Why Leather?

Many people are allergic to the metal that most watches are made from, some people are even allergic to gold and silver, still fewer people can only wear platinum due to the inert quality of the metal. Rather than forking over the amount of money it would take in order to purchase a platinum wrist band, these types of people are more than likely to opt for the leather band, and probably the band that goes under the watch itself holding that metal away from the skin too. There are a plethora of different leather styles that can go with just about any style of watch you can imagine, from a slim, narrow leather band for the elegant slim line watches to thick impressive looking bands for the large multi-function watches.

Why Metal?

Some may even opt for leather for their dive watches, however most would probably opt for the metal band because of the imperviousness to water and the ease of cleaning and drying. There are many styles of metal watch bands, from the stretch type to a clasp type. There are narrow bands as well as wide ones. Your best bet is to take your watch in and hold it up to the different types of bands to see which one you prefer. Maybe try a watch on that already has that type of band attached. This is an item that will stay with your watch for a long period and you want to make sure you make a well considered decision.

Resetting Watches

If you own a calendar watch that takes elaborate resetting practices, you might want to invest in a single unit just to make sure the watch never runs down so you save yourself the time of having to reset everything on the watch. It’s always a good idea to have a small screw driver available, you never know when you may need to take the back off your watch and replace the battery, or replace your band should it wear out.

Eyeglass Repair Kit

An eyeglass repair kit is a wonderful thing to keep around, especially if you also wear glasses. The screw driver in the kit is small and refined and will work well when dealing with the intricacies of a watch; it will also do double duty should you loose the screws in your glasses.

Leather Cleaner

If you have a leather band, you may want to have some leather cleaner and conditioner, if you have metal bands, care is easy, mild soap and water will do. In both cases, a nice old overused soft toothbrush will make a handy tool to get between the links of the metal or into the crevices of the leather, making sure you softly clean the band.

Reasons To Use A Deployment Buckle

A high quality leather watch band that is fitted with a deployment clasp will retain it’s quality of newness for much longer than a watch that requires the band to be thread through a buckle every time it is put on or removed. These buckles are convenient to use, they are simple to fit and they are fully adjustable. These buckles can also be transferred from one compatible strap to another.

How To Change Your Buckle

If you decide you want to use a deployment buckle instead of the standard buckle, you will need to remove the buckle from the band and measure the width of the buckle, your deployment buckle needs to match this width.  Different watch bands have different taper rates however most watch bands taper by approximately two millimeters at the buckle. This means a twenty millimeter watch strap will probably need an eighteen millimeter deployment buckle. If you’re not sure how to measure in order to get the right deployment buckle you may want to take your watch in with the band and original buckle still attached and have the watchmaker look at your watch and possibly install the new buckle for you.

Is It Real?

This is fantastic cost wise, however for someone that wants real leather, it makes it harder for them to know they are getting the real thing. One way to determine if the material is leather is to stretch it slightly and look for pours, if the leather is real, you will see minute holes, we have not been able to duplicate this as of yet so if there are holes you have real leather.

Take Care Of It

Once you have your leather, you will want to take care of it. The first thing you will want to do after you purchase it is to condition it with a high quality leather lotion. Then condition it three or four times a year from then on out. If your leather gets dirty, and reacts with the chemicals of your skin, it may get a funny smell to it. In order to get rid of the smell and protect the durability of the band you will want to clean it with a cleaner made specifically for leather, then after cleaning it you will want to condition it with a leather conditioner. You don’t ever want to do one without the other as you will leave the leather open to drying out and degradation.

1. The first thing you will need to do is determine how the band is attached. There is the standard attachment and the integrated attachment. Most have the standard style and they are the easiest to change.
2. The next thing you need to do is to measure the distance between the two lugs on the watch case, this will tell you how wide your band can be. Measuring in millimeters will make it easier on you as most watches bands are figured that way. If you only have a ruler that measures inches, you can measure that way and then pull up a conversion chart on your computer to figure out the millimeters.
3. The next thing to do is to measure your watch band once it is removed from the case. In order to do this, take a ruler and place the buckle off the end of the ruler so it won’t be measured. Then put the other strap end to end with the first one. This will give the total length of the strap you need. If you have purchased watches or bands in the past and never paid attention to the size of the band, you probably take a ‘regular’ sized band.
4. Once you have determined the size of the band you require, you can get online or even go to a store and find bands that are your size. If your current band is close too being to small or too big you may want to adjust the size of the new band to take that into consideration.

