The XBAND Smart Strap That Does the Smart Work for Your Mechanical Watch

If you wear a mechanical watch every day, you have probably had the thought at least once. It would be nice to track your workouts, sleep, and daily activity without leaving your favourite mechanical watch at home. After all, that trusty field watch has been with you on hikes, road trips, and just about every adventure in between. Why shouldn’t it come to the gym as well? Or why should you be “double-wristing” with a connected device on the other arm? Instead of cramming electronics into a watch case, XBAND hides them inside a slim Swiss-crafted stainless-steel module built into a 20mm FKM rubber strap, keeping tabs on your health.

Meanwhile, your Speedmaster, Black Bay, SUB 300, or whichever mechanical watch you happen to be wearing simply gets on with telling the time while the strap does all the smart work. You simply wear the XBAND smart strap like you would a traditional one, except it needs to be charged. XBAND is designed as an integrated 20mm strap, so if you have already got a watch with a 20mm lug width (which is the most common lug width…), there is a good chance you are halfway there. 

The FKM rubber strap is cut-to-fit. Trim it to fit your wrist, click the clasp, and you are done. This is also important because a snug fit keeps the sensor in place, allowing it to record statistics more accurately. You can choose between black, white, orange, or green colour options, and these are sold separately for USD 89 each if you fancy a new colour without buying the whole smart module again. Another benefit is that design-wise, XBAND keeps things relatively classic and discreet, not so far away from the traditional folding clasp you’ll find on most sports watches. Hardly larger or thicker, it preserves the identity, aesthetics, and wearing experience of your preferred mechanical watches… a wearable device that becomes almost invisible during daily use.

As for the smart side of things, XBAND packs in most of the features people expect from a present-day wearable. It tracks heart rate, sleep, blood oxygen, stress, activity, and supports more than 40 sports modes. AI-powered insights also make the cut because it would not be 2026 without it, where AI is tech’s biggest buzzword. Since it is a connected strap, you can manage it through the XBAND app for iOS and Android, with data syncing to Apple Health and Google Health if you are already invested in those ecosystems.

This one will sound pretty interesting as a thought. XBAND is rated for more than seven days on a charge. So, pair it with a mechanical watch delivering a seven-day power reserve. Wind one, charge the other, and you are all set for another week.

Hong Kong-based XBAND launches the XBAND smart strap on Kickstarter on July 8, with early bird pricing starting at USD 279. For more information, please visit its Kickstarter page here.

Sponsored post: This article is sponsored by XBand. However, it reflects the writer’s opinion and has been written in accordance with MONOCHROME’s editorial policy.