The Tsuyosa is one of the most recommended affordable automatics of the last few years, and it is also one of the more awkward ones to buy a strap for. Two reasons, and both are worth understanding before you spend anything.
⚠️ Nobody Agrees on the Width
Go looking and you will find two figures published for this watch — 18mm and 19mm — and they come from the same source, on two different pages.
One states 19mm against a named reference, on a 40mm case around 11.7mm thick, and adds that the size is less common than 20mm. The other states 18mm for the model generically, and calls that one of the most common widths in watchmaking. Both cannot be right, and neither is corroborated anywhere independent — the maison's own product pages do not publish a lug width at all, and the hands-on reviews give case dimensions without it.
So we are not going to print a number, because we cannot stand behind one. Measure the gap between your lugs, or send us the reference from the caseback and we will confirm it before you order. Our guide to measuring takes about a minute.
The good news is that it does not matter much which of the three it turns out to be. Our curved-end FKM rubber straps are cut in 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22mm — so 18mm, 19mm and 20mm are all standard options, including the odd size most of the trade skips. Whichever answer your ruler gives, it exists.
⚠️ The Second Thing Matters More Than the Width
This is the part almost nobody explains, and it is measurable.
The Tsuyosa is an integrated-bracelet design. The maison's own description calls the bracelet seamlessly integrated with the case, and that is not marketing language — a reviewer measured what it means. The case's own lug-to-lug is around 45mm. With the bracelet fitted, the watch reads closer to 49.5mm, because the first centre links extend out past the edges of the case rather than hanging below them.
So the bracelet is not attached to the silhouette. It is part of it.
Put a conventional two-piece strap on and you get a different watch: roughly four and a half millimetres shorter across the wrist, with the case ending where the case actually ends. The strap drops away below the lugs instead of continuing the line outwards.
That is not a fault, and it is not a reason to avoid a strap. But it is a choice rather than a swap, and it is worth making deliberately:
- Keep the bracelet if the integrated look is what you bought the watch for. On this design the bracelet is doing more work than on almost any watch at the price.
- Fit a strap if you want a more compact, more conventional watch — and plenty of owners do, because a 45mm lug-to-lug on a 40mm case is genuinely wearable on a smaller wrist where 49.5mm is not.
That is the honest way round. On most watches we argue that a strap protects the part you cannot replace. Here the bracelet is part of the design, so a strap does not complete the watch — it gives you a different one. Our guide on taking a watch off its bracelet covers the general case; this is the exception to it.
And keep the bracelet complete in a bag either way — clasp, removed links, spring bars. On an integrated design it is not a generic part you can replace later.
What Suits It
If you have decided on a strap, the watch makes the rest easy.
The dial decides the colour, and it is unusually loud. The Tsuyosa comes in sunray black, blue, green, yellow and a pale turquoise, and on every one of them the dial is the most saturated thing on the watch — there is no bezel insert, no counters, no printing to compete with it.
- Black, blue and green dials — repeat the dial rather than contrasting with it. Black is never wrong; navy on the blue, a deep green on the green.
- Yellow and turquoise — go black. When a watch is already doing something bold, the strap's job is to hold the ground steady. A second strong colour turns a striking watch into a busy one.
- A fine coloured line is the disciplined middle. The black LuxLine® strap with a blue line covers 20mm and 21mm — check your width first, per the measuring note above.
⚠️ Two Practical Limits
Water resistance is 50 metres. That is rain, hand-washing and a sudden downpour — not swimming. So rubber here makes the watch easier to live with rather than more waterproof, and leather is not a compromise the way it would be on a diver. Our guide on swimming with a strap covers where the line falls.
And the case is around 12mm on a 40mm footprint, which is trim rather than slim. Keep the strap moderate — a heavily padded 5mm strap adds visible height at the lugs on a watch whose proportions are its main appeal. Flat to lightly structured is the right range.
Our leather range covers the dress side — check the width options before ordering, and message us with your reference if you want the fit confirmed.
Fitting
Face-down on a soft cloth, a proper spring bar tool rather than anything improvised, and tug both ends firmly before the watch goes on your wrist.
Take extra care removing an integrated bracelet. The end links sit tight against the case by design, and that is exactly where a slipped tool leaves a mark on a polished flank. Work slowly, and if it needs force, stop and reposition.
The Bottom Line
Do not trust a published width for this watch — the two figures in circulation contradict each other and come from the same place. Measure, or send us the reference; whichever of 18, 19 or 20mm it turns out to be, we cut it.
And decide what you actually want first. A strap will make this a smaller, more conventional watch — about four and a half millimetres shorter across the wrist. For some owners that is the whole point. For others the integrated bracelet is what they bought.
Every rubber strap we make carries a lifetime warranty and leather carries one year; shipping is free worldwide with no import costs, and more than 50,000 customers already trust us with their watches.
