Best List: Speidel Twist-O-Flex stainless steel Apple Watch band
My grandfather, who fought in World War II, wore a beautiful mechanical watch. It had an eye-catching expansion band — a stainless steel link bracelet that stretched like elastic. He always took it off to play cricket, and I remember it dangled loosely around my skinny kid’s wrist when I tried it on. He loved that watch, and so did I.
Now I’m wearing a similar expansion bracelet on my Apple Watch courtesy of Speidel, the storied watch-band maker from Providence, Rhode Island. Introduced in the late 1950s, Speidel’s Twist-O-Flex Stainless bracelets are some of the most iconic bands in all of watchmaking. Now they’re available in three finishes for the Apple Watch.
Photo: Lyle Kahney/Cult of Mac
A ’50s icon updated for a 21st-century smartwatch
The Speidel brand holds an iconic place in America’s wristwatch history. Dating back to 1867, Speidel gained fame in 1959 with the introduction of the Twist-O-Flex steel bracelet.
The clever, durable design became one of the most popular and instantly recognizable watch bands of the last century. The company invested heavily in advertising. (Here’s a cheesy TV spot from the mid-’70s and an earlier one featuring a creepy turn by actor Peter Lorre.
Popularly known as the “tank track,” for obvious reasons, the Twist-O-Flex resembles Apple’s Link Bracelet, but is claspless.
Instead, the links themselves flex. The band’s mechanism resembles automobile leaf springs. The individual links stretch like springs, but naturally return to their original state. The result is a strong, durable, sweat- and water-resistant band that stretches up to 5 inches from its original size.
A classic watch band that’s comfortable and strong
I like Twist-O-Flex best for its comfort. It feels good, is easy to get on and off, and it doesn’t yank out the hairs on my arm.
It’s also a lot cheaper than Apple’s band. The Twist-O-Flex starts at $50 instead of Apple’s $450.
Made of stainless steel, the Twist-O-Flex comes in three finishes: brushed, silver and black, which matches the space gray Apple Watch.
The bands come in three sizes (small/medium, medium/large and large/extra-large) and fit both the 38mm and 42mm Apple Watch. They are compatible with Series 1, Series 2 and Series 3.
We’re delighted to reintroduce this modern take on a classic favorite in our Watch Store. Or you can order the bands directly using the widgets below (42mm bands only. For 38mm, please visit the store).
One thing to note: The Twist-O-Flex links can be fiddly to remove. Be sure to measure your wrist and choose the size that fits best. If you’d like to shorten the band, here are instructions for link removal (.pdf).
Price: $50 for brushed, $60 for silver and $80 for black
Buy from: Cult of Mac Watch Store
Speidel provided Cult of Mac with a review unit for this article. See Cult of Mac’s reviews policy; and check out more stuff we recommend in our Best List reviews.
Leander Kahney is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac.
Leander is a longtime technology reporter and the author of six acclaimed books about Apple, including two New York Times bestsellers: Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products and Inside Steve’s Brain, a biography of Steve Jobs.
He’s also written a top-selling biography of Apple CEO Tim Cook and authored Cult of Mac and Cult of iPod, which both won prestigious design awards. Most recently, he was co-author of Cult of Mac, 2nd Edition.
Leander has been reporting about Apple and technology for nearly 30 years.
Before founding Cult of Mac as an independent publication, Leander was news editor at Wired.com, where he was responsible for the day-to-day running of the Wired.com website. He headed up a team of six section editors, a dozen reporters and a large pool of freelancers. Together the team produced a daily digest of stories about the impact of science and technology, and won several awards, including several Webby Awards, 2X Knight-Batten Awards for Innovation in Journalism and the 2010 MIN (Magazine Industry Newsletter) award for best blog, among others.
Before being promoted to news editor, Leander was Wired.com’s senior reporter, primarily covering Apple. During that time, Leander published a ton of scoops, including the first in-depth report about the development of the iPod. Leander attended almost every keynote speech and special product launch presented by Steve Jobs, including the historic launches of the iPhone and iPad. He also reported from almost every Macworld Expo in the late ’90s and early ‘2000s, including, sadly, the last shows in Boston, San Francisco and Tokyo. His reporting for Wired.com formed the basis of the first Cult of Mac book, and subsequently this website.
Before joining Wired, Leander was a senior reporter at the legendary MacWeek, the storied and long-running weekly that documented Apple and its community in the 1980s and ’90s.
Leander has written for Wired magazine (including the Issue 16.04 cover story about Steve Jobs’ leadership at Apple, entitled Evil/Genius), Scientific American, The Guardian, The Observer, The San Francisco Chronicle and many other publications.
Leander is an expert on:
Apple and Apple history
Steve Jobs, Jony Ive, Tim Cook and Apple leadership
Apple community
iPhone and iOS
iPad and iPadOS
Mac and macOS
Apple Watch and watchOS
Apple TV and tvOS
AirPods
Leander has a postgrad diploma in artificial intelligence from the University of Aberdeen, and a BSc (Hons) in experimental psychology from the University of Sussex.
He has a diploma in journalism from the UK’s National Council for the Training of Journalists.
Leander lives in San Francisco, California, and is married with four children. He’s an avid biker and has ridden in many long-distance bike events, including California’s legendary Death Ride.
You can find out more about Leander on LinkedIn and Facebook. You can follow him on X at @lkahney or Instagram.
