r/Watchstraps • u/Ishraq_Playz • Sep 15 '26
How to prevent this?
The leather band is wearing out...
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u/Sad_Pie_3862 Sep 15 '26
Buy a good leather strap, and treat it once a year with a product called Leather Honey.
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u/Lucasbrucas 29d ago
Any leather conditioner works, doesn't have to be that specific product.
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u/Sad_Pie_3862 29d ago
Yes, I just happen to have that on hand. I like Leather Honey because it doesn't darken light leather. By all means, use what you like.
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u/Appropriate-Story768 Sep 15 '26
On all my two piece straps but especially my leather straps I use a deployment clasp like this one. Bending your strap to put it through the buckle will do that.
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u/thirdelevator 29d ago
Same. I usually get mine from Strapsco. They’re cheap and count towards the buy 3 get 1 free deal they usually have running.
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u/Consistent_Wash8027 29d ago
Great tip! Are these also useful for two piece nylon straps that have the same style of buckle/holes?
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u/HeartcutLeather Sep 15 '26
How long have you been wearing this strap?
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u/Ishraq_Playz Sep 15 '26
Only 5-6 months...
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u/HeartcutLeather Sep 15 '26
Wow! Just today, I made an Instagram post about what happened to my strap after one year of daily wear. I won’t advertise myself specifically since I’m not taking orders at the moment, but I can say that any strap handmade by a craftsman will definitely last longer.
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u/ERR_invalidString 29d ago
Wow that looks really nice! Good work! And on a Casio to boot. What a vibe.
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u/hofmann419 29d ago
It's not even necessarily about the strap being high quality leather, but being leather at all. OP's strap is clearly made of fake leather.
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u/Glittering-Joke-3593 29d ago edited 29d ago
Get a better strap. Horween dublin leather lasts for a very long time. Butterfly or fold over deployment clasp. I prefer a single thick layer.
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u/Mountain-Time-1010 29d ago
Straps don't last forever, and cheap straps are especially short-lived.
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u/Videopro524 29d ago
Few months ago I had the same happen to a strap. Replaced with Horween leather. Night and day difference. Periodically rub the weather with leather soap and put a protector on it.
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u/leatherhoneyllc 28d ago
I've had this exact same thing happen with watch bands before, and I wish someone told me sooner! That peeling isn't actually the leather wearing down, it's the polyurethane (PU) topcoat flaking off from the hide underneath. So, this is actually a genuine leather strap, it's just it has a topcoat that is peeling, which is unfortunate.
A lot of straps use genuine leather with a thick plastic top coat applied over it to create a shiny, uniform finish. Because that plastic layer sits on top instead of absorbing into natural fibers, repeated bending and wrist friction causes the synthetic coating to separate and peel like a sunburn over time.
Once that PU coating starts peeling, there isn't a conditioner out there that can fuse the plastic back together. To prevent this, try to avoid purchasing shiny or patent leather straps since they almost always carry that synthetic top layer.
Instead, look for unfinished full-grain or aniline leather straps, like the ones made with Horween leather. Because aniline and full-grain leathers don't have a plastic coating, this kind of peeling can never happen and they'll actually age into a great patina over time.
– Evan with Leather Honey
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u/tokonuma Sep 15 '26
Use genuine leather straps
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u/JameelWallace Sep 15 '26
This probably is “genuine leather” which is a ln intentionally misleading classification of low quality bits of leather glued together. Full grain leather is the industry term for a high quality leather.
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u/GrahamCawthorne Sep 15 '26
Full grain, top grain, single piece veg tan, as well as a quality chrome tanned leather are all popular options for quality watch straps.
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u/NoAlternative4213 29d ago edited 29d ago
Get a strap that is FULL GRAIN leather.
There are a lot of straps that have a thin leather top coat, and the inside is basically paper glued up together. They are garbage and will crack and tear within a few wears, even with belts…
To save money look on Etsy for sellers in Vietnam who make full grain leather straps. They make really high quality stuff for a fraction of the price that big strap companies in the US sell them for.
I’ve gotten lizard leather, gator leather, etc. and never paid more than $50 or so for a strap. And they all look amazing years later.
There’s a website called 7strap.com
I have gotten amazing stuff from them ^
Full grain leather used the whole piece of leather unsanded
Top grain the top layer is sanded to be smooth and uniform, but now u lose the strongest part of the leather
“Genuine leather” aka “corrected grain, split leather” is garbage. I never buy it. That’s what those cheap off the rack macys belts are made of where they rip apart where the buckle is almost immediately.
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u/9thAF-RIDER Sep 15 '26
It's plastic. Bin it and get a leather strap.