Watch Strap Prototype

[cjmt]

Looks good!

[jwallace]

Sorry for resurrecting an old topic, but I just wanted to comment how helpful this thread has been. I also make watch straps and the information shared here has been both informative and inspiring.

@cjmt: I particularly liked your comment about using the finest materials. When I began, it was with two scrap packs from Tandy and Saddleback leather, obviously of marginal quality. I'm a small-time hobbyist and I've sold a few straps on Etsy, but man was it was tough to purchase that first side of Horween leather! Nonetheless, I see the difference in quality and even workability. The better materials, the easier the work (though it's never really "easy").

Edited May 27, 2015 by jwallace

[cjmt]

Glad it's been some help!

Charlie

[cjmt]

Couple of recent photos as nothing new has been posted for a while!

Charlie

[hitokiri8]

Beautiful work as always Charlie. What types of leather are those last two?

[cjmt]

Thank you. The brown strap is Sedgwick bridle leather and the lighter strap is Gold Barenia

Charlie

[Eemo]

A couple of questions. Using the watch strap, do you do any measures to prevent the buckle holes from stretching too much?

I find that some of my straps, after a year of use, become too loose to wear.

Another, what is your preferences for the lining?

thanks!

bonus pics of some of my straps.

[cjmt]

I've never found stretching of the holes or strap to be a problem. Maybe the leather your using is too thin or soft?

For lining on the whole we use un-dyed veg tan. It looks nice and feels comfortable to the touch

[izmarkie]

Beautiful work. Nice straps from all in this thread.

I'm getting the stitching, construction, and edges down on my watch straps, but one thing I'm really struggling with is cutting tapered straps. Charlie, how are you cutting your tapers?

I have done better by cutting slightly wide, gluing, then cutting to an outline or template once folded. Even this hasn't been totally consistent for me. I have seen videos of people cutting exotic leather tops and other linings separately with scissors but I can't imagine doing that myself without the edges being totally off.

I actually drew up what I wanted in CAD and printed to card stock for 18 mm lugs and 16 mm buckle. On softer stuff like suede it's hard to keep the template in place and keep the leather from moving enough to cut accurately. Sometimes I cut along a template and I find that I had the knife at a slight angle in spots while I'm trying to follow the curve instead of running the knife along a straight edge. I also contemplated getting my CAD templates for a few sizes made on a CNC machine so I have a metal template to hold down tight and run my knife along the edge.

Do I just need to work on steadying my hand, or is there a better way of cutting even tapers?

Thanks,

Alex

[Eemo]

hey alex,

I do a drawing with a mm paper:

and make the core piece/padding out of that one. then gluing, cutting etc the top leather plus the lining is pretty easy.

[tossik]

Couple of recent photos as nothing new has been posted for a while!

Charlie

Beautiful,

What thread size is that? I am planning on getting #10 Blanchard, and want to get best matching thread for it.

[cjmt]

Thanks Tossik. We tend to use 632

Regarding cutting the taper, a sharp knife, a pattern and practice is the best way. A steady hand comes through skill withy the tools, which comes with time (years not days) at the bench, imho at least

Charlie

[Eemo]

I got a question, anyone ever made a curved end strap?

[cjmt]

I got a question, anyone ever made a curved end strap?

Just using curved Spring bars will go along way towards getting a curved ended strap

[izmarkie]

I'm finding that a light touch and multiple passes with the knife really helps.

Also, I drew up a tapered strap template in CAD, and cardstock didn't cut it. Just got these from front panel express.

[25b]

Just got these from front panel express.

Got what from front panel express??

[izmarkie]

Got what from front panel express??

Oops, I selected an attachment but it didn't show up in the post.

[25b]

What material did they make them from? Did you send your own CAD drawing or did you use their application to make the file? Do you know if they will accept .ai files?

[izmarkie]

What material did they make them from? Did you send your own CAD drawing or did you use their application to make the file? Do you know if they will accept .ai files?

It's anodized aluminum. I got plain anodization, but you can select colors, raw aluminum, and perspex. You can select the thickness also. I went with 3 mm because it was less than $1 more than 2 or 2.5, but 4 mm was like $6 more.

I used their program, which is pretty awesome. My favorite thing about it is it gives you pricing for your design internally. You can "value engineer" your design, get your pricing on the spot, then submit the order all from within the program. I was initially going to engrave "18/16" on it, but it ended up increasing the cost 50% so I just used a sharpie when it got here.

I loaded DXF files into it from my CAD drawings but it reads SVG also. With DXF, it only reads the outlines, but I don't know about SVG. You can add holes and engraving in their program if you want.

There appear to be a lot more options than FPE for this kind of thing if you're using Illustrator or Inkscape. I'm not a CAD guy, but it's way more intuitive for me than those other programs. I also wanted aluminum rather than acrylic, but I see that Hermes uses acrylic so I'm sure that would work and it opens up lots more options.

[25b]

Thanks for the detailed info...I may have to order some templates from them soon...

[cjmt]

Hi Guys,

Some of you may enjoy this watch strap video

Edited October 19, 2015 by cjmt

[izmarkie]

Hi Guys,

Some of you may enjoy this watch strap video

Beautiful!

[okiwen]

I am soo very glad to have stumbled upon this thread. I am glad it was resurrected. It is just what I have been searching for. I wanted to make straps for my sons and I could not understand why they were demanding such high prices. I will make this thread and come back often.

I have been searching for articles or videos that would teach me what makes a truly awesome band from a $20 band. I greatly admire the craftsmanship that so many here have.

I didn't know that I needed a pricking iron. Well, opportunities just keep coming.

[chuckgaudette]

Charlie

When stitching material such as lizard or ostrich leg on watch straps I find the texture distorts the straight line of the stitching. Do you have any technics to get a consistent stitch on heavy textured materials like this?

Chuck

[cjmt]

Hi Chuck

We don't consciously do anything different for those leathers. I think it's just a matter of going a bit slower and concentrating on thread tension a bit more. Sting ray is the real killer though!

Charlie