Curious if anyone has recommendations.

(Sidenote, man i don't think i could buy that $25 metal strap.. i'd assume it was junk lol)

It's not. I've been using the same band for years. I am constantly taking it off, and putting it back on, so the butterfly latch gets lots of exercise.

The Apple band is nicer, but ... I got one that is likely an exact replica of it (including the quick-release buttons on the links -which is silly, because you only take them out once, unless you plan to gain a bunch of weight), for $60.

I don't even know if you can spend more than $60 on Amazon, for one of these things.

I have a bunch of wood bands (I literally have several dozen bands).

However, the ones I like the most are "hybrid" ones: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071NV2GF4/

I got that, five years ago (I still have it, and it's fine). I don't know if they make the same one, anymore.

I've also only recently discovered the Etsy category from somewhere in this post.

https://www.nyloon.net/

Not the most comfortable, but it's fun to look at.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B096M9BQY5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b...

For a while I was doing the < $15 on amazon path, but switched to some of the above and never looked back.

https://nomadgoods.com/products/metal-band-steel-silver-44mm

Not cheap, but it actually looks better than the Apple $350 band.

Apple makes their watchband sound like the absolute pinnacle of engineering. I do agree Apple accessories are generally ridiculously expensive. Phone cases, chargers...

The piece of shit failed after maybe 3 months, it just wouldn't charge the phone and my spouse would wake up with a completely dead battery in the morning. Forums are littered with people with similar problems.

Same thing with their shitty expensive cases -- terrible peeling with moderate use. Drives me crazy you can pay so much for such a terrible quality 'premium' product.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R1TW5ISDWA84PV/re...

It can give my wrist a dark “shadow,” if I am sweating a lot, but otherwise, it’s been fine.

I have a ton of straps. Some of the non-metal ones are total garbage, and peel and crack.

If they had an “interim” variant, for around $100, I would consider that. I have a Junghans Apollo, that I got their full-fat strap for, and that was $150. That watch cost more than any of the (current) Apple Watches, and I haven’t worn it in years.

Not gonna drop $350, to find out.

It’s no big deal, and only happens occasionally.

For example, I got a couple of knock off silicone bands for my wife. They almost immediately started to peel and broke after a few trips to the ocean. The original ones seem to retain the same soft touch feeling.

On the other hand, Apple silicone bands are quite bad compared to Nomad sport bands.

Just goes to show that all my assumptions about what makes a product popular/profitable are wrong.

P.S. I do have the Apple watch anyway. My strap requirements are: breathable, can be removed easily, doesn’t pinch arm hair.

I'm paraphrasing because here because this is so long ago but I hope you get the point. Apple doesn't make products that 'just look pretty', they also tend to be highly functional. (As long as you're not holding it wrong.)

People value aesthetics. Not everything in life is purely functional. Maybe you don't personally appreciate the beauty of a nice wristwatch strap, and that's fine. But I can virtually guarantee that there's some area of your life where you have spent additional dollars on a widget to gain some additional aesthetic value above and beyond what was purely functional. You simply did so on objects you personally care about. You likely have even done so without being consciously aware of this decision! Someone else with different preferences could easily look at that purchase and boggle at how anyone could spend extra on something so pointless.

And if you really, truly, have never spent extra time, effort, or money on something you'd appreciated for its beauty? To me, that's… just kind of depressing.

What I meant to say, wrist straps were not even on my radar of aesthetics, and I was shocked to learn it’s a $1B business (for Apple alone?). So clearly, I missed how much they mean to people.

Obviously, I (and pretty much everyone else) do buy things at least partially influenced by aesthetics (clothing, sunglasses, furniture, to name a few). Wrist straps were a huge surprise for me, though. Another one is paying a premium for different colored phones (and I admit I was first in line to pay a premium for a jet black RAZR phone back in the day)

But: I have the silver Milanese that came with my Series 5 and noticed that it destroys the fabric of my long sleeve button shirts. Quite annoying that this apparently didn’t receive the same thoughtful care like other Apple products.