Trailer Trad Attire: NATO Watch Strap Co.

 Do you sometimes feel like abandoning J. Press but don't know an alternative source to get ribbon watchbands? I have a suggestion. Nato Strap Co. is an outfit that I just recently learned about from a coworker who sports an awesome Timex Weekender that is a trailer trad classic. Class... why would this item be trailer trad? Right. Cool and cheap. Anyway, once I obtain one of these watches, I will go the Nato Strap Co. for a lot of style for under $13.00 bucks each. There are literally 25 PAGES of watch bands in different colors and color combinations. The straps also come in different widths and the band hardware come in different materials and finishes As you can see, almost all of them are distinctive and handsome looking. They also have leather bands that might be interesting to try. 

I have many favorites but the LeMans shown below is cool but I keep coming back to the bright 'scuba' look of the O Negative and Inmate Orange bands. 

Trailer Trad Transport: Vintage Nissan Patrol

Trailer Trad Collecting: A Nice ITBL Yard Sale Yields Garden Antique Finds

I was driving around Saturday morning when I happened to see a tag sale sign stuck up on a telephone pole and drove a few blocks to the sale. Tucked just off Glenwood on a very nice side street, this house hosted a tag sale that was a treat to attend. This was a lovely, old-school affair and the hosts were really, really nice. 

Mixed among some newer home decor were some items that you don't see every day. This piece is an iron french garden antique that one could use in the ground or in a big pot to hold up flowers and such.

As I've said before, country store antiques are hard to find and this one I'd guess is over 100 years old. It appears to be a display rack for Cream City mfg. company. They were an old manufacturer of kitchen items like coffee pots, cream cans, and pie plates. I'd guess that the rack displayed different sizes of tin/granite ware plates?

This is an example of a Cream City tin kitchen item that would have been sold in country stores.

My best purchases were three Victorian wire plant stands priced very reasonably. Two black and one white, they are large and constructed of ornately decorated twisted iron wire. I'm usually not that crazy for Victoriana but these are pretty cool. I think the owners used to have an antique store in the Midwest and I would imagine a lot of the antiques were picked out there many years ago.

 Here's another old garden piece that I bought. I'd guess its American hand-wrought iron from the Arts and Crafts era.