Bracelet

In everyday trade use a bracelet is the metal band of a watch (articulated links closed by a clasp), as against a strap of leather, rubber or fabric. Manufacturers hold the two words apart in their own specifications: Omega lists the band of the steel Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional 42 mm, reference 310.30.42.50.01.002, as "Bracelet: Steel", with a "Foldover clasp with comfort setting". No standards body, museum or law opened for this entry defines either word, and none of them characterises the distinction.

ISO, awkwardly for that convention, uses "bracelet" for the band whatever it is made of. ISO 23160:2011, Watch cases and accessories — Tests of the resistance to wear, scratching and impacts, "specifies tests for the evaluation of the resistance of watch cases and their bracelets to wear, scratching and impacts occurring when wearing the watch", and adds that "certain tests can be applied to the watch case only, to the complete or partial bracelet, or to specially prepared samples". The band is a tested component; it is not a defined one.

The Swiss norms use the same word. The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry's list of available NIHS standards includes NIHS 60-81, Timekeeping instruments – Wristwatches – Dimensions of bracelet-to-case fastening elements (1998), which normalises the fitting between band and case under the word "bracelet". The British Horological Institute's teaching glossary (the work of a professional body, not a standards authority) has no entry for either "bracelet" or "strap"; it names them only in passing, defining lugs as "Projections on wrist watch cases supporting the strap or bracelet."