My Designs
This page describes the designs of wrist watch straps that I have available. Details of how to order can be found on the Ordering page.
These are replica cuff type straps or bands for a WW1 era fixed wire lug Military, Trench, or Officers, watch. Because the lugs on these watches are only 10mm or so wide, they often get fitted with narrow bands of leather or ladies straps, which look completely wrong and ruin the appearance of the watch. These two piece cuff straps are replicas of period military pieces. They look good and chunky on the wrist, and show off your vintage timepiece at its best. No mans' fixed lug watch looks right without one of these style of straps. I wanted a strap like this so that I could wear my grandfather's 1918 silver Rolex watch but I couldn't find any of satisfactory design and quality, so I had some made!
Each piece of every strap needs to have a special cutter made to cut it out from a hide of leather. These cutters are in principle just like pastry cutters that cooks use to cut shapes out of pastry, but the difference is that these cutters are made from tool steel, and are pressed through the leather using a hydraulic press that exerts tons of force! It simply isn't possible to cut the leather neatly any other way, which is why I can only supply the designs that I have had cutters made for. If you have a really special project, then of course I could get a cutter or cutters made for it, but do bear in mind that each cutter costs about £60, so you can see that I have invested quite a bit of capital in setting up to make these straps If you want a special I don't have a cutter for I may need to charge you for the cutter, unless I think it is a design I can use and sell to others. I am always happy to talk about special projects, so drop me an email.
Type A and Type B designs
Type C design
Three Basic Designs
There are now three basic designs, each made of top quality double sided leather, that is leather outer and leather lining, with white metal buckles as standard. Gold plated buckles can be supplied to special order at no extra cost. The original Type A and Type B design are shown on the left, the recently added Type C is shown on the right.
The Type A design has straight sides and the back piece is 25mm or one inch wide all the way along.
The Type B design is about 35mm wide before flaring out to a wider section of about 40mm diameter behind the watch, with a notch for the crown. This size of the Type B design suits watches of diameters around 32mm to 37mm best. I can also supply two larger sizes of the Type B strap that suit watches of (1) 40mm to 45mm and (2) 45mm to 50mm.
The Type C design is similar to the Type A, but is about 31mm wide. I have had this made to take wider straps than the Type A can accommodate - 16mm is the limit on the Type A - and also the double slot feature discussed below, which just doesn't work on the Type A because it is not stiff enough.
Special Orders and NATO G10 replacement
In addition to these stock straps, I have also been asked to make some special straps to customers own specific requirements, and also straps for wrist compasses. I am always happy to try and help you achieve what you want for your own vintage watch - just drop me an email with your idea, and I will let you know if it can be done. The price will be similar to one of my stock straps, and will be well worth it if you have a specific strap design in mind that you just can't find.
Leather NATO G10.jpg
If you have a watch with fixed bars or spring bars, where the standard one-piece inner strap won't fit between the bars and the case then I can supply to special order bund style variations of my standard straps; these come in three pieces with either design of back piece, and have two piece open ended inner straps which fit directly to the bars rather than looping through them.
I can also supply to special order a full leather direct replacement for nylon NATO G10 straps as shown in the picture to the left. These can be made in the colour of your choice, and are much more stylish and comfortable to wear than the standard issue nylon G10 strap.
Type A straps in five different colours.
Leather Colours
All straps are made of top quality double sided leather, that is leather outer and leather lining, and are available in at least the following colours:
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New Colours
Most of these colours are illustrated in the pictures on the right. We have now run out of the original chestnut, but have secured a close substitute called Cognac. It is really quite difficult to tell the difference between this and the original chestnut. This and a couple of other new colours are shown in the picture to the left.
Military Tan leather.
The picture to the right shows the military tan, and the one on the left the tan morocco, which is a traditional hard grain morocco I had printed up. There are more pictures showing some of the different leathers with watches on the pictures and customers pages. Please bear in mind it is very difficult to get an accurate colour reproduction on a computer screen. If you want a colour I haven't illustrated, please ask - I can supply green, red, yellow, blue, white etc as well!
Type B tan morocco double slots.
Strap / Band Width
The narrow strap, or band, that loops through the lugs on the watch I try to always keep in stock in 10mm an 12mm widths. I can also supply 14mm, 16mm, 18mm, 20mm etc. wide straps to order, which takes a couple of weeks, but if you need one it is well worth the wait! Please bear in mind that the cutters go up in 2mm increments, so I can't do odd sizes like 13 or 15mm.
