Watch Strap

[HaloJones]

So this has to be my 3rd or 4th strap but its probably the first I am really happy with, in that it does not look totally amateurish  

Made from 1.5mm calf on the upper, lined with 1mm pig skin, random HD upholstery thread I had lying around. 

Buckle is a 925 silver one from a French supplier via Amazon 

For the sparkles / dots I punched holes in the top layer & pushed through some little plastic crystals (ones used in nail art) as the holes are smaller than the crystals no glue was needed

 

[pepeunidos]

Slick use of the nail decorations! Tidy work, too.

[YinTx]

Cool hardware, too.  Stitching is nice but scary close to the edge for me.  What kind of watch is it for?  I've only made one or two watch straps, and have one half way done.  They require a lot of finesse for sure, since they are so small!  Nicely done, glad to hear you have improved on each one, look forward to seeing the next one!

YinTx

[HaloJones]

Thanks

It’s for an Apple Watch, the stitching is only that close due to burnishing 

[battlemunky]

Looks quite tidy and clever use of the nail stones!

[kevinkay]

DEFINITELY NOT "amateurish"!

AND love how custom it is - there is only one buckle hole 

[Professor]

Very nice. Been collecting watches for several years and planing to make a few straps soon.

Most low cost commercially made straps (PU or patent leather) are only fit as a source of nice buckles.

Some of my older watches have the odd ball 17mm lugs so making a strap is the best option.

Here's one of my favorites.

 

[Mattsbagger]

A friend wants me to make a strap for his wife’s watch as she keeps breaking the buckle at the pins. It’s a 10mm buckle and 12mm at the watch. How thin does the leather need to be? And can I use a 3/8 buckle? Basically a tiny belt buckle? Yours looks nice. Interesting with just the 1 hole.

[HaloJones]

Thickness is personal preference really, but the 2 layers on this one feels nice, in that it’s not over thick, yet strong enough not to stretch, I was able to only need 1 hole as it was the last thing I did, this I put it on my wrist fully assembled & marked where it needed to go  

[AlexMayer]

Nice idea of using crystals. should borrow it 

Also neat stitching.

Time will show if it was reasonable not to use glue for crystals. Watch strap bends and holes tend to stretch so dots could drop out.

 

 

 

[Professor]

On 10/24/2019 at 8:45 AM, Mattsbagger said:

A friend wants me to make a strap for his wife’s watch as she keeps breaking the buckle at the pins. It’s a 10mm buckle and 12mm at the watch. How thin does the leather need to be? And can I use a 3/8 buckle? Basically a tiny belt buckle? Yours looks nice. Interesting with just the 1 hole.

You should look on EBay for some of the cheap watch bands. the material of the band is usually weak PU leather/plastic mix or even nylon strapping but the buckles are most often high grade. A cheap band costing a dollar or less can have a buckle you'd pay several times that amount for if bought anywhere else.

I'm planing on using a couple of buckles salvaged from this sort of band to make fancy straps for a buscadero type holster.

As a plus the nylon straps have matching plated metal keepers.