The Blushark Orca is one of the best NATO straps I have had and I reviewed it very positively here. Based on the Blushark Orca, I had very high hopes for the Blushark Knitweave. The Blushark Knitweave straps come with either 20mm and 22mm width and are supplied with brushed hardware. The straps come in well known colors such as navy, khaki, green and black along with color combinations with highlight line.

The Blushark Knitweave straps are great on paper. They are keeperless, thin and seem perfect for a tool watch. However, in practice, the results are lukewarm at best. The strap could be slightly thicker, less glossy and slightly coarser and they would work much better for toolwatches. Due to the glossiness, the colors of the strap are slightly off. The khaki is too light and the army green is a little too deep. Consequently, the Knitweave straps sit somewhere between seatbelt-style and standard nato straps.

A word of warning: for flat watches where there isn’t much angle between the spring bars and the case back, the straps are somewhat dangerous due to the slickness. I nearly dropped my Tag Heuer 180.023 while taking the watch off, because the watch slid off the strap. The strap is also thin enough to justify a keeper. The straps are definitely for enthusiasts who enjoy thin straps.

I was initially hoping for a cheaper alternative to a Tudor-style nato strap, but I had hard time matching the straps with the watches in my collection. I can see that these straps could work with watches with colorful dials withand polished surfaces. Because of OK, but not great wrist comfort, the glossy texture and color and slickness, I have hard time seeing these becoming permanent choice for any of my watches. For people who enjoy thin seat-belt-style fabric straps, the Knitweave can be a welcome addition.