The links are held together by screws – another telltale sign of a well-made bracelet with solid links – with the links throughout the bracelet having been finished and assembled by hand. You need not worry, though: if you remove the screw you still end up with a complete row of 5 links, and they will not fall into individual pieces, of course. There is a small Juuk-branded screw driver that you can use to remove links easily – not as care-free as it is on the Apple Link bracelet with its tool-free design, but then again, that would have been impossible to implement for this 5-link layout.
To attach the Juuk Locarno to the Apple Watch, you simply press on the pushers set into the back of the watch to remove the strap you have on and slide the Juuk Locarno’s end links into the cut-out of the case. Now, a really difficult part to get right (and, Eugene says, to get the supplier to even bother to deliver) was finishing the end links and the clasp. The end links perfectly mimic the design of the Apple Watch bracelets: crafted from metal, their top surface is brushed, while the sides – to match the side of the Apple Watch – received a high polish that helps them really blend into the 316L polished stainless steel of my Apple Watch.
An interesting story that Eugene told me was that they actually experienced some inconsistencies with the lug cut-out sizes on some Apple Watches. Because Eugene wanted as tight a fit as possible, he really pushed for the end links to be within hundredths of a millimeter away. After the first prototypes were made and shipped to friends and family, they found that some Apple Watches actually had a tighter cutout, and those extremely small tolerances made it difficult or, at times, impossible to fit the Juuk Locarno. Back to the drawing board he went and, after shaving off visibly imperceptible amounts of the end link, you can now expect to not have any fitting issues. On my watch, the fit is very tight indeed, but nothing that would impede me from safely removing or re-attaching the bracelet.
The clasp is a double push button butterfly clasp, also crafted from solid stainless steel. It both looks and feels as good as any clasp you’ll find on a luxury watch up to a price level of a few thousand dollars. There are no sharp edges to dig or cut into your skin and, thanks to the narrow links, it should be relatively easy to accurately find a size where there is enough room for your wrist to expand and contract and for the watch to stay snug around it. Another nice touch that I could really appreciate – and again, something you often won’t find on OEM bracelets on much more expensive watches – is how the curved sides of the pushers were polished (while flat surfaces were brushed) to help them work better aesthetically with the polished sides of the bracelet. This really was the icing on the cake.
All in all, the Juuk Locarno is your hard-to-find aftermarket accessory that you know exists – you’re just not sure which one to pick from the myriad of options out there. High quality execution, a lot of attention dedicated to getting the small details right, excellent wearing comfort, and a $200 saving make this a really great steel bracelet to get for your Apple Watch. You can pick up the Juuk Locarno for $245 on the brand’s website or support their Kickstarter campaign here for some colorful new aluminum bracelets as well. juukdesign.com
