“New and improved.” I’ll bet you’ve heard that before. How often is it just “sales speak” for “new and not really much different at all but we’d like your money, please, thank you very much”? Often, I’d say. Here though, in regards to the “new and improved” Forstner Flat Link, I can guarantee you it is both of those things in spades. And, thanks to that, it elevates the Flat Link to the cusp of my top three Forstner bracelets of all time.Well, in reality, it cracks the top three on the “available” list. The as-yet-unreleased Bullet bracelet might muscle it off the third step if it had debuted already but, as yet, it is only available on Forstner‘s first watch, the A-12. The differences between the new and the old versions of the iconic Flat Link bracelet are many, various, and blazingly obvious, so allow me to run through them, blow-for-blow, before offering my final opinion on this very welcome improvement.The Flat Link got thickerIf the original Flat Link (from Forstner) was a faithful recreation of the source material of the 1970s. This version, the “contemporary” Flat Link, is the 1990s party-boy model that spends its afternoons quietly juicing in the corner of the weight room before donning a tank top and Briko shades and taking its best girl down to the arcade for three hours of Pac-Man and a cheeky bottle of pilfered Hooch. While this bracelet may well sound like a grade-A douchebag, it is muscular, cool, and exactly what every girl dreams of knocking on her door and asking her dad if it can take her to prom.Heck, I’d let it take?me to prom.#SpeedySportsDay returns…The reason why is simple. While this version of the Flat Link may not be the most authentic or intellectually interesting, it is, quite honestly, the best yet. It takes the original idea and makes it better. It is stronger, feels more secure, has better finishing, and features such noticeable (and, quite frankly, undeniable) upgrades, that it should be regarded as the biggest in-collection leap forward taken by the bracelet brand thus far.Those links I mentioned? They’re now thicker. They’ve been bulked up from 2.5mm thick to 3mm thick. That’s a lot more significant an increase on the wrist than it sounds on paper. The best bit is that the added thickness means adjustment just got a whole lot easier. Gone are the male>female screw bars that required excellent dexterity and two screwdrivers to remove. In their place, we have single screws (160 slot width) and threaded links. Oh, baby.Buckle upThe friction-fit foldover buckle is gone. It has been replaced by a push-button release clasp. The logo is no longer stamped. Now it is deeply engraved. Furthermore, the clasp itself is no longer made of thin stamped metal. Now, we have a crisply machined, expertly finished buckle that feels like it can take a beating.Up until this point, the only other Forstner I have with this kind of closure is the Bullet bracelet. As soon as the Forstner 1450 Presidents bracelet gets this upgrade it will likely overtake the Komfit as my favorite of all time because it is simply that good. It adds so much value to this new Flat Link over the old one I can barely put it into words. This upgrade almost doubles the value of the bracelet in my mind. Honestly, I can’t wait for it to become standard throughout the Forstner catalog.Not as…flat?The old version of the Flat Link had very crisp-edged center links. The new version’s thicker links have an ever so slightly more curved edge. I would say this is down to a more thorough brushing process that has simply “knocked off” the brusquer edge. I like the result. I’m a fan of heavily brushed bracelets because they just feel nicer on the wrist. This one, to me, catches the light in an attractive way and doesn’t give away any of the tell-tale signs of poor finishing or cheap metal (there is no wobble in the reflection of the light as it passes over the links). Therefore, for me, this is another win.View this post on InstagramA post shared by Rob Nudds (@robnudds)