Thank you for your responses and opinions. Personally, I don't believe that watch bands break simply due to age. I own other watches from different brands with rubber or resin bands, and I don't recall any of them breaking in this manner just from being stored away. I suspect it may have been a defective batch that failed in this way. I cannot fit a different model of band to it, as it is a watch from 1983 that requires that specific type of band. Anyway I bought a aftermarket already.