What's this Alpine Loop stuff?
I ran across these while looking for expansion bands on the aliexpress. They are called Alpine Loop bands, and they look to have plastic, er polymer, "end links" with quick release spring bars. The band itself looks to be some mashup of a Bonklip bracelet and a bandolier with a hooky clip. And they've got the MN cult involved too as there seems to be elastic involved.
When the heck were these things invented? I guess they are prominently marketed for the smartwatches because they are concurrent with them? Anyone actually have experience with them?
I kind of like the ridiculous tacticool nonsense look, but they are probably bulky. Are they a hassle to put on? Gimmick or genius?
Started as a quartzbro goofing on the mechanical snobs, wrote for thetruthaboutwatches.com, and lately started finding forgotten familial vintage watches in need of love.
Could be a masterstroke for inexpensive field/ beater watches.
I'm sure I had a belt like that as a kid...
G-Hook style buckle just miniature.
Been used on gun belts of all sorts, casual belts, and ruck sacks/backpacks. Came about or got popular during the GWOT. Originally used for mountaineering I think.
Very good idea, if made into a single pass, it would be another option for infinitely adjustable.
The Watch Steward uses one like this on his elastic options, as does Nick Mankey Designs.
Not seen one like this before tho. Good find! 🤘🏻
I have several variants from Volund Gearworks for belts.
When the loops are properly cross and/or quad stitched, it'll hold very well.
Weak point is the securing strap, but you can always use 1000mph or mono tape.
Yeah, this the Apple Watch ultra OEM.
Made me think about the device for half a second.
Might look really cool on a G-Shock
Yeah, this the Apple Watch ultra OEM.
Made me think about the device for half a second.
Might look really cool on a G-Shock
Apple is behind this? What a mixed blessing that the original product slated as killing interest in watches is also behind so many neato strap ideas.
Ordered a couple for my watch
Hey the idea of a simple functional band to put on old beater , makes it slightly interesting ( if I owned such a device ) other than that if the retractable springbar mech worked well or not, would be a weak point to me , as I have no way to change out there cheap mech/ spring bar so that would not meet my engineering expectations of said plasticy thingy . I still think the best system on earth for that is a FXD case and straight pass thru with an Erika’s strap . My conclusion is if you are a betting man , go for it :)
Hey the idea of a simple functional band to put on old beater , makes it slightly interesting ( if I owned such a device ) other than that if the retractable springbar mech worked well or not, would be a weak point to me , as I have no way to change out there cheap mech/ spring bar so that would not meet my engineering expectations of said plasticy thingy . I still think the best system on earth for that is a FXD case and straight pass thru with an Erika’s strap . My conclusion is if you are a betting man , go for it :)
My experience with silicone Barton straps is that the QR spring bars are replaceable. The trick is to slide that knob as far toward the strap center as possible in the little peekaboo slot through which it protrudes. Then hopefully, the free end can be lifted through said slot and the whole thing slid out.
Needless to say, silicone has flexibility and elasticity on its side, whereas hard polymer does not. In the event that I decide not to order one as a sixth attempt to make my dive watch comfortable, perhaps @andrey_2s can verify.
The one thing I should point out is that the plast... polymer end link on all these all* seem to flare out in width a bit past the lugs. It sure looks like the smart watches they are generally designed for don't have generous lug lengths. So that might interfere, and it doesn't look like there is much excess room to go cutting any pl.. polymer away before getting way too close to the slot for the fabric.
*Well, the image in original post looks good, as it's from Amazon. I had problems stealing images from aliexpress, where the lug width section seemed stingier.
My experience with silicone Barton straps is that the QR spring bars are replaceable. The trick is to slide that knob as far toward the strap center as possible in the little peekaboo slot through which it protrudes. Then hopefully, the free end can be lifted through said slot and the whole thing slid out.
Needless to say, silicone has flexibility and elasticity on its side, whereas hard polymer does not. In the event that I decide not to order one as a sixth attempt to make my dive watch comfortable, perhaps @andrey_2s can verify.
The one thing I should point out is that the plast... polymer end link on all these all* seem to flare out in width a bit past the lugs. It sure looks like the smart watches they are generally designed for don't have generous lug lengths. So that might interfere, and it doesn't look like there is much excess room to go cutting any pl.. polymer away before getting way too close to the slot for the fabric.
*Well, the image in original post looks good, as it's from Amazon. I had problems stealing images from aliexpress, where the lug width section seemed stingier.
Thanks for the good explaination , your a rational thinker :)
This looks exactly like the Alpine Loop straps from the Apple Watch Ultra but just fitted with normal spring bars.
I wonder if it do double duty as a ammo bandolier? Looks like it could handle 22lr maybe. Might come in handy when hunting squirrels and such 🤣