Zealand Rubber Band Review

[Chadridv]

So as many of you know, I am a huge fan of Everest Bands. To me Everest is not only a shining example of how a business should operate, they make a killer product of the highest quality.

So I came across this Zealand Rubber Band preowned and figured I would give it a try. I was originally going to make a "Head to Head: Comparison Review" with my much loved Everest Band.

As you will see in the review, I'm not overly pleased with this Zealand Strap, and ultimately didn't even find it to be in the same league as Everest (or Rubber-B for that matter). After some thought, I decided that an "Everest Band VS Zealand Strap" review would kind of be like doing a "Head to Head: Mercedes VS Hyundai" review. It's simply not apples to apples, or even apples to oranges! It's more like Apples to A Raisin. OK, that was the last metaphor! ;)

So with that said, you'll see, while this is not a "comparison" review I will still compare it to my Everest Strap simply because that is the standard this company needs to aspire to if they want to sling this piece of rubber around my Rolex!


Zealand Band: Black
Everest Band: Green



Product Info:
Strap Made for Rolex Ceramic Submariner 116610
"Jet Black Curved End Rubber Tang Buckle Watch Strap" - $97

Product Description:

Tailor Made to fit your Rolex model - made by our Swiss manufacturers
High Quality Genuine Rubber with UV, Dust, Water and Chemical resistant
Super Comfortable, Durable and Flexible Vulcanized Swiss Rubber
Curved End Rubber Watch Strap

BOTTOM LINE:

I'm gonna start backwards here because there's so much wrong with this strap IMO that I'm not sure where to begin lol! So I'll jump to the conclusion which is that, this strap is not worth half it's price. In fact, I would never even wear it on my watch if you paid me to. The design is poor, the feel of the band is cheap, and I simply would worry about the safety of my watch with this band on my wrist. Rough start i know! haha.

Packaging:

The packaging of the Zealand strap is actually my favorite thing about the product. While I feel it slightly copies the packaging of Everest, it's the only aspect of this product that might even have a leg up on Everest. The push buttons work great, and the extra long envelope allows me to re-purpose it immediately.



Overall Design:

While I'm mostly putting Everest on a pedastal here, I'd be remiss to not mention this strap looks an awful lot like the design of a Rubber B Product. And while I've never owned a Rubber B strap for Rolex, I've handled them and owned one for a Panerai. I can attest that the quality and feel is excellent and certainly rivals Everest in that regard.

The design of this Zealand Strap definitely takes after Rubber B, but again falls short to be considered a real rival or competitor, In my opinion.

I'm not sure about Rubber B, but the curve of this Zealand band is very unnatural coming immediately off the watch case. Notice in the photos, both on and off the wrist how the Everest Band, perfectly fits around the wrist (with extreme comfort) and while the Zealand strap isn't exactly uncomfortable, it simply looks silly and feels like a rubber band that's about to break.






Quality of Rubber:

The thickness of the Zealand Strap is an all around issue for me. Unfortunately I don't have a scale but I'm sure there is a significant weight difference when compared to the Everest Band. This is not only an indication (to me) that the Everest Band is a heavier duty, more durable product, it's also an important spec when considering you're coming from the amazingly well balanced, well made and tank-like Stainless Steel Oyster Bracelet w/Glidelock! Of course no rubber strap will ever feel like the OEM bracelet will feel, but you certainly want the balance shift and weight change to be a comfortable transition. Definitely not the case with the Zealand Band.





The End link integration with the watch case is terrible. The rubber is so soft and crappy that it can shift in and out of place easily. However, the fit is so bad that it actually prevent me from being able to rotate the bezel. Obviously an issue if you dive or just simply like your watch to function properly.



Fit & Comfort:

Again, the fit is just off. Aside from feeling cheap and too thin, it does not securely hug the wrist in anyway. It folds and flops all over the place. It's just bad.

The inside surface of the Zealand Strap also lacks design quality that I find Superb in both Everest and Rubber B products. A rubber strap is designed (at the least) to be a suitable alternative in hot, sticky and wet conditions. IF you have a quality product a rubber strap makes perfect sense. If your product is not built and designed well the advantages of having a rubber strap will certainly backfire. It's not just a question of Very Comfortable VS OK. It's the difference between extreme discomfort, trapped sweat and moisture, potential odor and accelerated band deterioration.




Hardware:

I'll let the pictures do the talkiing here, but the buckle on the Zealand Band is basically garbage. It not only feels cheap, but it won't even align properly, buckled or unbuckled, as well as on and off the wrist. Compared below of course to the Everest Buckle, which is comparable if not better in quality to any major luxury watch brand out there.





Other Details:

The buckle holes are pretty ordinary, but again, I couldn't help but look to the Everest Band to see how it should be done. See pic below. It's small design details that separate the Zealand band from the heavy hitting Everest. The angled, slightly more squared off holes on the Everest band ensure a tight and secure fit.



FINAL CONCLUSION:

My first impression of this strap was that it wasn't worth half it's asking price. I quickly decided it wasn't worth a quarter of the price. After mounting the strap and wearing it on the wrist, you seriously couldn't pay me to wear the strap. It looks terrible, feels terrible, lacks important design features and most importantly just does not feel like a safe band to mount my beloved Submariner. Sorry Zealand! Hope you see this is an opportunity to improve your product.

ONE LAST THING:

Apologies to Hyundai. I hear they make perfectly reliable cars these days, and to compare it to a product I just bashed is not really fair.