1. Place your watch on a soft but firm surface, if you have it, use a bracelet holder.
2. Use either the standard or mini size spring bar tool, whichever works for your watch (small screwdrivers will work too as well as fingernails but the job gets harder that way).
3. Insert the forked end between the band and the case lug, you are trying to catch the shoulder of the spring bar with the tool.
4. Once you have it, push down towards the band and away from the lug, until the band comes away from the case. Do this carefully so you don’t scratch anything or loose your spring bar, that bar is hard to find if you loose it due to its size.
5. Once you have that section removed, move to the other side and repeat the process.
6. Now you’re ready for your new band. Insert the spring bar into the ‘case end’ of your new band, then insert one end of the spring bar into the pin hole of the lug. Using your spring bar tool or whatever it was you used to take it off, and compress the bar so you can insert the other end into the other case lug.
7. Do the same on the other side and you will have installed your new watch band. If your watch band is metal, make sure you include the end pieces.

Chronograph Watch

If you have a big chronograph watch, bands that are made out of such things alligator or any of the large scale reptiles or even ostrich would look fine with this sort of watch.

Thin Watches

A thin line type watch would need to have a much more subtle band such as a fine scaled black snakeskin band or even just a regular thin leather band with no figuring of any kind on it. Let the watch itself be the spokesman and the band just be the support.

Sports Watches

If you have a diving watch and you actually do dive or involve yourself in any water sports that would get your watch wet, you may want to consider waterproof bands such as rubber. A fine rubber watchband is going to be impervious to the intrusion of water and will not have any ill affects should it be exposed for extended periods of time.

Consider what you will be doing while wearing the watch and pick a band that will lend itself to that function.

The animal was born and raised for the specific reason to feed the human population but in the course of this final destination, there obviously is unpleasantness. When the animal is put down, it is done in the most humane, quickest way possible without tainting the meat. When the processing is completed, the skin of the animal becomes a byproduct. This byproduct could be disposed of but that would be disposing of a valuable and beautiful natural resource. That resource instead fuels the leather industry, giving millions of people a way to make a livelihood and produce beautiful leather products that compliment our lives.

Watchbands are only a small portion of the full breadth of what leather offers our day to day lives. Our leather watchbands give us a beautiful, durable and environmentally friendly way to hold our watches on our wrists. If you are environmentally conscious, look for naturally vegetable tanned leather, it’s a beautiful leather that is environmentally friendly in it’s production process.

Water resistance in a watch is achieved by several different factors. The gaskets are one of the most important features that make the watch resistant to the infiltration of water. These gaskets are commonly created from rubber, nylon or Teflon because of their watertight sealing properties. These are used on all exterior mating surfaces in order to seal the sensitive interior portions of the watch. Water resistant watch cases also tend to be lined with a sealant as additional protection from water infiltration. Because heat affects metal materials differently than rubber, nylon or Teflon, it is not suggested that you wear a water resistant watch in a hot shower. The metal portion will expand at a faster rate than that of the gaskets, which will create small breaks in the seal of the mating surfaces which will allow water to gain access to the more sensitive areas of the watch.

A water resistant watch will have a thicker, stronger material used in the outer body as this part of the watch will be required to withstand the pressures of a multitude of water based activities that can expose it to variables that no standard watch could stand up to. They are also provided with screw in backs rather than pop on ones as this allows tightening to increase impenetrability.

Water resistance is determined by how much pressure a watch is able to withstand before failing. This makes different water resistant watches suitable for a variety of different activities from just wearing it when it’s raining all the way down to serious scuba diving. Determine what your needs are and purchase a watch that has suitable water resistance levels.

The recipient’s lifestyle will have influence on the style of watch band. Is the recipient an active, outdoorsy type or more of the refined, elegant type, will the watch be worn scuba diving or maybe just to the golf course for a nice 18 hole round. Is this to be a dinner watch that can be worn in formal situations or for casual knock around activities? The recipient’s favorite color schemes will also be a consideration, though you might get away with a neutral colored band in most cases.

There are many types of watch bands available from regular leather to exotic leathers such as fish, snake, ray, ostrich, shark, lizard and a multitude of others, there are also just as many synthetic alternatives. The choice here again will depend greatly on the use of the watch and also on the watch itself. A chronograph watch would not look right attached to a simple, thin watchband, it would look bulky, clumsy and out of place, however attached to a substantial looking leather watch band, the watch can take on an elegance of substantial nature, however a thin, gold, formal watch would look completely ridiculous attached to the same band. If possible, have the watch itself in your possession when you go band shopping and get professional advice as to which band goes the best with the watch for the most common situations in the recipients life.