How to Choose Leather Watch Bands?

No matter what watch you have, automatic watch or quartz, traditional timepieces, or smartwatches, you must want to get a leather watch band for your collection.While we watch-lovers typically categorize bands into several reputable types according to design and product (NATO, natural leather, canvas, and so on), in reality, it's an oversimplification to swelling all leather watch unite. What sort of leather are we discussing-- full-grain, top grain, nubuck, suede, cordovan? Is the belt a 1-piece or a 2-piece? Is it top-stitched all over the border, or does it feature vintage-style threading near the lugs?

All of these factors dictate which type of watch the strap will be appropriate for, and indeed, not all straps are created equal. To choose a suitable watch band, you might need to know more about the leather straps.

1. What types of leather are they?

First, leather is artificially processed animal skin. After curing, soaking, painting, liming, fleshing, deliming, bating, pickling, degreasing, tanning, mineral tannages, and many other processes so that it becomes ready to be used, the whole time might take over 11 days. The leather process is to make the "skin" more durable and more robust, and it also increases the comfortable feel to some extend.

There are many types of leather, fine natural leather, grainy leather, artificial leather, and so on. Different process methods also result in leather in different kinds. However, we mainly distinguish between animal leather and synthetic leather (PU). Generally speaking (mostly), if these famous brand watches are equipped with leather straps, most of them are selected animal skins, including crocodile leather, cowhide, sheepskin, etc. Some low-end timepieces would use artificial leather, but as the evolution of the synthetic leather process, some PU becomes more and more durable and comfortable.

Animal Skin is widely used in daily life, like women's handbag, clothes, chairs, etc. While the Animal Protection Association tries to stop use animal skin as it is a blasphemy to life. Like we eat meat, we cherish the protection of animals, and we do our best to protect them, but animal products raised for food or other uses still occupy a large part of the market.

2.What kind of leather can be made for watch straps？

Using animal skins has been a long time in human history. Leather is among man's earliest as well as most helpful discoveries. Our ancestors made use of leather to secure themselves from the elements. Primitive guy pursued wild animals for food, then made apparel, shoes, and also unrefined camping tents from the hides. Like then, hides used today are a by-product. Animals are raised for the meat, dairy products and woollen sectors, except their hides. Roughly fifty percent of all natural leather created today is used to make footwear and also about 25% for apparel. Upholstery needs only about 15% of the overall item. But what kind of leather can be used to create a watch strap?

Cowhides Leather Watch Bands

Practically every conceivable kind of wearable leather is presently created watch bands or straps, from conventional cow as well as calf conceal to unique however resilient pet skins. I have actually seen bands made from ostrich, emu, shark, countless ranges of snake, reptile, buffalo, and many others, yet the most widely-used natural leather is cowhide . One of the famous cowhide brands is HORWEEN®. As a professional leather craftsman, the most frequent leather we use is also cowhide.

TAG HEUER CARRERA series cowhide leather

Colored processed Cowhide Leather

Why is it cowhide? One reason is the large size of cattle, and one adult cattle can be convenient for processing as hides and different ways to use. Another reason is that the demand for beef is also huge, so the source of cowhide is also large.

NATO straps for SEIKO watch

The leather used for watch band must carry the following characteristics: First, it must be soft enough. The different parts of the leather and the processing methods of leather will present different feelings to the customer. Secondly, it must be strong and durable, some leather factory has poor skill in the leather process, and their leather might break after a few times of use. In general, it's very important to have a skilled craftsman to find good leather.

In addition to cowhide, the famous watch brands will also use crocodile skin, including Patek, Vacheron Constantin, Cartier, and Audemars Piguet. It's durable, beautiful, and very comfortable. Some people call crocodile skin "gold in leather" because it's costly. Crocodile leather straps have gradually become a high-end strap material.

Patek Philippe Crocodile Watch Straps

Patek Philippe 5712R-001

Vacheron Constantin 4600E/000A-B487

However, crocodile skin is superior to cowhide in terms of durable and rarity, and some watch fans and customers prefer crocodile skin products. So in high-end watches, we can still find crocodile leather strap even some seller sold it hundreds of bucks.

3. which leather is the best choice?

What kind of leather strap is the best? It's finally time to answer this question. There is no standard answer to such a question. Some people might say crocodile skin is the best, because it's rare and expensive. In fact, maybe the "meaning" is just to show the wearer's fortune, Just like women love GUCCI and LV bags. But I think canvas bags are better back bags, don't they?

Good condition leather straps in antique watch

Abandon these "nothingness", a good strap just needs to choose a relatively good part in the materials (cow and sheepskin), and a good design according to the timepiece you have. Cowhide and sheepskin can be very soft and comfortable after professional processing, together with a nice buckle, it could be a perfect choice for you. In the leathercraft, double-sided leather is more durable and sturdier than single-sided leather (PU in the bottom), and suede leather is more comfortable than smooth treatment. According to this information, we can get an answer: a skilled craftsman with enough experience in the hand-stitched foundation is the most important for a watch straps, a suitable straps design for watch is more important than the material.

the leather in the bottom also affect the comfort and its durable