When you buy a new watch one piece of advice I have always offered was to check whether replacement watch straps are available for it. This can save you a lot of hassle if something goes wrong further down the road. However I know that most people will take in that advice, decide that they are going to act on it and then find a watch that they become crazy about. They ask but are told that the manufacturer doesn't make extra straps. They know well that it's a risk now but the desire to own the watch is too much and anyway they are so fond if it the won't let anything bad happen to it.

I've done this myself and I have seen others do it too. It's human nature, you will do whatever it takes in your head to rationalize buying something you want even if there are risks attached. So what can you do when the strap does inevitably give way?

Again it's the Internet to the rescue. Many sites online now offer replacement straps for watches. They are often inexpensive and the sites easy to access. You can see exactly what kind of strap you are ordering and some even have different styles so that you can actually change how your watch looks.

So the watch band broke and you are looking for a replacement. You hop online and suddenly you realize it's not that simple. You just want a strap but you are confronted with different types such as leather watch straps or plastic. Then it's complicated even more as strap makers have now got to the point where you can get all different types of leather watch strap.

So what do you do? My suggestion is to embrace it. Don't necessarily limit yourself to how the old strap looked. This is a chance to create almost an entire new watch. You can change the color of the strap or even make it look better by buying higher quality watch bands.

Some of the better sites offer guides on how to choose a strap but to put it as simple as possible you need to be looking at just two things the width of the strap and the length of the strap. To measure the width you should measure from pin hole to pin hole on the watch rather than the width of your current strap which may have always been a bad size or have shrunk from wear. A ruler will do the job but if you happen to have one a caliper can give a much more accurate measurement.

As far a length goes, you have two choices. You can take your old strap and measure it. You will need to leave the watch face aside for this and just place the two parts of the strap end to end. This approach is best if the strap has already fully come off or you have removed it.

The other option is to measure around your wrist with a piece of string. Wrap it around your wrist and mark where the start of the string meets the string on your arm. This will give you an accurate measurement. Use a ruler then with the string to find out what length you need but first remember you must subtract the length of the watch face measured from where the straps attach. This is so that when the straps are attached to the watch it does not become bigger than your wrist.