Best aftermarket leather straps?

[Seb d]

I'm after a leather strap for a Maurice Lacroix Pontos so called their service department to find out how much their black croc strap and deployment clasp would come to. The answer? £290!! How much?! Needless to say that phone call didn't last much longer and I went to have a look online for something that would fit the bill. Found this site http://www.watchworx.co.uk/ which has some nice straps and was just wondering if anyone had used them or could recommend any other sites?

Edited by Seb d on Wednesday 14th January 14:01

[OPC100]

Have a look at the following:-

http://www.toshi-straps.co.uk

Toshi, (Rich) makes all the straps himself. I received one recently and am very pleased with it.

[Strangely Brown]

www.banda.com

[Slagathore]

OPC100 said:

Have a look at the following:-

http://www.toshi-straps.co.uk

Toshi, (Rich) makes all the straps himself. I received one recently and am very pleased with it.

I have one ordered with him aswell!

He was going to start making it on the weekend/beginning of the week, and said it should be ready and posted towards the end of the week. He said he'd Email when it's finished and he was going to post it.

Hopefully it'll be here by the weekend.

He was very efficient in replying to Emails and orders!

[toohuge]

I have not used wathworx yet, but i know that someone these forums. they have a good selection of straps and i would be surprised if they would be up to standard.

[Seb d]

toohuge said:

I have not used wathworx yet, but i know that someone these forums. they have a good selection of straps and i would be surprised if they would be up to standard.

Did you mean that you know someone who has? And did you mean that you'd be surprised if they were not up to standard? Bit confused!

[Dai Capp]

OPC100 said:

Have a look at the following:-

http://www.toshi-straps.co.uk

Toshi, (Rich) makes all the straps himself. I received one recently and am very pleased with it.

What he said - I have three from Rich now and they are superb. Add to that he's a top bloke...

Also I just bought a strap from Micah at www.vintagerstraps.com - haven't got it yet so can't comment on the actual strap but so far the comms and the buyign process have been great. He does a wider range of leathers than Rich so he could be worth a look.

If you're in no rush I'll post up what I think of the strap when it arrives - should be another couple of weeks...

Cheers

DC

[Slagathore]

http://www.vintagerstraps.com/zonem/index.php

Those look good

[Dai Capp]

sgathore said:

http://www.vintagerstraps.com/zonem/index.php

Those look good

Sure do - I went for the crackle leather as something a bit different to tan but still with that light look...

DC

[Slagathore]

Dai Capp said:

sgathore said:

http://www.vintagerstraps.com/zonem/index.php

Those look good

Sure do - I went for the crackle leather as something a bit different to tan but still with that light look...

DC

That Crackle looks great!

I didn't realise there were soo many different types of leather!

What watch is it going on?

[Dai Capp]

sgathore said:

Dai Capp said:

sgathore said:

http://www.vintagerstraps.com/zonem/index.php

Those look good

Sure do - I went for the crackle leather as something a bit different to tan but still with that light look...

DC

That Crackle looks great!

I didn't realise there were soo many different types of leather!

What watch is it going on?

It's going on a Ray Knight Luminor Hommage - hand built with unitas 6497 movement, vintage tobacco dial and vintage wabi lume:





Should look OK - hope so anyway

Cheers

DC

[Slagathore]

Dai Capp said:

sgathore said:

Dai Capp said:

sgathore said:

http://www.vintagerstraps.com/zonem/index.php

Those look good

Sure do - I went for the crackle leather as something a bit different to tan but still with that light look...

DC

That Crackle looks great!

I didn't realise there were soo many different types of leather!

What watch is it going on?

It's going on a Ray Knight Luminor Hommage - hand built with unitas 6497 movement, vintage tobacco dial and vintage wabi lume:





Should look OK - hope so anyway

Cheers

DC

Love the colours of that!

That strap looks pretty decent as it is!

Should look good on that watch!

[Dai Capp]

^^

it's a vintager strap in brindle

my new strap was on the way before the watch so I guess my luck was in!

As you may have guessed my moto in life is 'you can never have enough straps'

Cheers

DC

[ShadownINja]

May I ask why you are all fans of the worn out strap look?

[Sir Snaz]

Dai .....have heard about ray knight a bit recently .....had a hunt round the net ...google etc ....and cant find a website or anything .....do you have details of how to see/purchase his stuff?

cheers

snaz

[Spice_Weasel]

Another recommendation for Toshi here. Am about to place an order for a Havana with orange stitching for my Fortis B-42 Pilot Professional Chrono.

I have also bought from Eddie at Timefactors. Very good price/quality ratio on his own brand stuff: www.timefactors.com

[Dai Capp]

ShadownINja said:

May I ask why you are all fans of the worn out strap look?

I'm not really - the one in the pic happens to be 'well loved'

Most of mine with the exception of a Toshi vintage were all new leather - not so new now though - and I prefer that look and feel...

I reckon people with Panerai or Pan hommages tend to go vintage as the watch has a vintage look about about it. Plus in some cases if it's a thick strap (some Toshi straps are 5mm for example) the vintage leather is more broken in and therefore more comfortable...

Cheers

DC

[Dai Capp]

Sir Snaz said:

Dai .....have heard about ray knight a bit recently .....had a hunt round the net ...google etc ....and cant find a website or anything .....do you have details of how to see/purchase his stuff?

cheers

snaz

Hi Snaz

Ray Knight is US based and turns out some really nice Luminor hommages. He is regarded and being one of the top guys doing these, right up there with Ken Trading (RXW I think he traded under before Panerai stopped him)

However as I understand it he is now involved with a company called Lum Tec making it's own designs and has stepped away from hommages.

They still come up reasonably regularly on watchuseek.com in the sales forum and fetch between $450 and $600 depending on the spec.

JOA is another highly regarded Luminor hommage maker based in Far East - PM me if you want his email - but he will hand build to your spec though doesn't seem to do quite the level of customisation that Ray Knight did. His pieces are a bit cheaper though and can be had new for the same price as a second hand Ray Knight

Hope this helps

DC

[ShadownINja]

Ah, I see.

Fing is, at some point even a vintage watch was new and had a new leather strap. They probably thought at the time, "I must keep this strap in pristine condition as it's a new style watch."

[Dai Capp]

ShadownINja said:

Ah, I see.

Fing is, at some point even a vintage watch was new and had a new leather strap. They probably thought at the time, "I must keep this strap in pristine condition as it's a new style watch."

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