If you are sure that your lugs are an odd size, I always advise that you go for the larger size, e.g if you measure your lugs as 11mm, get a 12mm strap. It will fit with a bit of careful work, leather is a marvellous material that will squash down to fit the lugs. This looks a lot better than a narrow strap that leaves your watch slopping about from side to side. Leather straps always get slightly narrower as you wear them as they stretch in length.
The standard Type A design does not look right with straps larger than 16mm, but I can supply the wider Type C style, and also straight back pieces in 35mm and 41mm widths if required, which will take even wider straps. As I mentioned above the Type B back piece is also available in bigger sizes which will also take wider straps, although the standard Type B back piece can easily accommodate 20mm widths. I you have a watch that none of these options suits, then get in touch; I can always come up with something - try me!
To find out what width of strap you need, either carefully measure the inside width of the lugs on your watch, or cut a strip of paper so that it just slides through the lugs, and then measure the width of the strip. Remember that I can only supply straps in even sizes, that is even numbers of millimetres i.e. 10mm, 12mm, 14mm etc. If in doubt, e.g. you are sure an 11mm would be perfect, then go for the next size up because 1mm of extra leather will easily squash down to fit, and leather straps do have a tendancy to shrink across the width slightly in wear and you don't want to be left with a strap that has a gap on each side in the lug.
Fixed Wire Lugs
Strap Detail
These straps are designed primarily for world war one era watches that have fixed wire lugs which take a one piece strap that passes through the lugs and across the back of the watch case as shown in the strap details picture to the left. More modern watches have fixed horns and spring bars or fixed bars. These usually come closer to the case than fixed wire lugs and don't allow enough space for the strap to loop between them and the case. If you have a watch like this, then I can supply a two piece open ended strap that fits to the bars instead of looping across the back of the case.
Strap / Band Lengths
The length of each strap is adjustable between about 190mm and 215mm, but the fit depends on how chunky your watch is, because of the way the strap loops through the lugs. The watch I am wearing in the photos has 10mm fixed lugs and is 35mm diameter, excluding lugs and crown. My wrist measures just over 7" around, and with the strap comfortably loose and the leather still stiff from being new, I have two more holes and about an inch of adjustment left, so I reckon as supplied they would fit wrists measuring up to about 8" around. From experience the standard length seems to suit most people, but if your wrist is extra thick or thin, just send me a measurement round and I'll advise whether your need a longer or shorter strap. These can always be made to order, so we can suit everyone at the end of the day.
Double Slot Strap Model
Single or Double Slots
I came across this picture of a watch with a strap that had closely spaced double slots so that the thinner strap ran on the outside of the backpiece over most of the circumference. I liked the somehow more rugged appearance of this strap so I have now had some more cutters made to reproduce this appearance, and also sourced some tan morocco leather like on the strap shown. You can see my version of this strap on the "Pictures" page fitted to an early Omega. This design can only be made on the Type B and Type C back pieces and for 10mm, 12mm and 14mm straps due to limitations in the cutters
Wrist Compass Straps
I have recently supplied an adaptation of a Type B strap without the winding crown notch for a World War One era wrist compass. You can see this wrist compass fitted to the strap on the customers' pictures page. If you have similar project in mind, then please contact me - I am always happy to help on something out of the ordinary.
Wrist Strap for Pocket Watch
Wrist Straps for Pocket Watches
I have recently been asked if I can supply wrist straps for pocket watches like the one used by the Captain in the North Staffordshire Regiment referred to on the History page. At the moment I have nothing like this available. I would need to get at least two cutters made, and a mould to form the cup. This would be quite a capital investment as the cutters and mould are expensive to make, so at the moment I don't have any plans to go ahead. However, if you are interested in one of these straps, then do let me know and I will add your name to the list. If I get enough interest then I will go ahead with the cutters and mould. Update: The workshop have told me that they can't make the pocket watch wrist strap - the stitching around the cup where it attaches to the main strap is very close to the cup and needs a sewing machine with an exceptionally narrow foot, which they don't have. It would not be economic to purchase a sewing machine for a project with such a small market, so at the moment this idea is on hold.
Details of how to order can be found on the Ordering page. If you have any questions you can email me at You don't need to copy the email address, just click on it. I look forward to hearing from you!
Regards - David
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