Disclaimer: this article was not sponsored by Artem or any other entity. The straps featured here were gifted to B&B, and do not need to be returned. This was done without restrictions/conditions.
Featured Straps:
Artem Barenia Leather Strap (Saddle Tan, 20mm) – https://artemstraps.com/products/loopless-barenia-leather-saddle-tan
Artem Barenia Leather Strap (Forge Black, 20mm) – https://artemstraps.com/products/loopless-barenia-leather-forge-black
Artem Loopless Hydroflex Strap (Event Horizon, 22mm) – https://artemstraps.com/products/loop-less-hydroflex%E2%84%A2-black-sailcloth-watch-strap-with-white-stitching
Artem Classic Hydroflex Strap (Sand Beige, 22mm) – https://artemstraps.com/products/hydroflex-sand-beige-hybrid-fkm-watch-strap-with-sand-stitching
Artem Classic Hydroflex Strap (Grey, 20mm) – https://artemstraps.com/products/hydroflex-grey-hybrid-fkm-watch-strap-with-grey-stitching
Artem Classic Hydroflex Strap (Black, 20mm) – https://artemstraps.com/products/hydroflex-black-hybrid-fkm-watch-strap-with-black-stitching
Video
Review
It has been a while since I did an accessories review, and even longer since I did a strap review. And while I mostly featured Delugs straps in my content over the past year or two as part of their Ambassador program, that didn’t stop me from personally wearing a lot of my other favorite straps. And the straps that ended up getting the most wear were my Artem Classic HydroFlex straps. I’m a huge fan of hybrid straps, and I’ve owned countless different brands over the years until finally finding my perfect hybrid strap in the HydroFlex collection. I’ve talked about them in some detail in my review of those straps a few years ago, but after wearing them for a few years now my feelings haven’t changed.
Based on my collecting style, i.e mostly being into sports watches and in particular dive watches, I find their proportions, thickness, materials, and style to be the perfect match. One of my pet peeves is straps that are too thin for the watch cases that they’re used on, and that becomes particularly obvious on dive and sports watches that often sit over 12mm thick. The HydroFlex solved that for me with generous bolstering at the end links that tapers nicely, while also maintaining a rugged aesthetic and excellent fit. And I also prefer my sporty straps to have less of a taper than most people do; I much prefer a 20mm-18mm taper over the common 20mm-16mm. Artem nailed this. Their synthetic sailcloth and rubber backing have held up absurdly well.
And while I typically prefer a classic strap style, their loop-less HydroFlex straps have been excellent additions to my collection. That design feels like a refinement of the classic HydroFlex; making the rubber visible only on the underside and giving the strap the appearance of a full sailcloth piece instead of a hybrid. Artem’s hardware quality also deserves mention: their buckles and deployants are very refined and luxurious.
Nothing annoys me more than paying a few hundred dollars for a premium strap and getting a buckle that looks like it came out of a generic parts bin (I’m looking at you Jean Rousseau). Artem’s hardware is better than many OEM options I’ve owned too; based on the last Omega deployant I had on the rubber strap of my Moonwatch, I’d confidently say Artem’s build quality is more refined and more robust, yet that Omega clasp alone cost me an undeserved $300 USD.
But anyway, I’ve talked enough about the HydroFlex straps, and that wasn’t the purpose of this review. We’re here to take a look at their new Barenia Leather collection.
At first, I was a bit surprised that Artem, a brand that has essentially become synonymous with sailcloth and hybrid straps, would step into the very crowded leather strap market. And until I actually received the straps, I was skeptical that they could deliver a leather strap experience that lived up to the standard set by my HydroFlex straps, while also justifying their price point. That price is already at the upper end for typical leather straps, excluding the high-end luxury offerings from Jean Rousseau, Camille Fournet, Alex Crown, and others.
And this $189 does not include the deployant clasp, which will set you back another $87, bringing the total to around $276 USD. At the time of writing, the brand is offering an introductory 20% discount, bringing the set down to around $220 USD. This new lineup launches with three color options: Saddle Tan, Forge Black, and Bridle Brown; and all sizes from 18mm to 22mm. The 22mm tapers to 18mm, while the rest taper down to 16mm at the clasp. The straps use Barenia leather: a smooth, full-grain calfskin originally developed by the Haas Tanneries and famously used by Hermès for saddlework. It’s known for its soft hand, slight sheen, and its ability to develop a beautiful patina over time.
Now that the details are out of the way, let’s get into my thoughts…
Straight out of the packaging, these straps look and feel like high-quality leather straps. I’ve handled enough leather over the years to distinguish the good from the bad, and these fall firmly into the “good” category. But I’m not a leather expert, so I won’t pretend to evaluate these on the same microscopic criteria that leather artisans obsess over. To my less-trained eye, the stitching is excellent, the edges are neatly finished, and the padded bolstering at the spring bars is extremely well executed. The stitching is tight at the bar, the finishing looks clean, and the high-quality quick-release spring bars are perfectly integrated.
And like I said earlier, most of my watches are sporty or sporty-adjacent, with thicker cases that don’t pair well with thin or flimsy straps. When a strap is too thin at the spring bars, it visually exaggerates the thickness of the case, and that just doesn’t work for me on wrist. What I liked immediately about these Barenia straps is the bolstered, padded section that tapers gradually from the spring bars to the clasp holes. They are almost as thick as the HydroFlex straps, measuring around 5mm at the spring bars and tapering down to around 2.5mm at the clasp holes. I opted for the 20mm version, which tapers from 20mm to 16mm. While I still prefer a taper to 18mm, I don’t mind this 16mm since Artem’s deployant is about 21.5mm at its widest (excluding pushers), balancing the taper nicely. When attached, the combined strap and clasp height comes to about 9.15mm. And unlike the Omega strap and deployant pairing I mentioned earlier, this one doesn’t wiggle, and the excess strap doesn’t flare out to the sides. Yes, I’m still salty about that $540 experience.
As I mentioned earlier in this review, Artem’s hardware quality is excellent. You’re unlikely to find better from a third-party strap maker. Plenty of watch brands themselves don’t put this level of effort or precision into their buckles and deployants. In terms of leather quality, again, I personally don’t know what more you could reasonably ask for. I own plenty of straps from Jean Rousseau and others that cost more than this, yet the quality is no better here. I haven’t worn these long enough to comment on aging or durability, but there’s nothing that suggests these are inferior to other high-end leather options.
Which brings us to the question most will ask me: is this strap worth $276?
With the sheer number of leather straps on the market, from $10 budget straps to $500 bespoke items, the answer is both subjective and objective. A $10 strap clearly distinguishes itself from a $500 strap; that’s easy. What’s harder is determining whether a $276 strap is superior to a $180 or $200 strap, or whether a $500 bespoke option is meaningfully better than this. At that point, the distinctions shift into personal preference and specific use cases, in my opinion.
But what I will say is this: if your watch tastes align with mine: sports watches, divers, field watches, tool-adjacent pieces, you will benefit from the excellent padding, the refined proportions, and the terrific deployant. And in that scenario, I think the $276 price is certainly justified. It wears like a premium product, feels like a premium product, and carries forward the same attention to detail and philosophy that made the HydroFlex one of my all-time favorite straps.
Artem may be new to leather, but based on this Barenia collection, you wouldn’t know it. They’ve delivered a strap experience that lives up to their reputation, and perhaps more impressively, lives up to the expectations set by the HydroFlex for me. And that alone is worth paying attention to. I hope they continue to develop this line with more leather options.
