Click to view our Accessibility Statement or contact us with accessibility-related questions
Showing 1 of 28 conversations about:
Cloaca
1906
Nov 15, 2019
bookmark_border
I have six or eight straps from Vulture Premium, in three leathers, Horween Derby (my favorite), Italian camo vachetta (nice, but the camo pattern is scaled for purses, not watch straps), and Tochigi leather. The design and workmanship is absolutely excellent, and the customizibility is appreciated.
The price for this strap is really great.
Here's the one warning I would make. The construction of all the straps above involves cutting the leather in a symmetrical butterfly pattern where the springbar will be in the center and the strap leather wraps completely around the springbar and is glued back to itself for the full length of the strap. Now that I read that, it's completely incomprehensible. Let's try again: The inside and outside of the straps is the same top surface leather, folded back on itself. Both sides can be conditioned with leather balm. The thickness is skived down at the springbar to avoid a big lump there.
The strap here I think is made like a District Leather strap I bought here in Tochigi leather that I believe was subcontracted to Vulture for manufacture. There are no stitches along the sides of the strap because the leather only overlaps itself far enough to wrap around the springbar. It's skived down on the back and glued in, but the bulk of the rear of the strap is rawhide, not top leather. It's one layer, not two. This allows for a thin, flexible strap, and it uses less leather, so they are cheaper.
At this point personal tastes enter the picture. I do not like single layer, rawhide backed straps. The reason is that they do not deal with sweat very well. This is more of an issue in summer and depends on how much you sweat. A lot of people have no problems with this. Two-layer straps can be made semi water resistant with leather balm or conditioner, but rawhide backed straps cannot. Leather is animal flesh which really wants, in its heart, to rot, and sweat, if you don't watch out, will help its on its merry way. The smell of a leather watch band subjected to too much sweat will never go away. You have to keep an eye on straps like this, taking them off is they get moist, letting them dry out, doing a nose check, etc.
Drop Refurbished
Like-new products you can trustDrop Rewards
Get $5 for every 500 points you earn! Learn more
Drop Keyboard Club
Become a member and expand your keycap collectionCollaborate With Us
For Brands & DesignersFollow Drop