, not harder” approach. 😂

I gotta match. 😁

Quite often this would  take me over an hour to decide 😅 and occasionally, realised it look wrong after its arrival or have been installed. 

Until recent year or so, i have actually come to a conclusion that nato isnt for me. I have small wrists, a tad under 7". Correct me if i am wrong, its been "understood" that nato is best friend to a small wrist guy, i see it otherwise after trying so many of them on mine, i suppose its because majority of my watches are on the larger side (average lug-lug 48, couple of them are 50mm) quite often i find when wearing natos it will leave two gaps on both lugs between the spring bars and my skin, i suppose the case shape of those watches also play a part as well the shape of my wrist is more round than oval. It makes the watch rock about on my wrists, so to combat that i usually have to wear it fairly tight. 

Another thing about nato is that they are thin compare with the watch case, it somehow creates this sudden drop of thickness that looks a little odd to my eyes. 

And as besides couple of titanium watches, they do wear top heavy as well, imagine a sinn u2 on nato.... I know using that as example is a little extreme, still you get the gist of it. 😅

You hit on some points I’ve noticed as well. Aside from my Flightmaster (which inexplicably seems to go perfect with a thin strap), case height is really important when it comes to whether or not it’ll look good on a NATO. My Vostoks look great on them, but I would never dream of putting my Monster on one. 
 

And yes, I also have a small collection of straps that in theory went great with a watch but in practice just didn’t work.