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Chester Mox and the painstaking Saddle Stitch

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I thought it might be cool to start things off around here by highlighting one of the best drops that the Style community has going on right now, the Chester Mox slim wallet:
https://www.massdrop.com/buy/chester-mox-56-slim-wallet
Ian describes all of the details in his product description, but it is worth seeing just what goes into the saddle stitch:

Now this is technically a "how-to" video, but upon watching it my first thought was, "I will gladly pay someone else to do that for me." Bellanie, the craftswoman behind CM, learned her stitch from an extensive internship in Europe. More than a few of the attendees at this program go on to work for world-leading leather goods manufacturers, including a French outfit that is also famous for selling brightly colored scarves to old ladies on Park Avenue.
Anyway, if you haven't upgraded your wallet in a while a strongly suggest thinking about it. The cost-per-use ratio is about as good as it gets in menswear and good leather wallets (like shoes) improve with age. I would encourage going for something outside the norm, too, like an offbeat color. It doesn't have to be anything wild, but it does add a nice extra touch. Here are my two wallets:

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On the right is my EDC. Small, compact and easy to carry. It was made by a local leather worker out of a dark olive green Chromexcel leather. On the left is my "big boy noise" coat wallet, made in England by Whitehouse Cox out of navy bridle leather. Both are non-traditional colors but both are also subdued enough not to look silly. Here you can see the stitching:

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The stitching is definitely finer on the WC wallet, but that little detail also left me with noticeably less money to put into the wallet once I had purchased it.
What do you guys think? Is a nice hand-made wallet a necessity (at least in the #menswear sense of the word) or should to look elsewhere? Anyone have a Chester Mox that they want to show off or give a first-person testimonial?
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IsaacD
14
Jun 28, 2016
That's pretty impressive. I thought that the attention to detail with their [Equus Leather] watch straps was kind of nuts but apparently there's another level. I don't have a picture right now but my current wallet is the harness leather version of the Port Wallet, a minimalist tank of a wallet. I also realized that it, compared to many other minimalist wallets, seems to do a better job of keeping its stitching away from stress points.
Port Wallet video is also an excellent example of burnishing edges.
mayorblurps
499
Jun 30, 2016
IsaacDI'm a gal who sometimes hates to carry my big wallet so I have a Port Wallet also, in Dublin. It is a tank for sure and carries exactly what I need to run errands without carrying my purse, etc. The guy behind Craft and Lore is a good guy to boot.
IanAnderson
2590
Jun 27, 2016
Bumping this thread because Equus just put out another video, this one featuring a croc wallet. Some great saddle stitching at the 2:30 mark.
IanAnderson
2590
Jun 10, 2016
Great post! I agree that great saddle stitching is something to behold, and few do it better than Bellanie. When I'm explaining good leatherworking to someone and I show them a CM wallet compared to something machine stitched, they immediately go "ooohhh, I see...wow". Besides the higher degree of durability, I love the subtle slant of the stitches and the lack of apparent holes in the leather (unlike many machine stitched leather goods, which can look like they were made with a staple gun).
That coat wallet is something else, wow! Great choice of material, color, and design.
One of my other favorite leatherworkers is Charlie Trevor, the man behind Equus Leather. He's most known for his belts, and his 'lined and raised' ones are his top of the line product. The amount of handwork that goes into them is totally bonkers. I highly recommend this video of the process - it's probably the most impressive thing you'll see today:
IsaacD
14
Jun 10, 2016
IanAndersonThat belt is a sort of bucket list item to me as I'm not really in a financial position right now to spend $300+ on a belt but someday when I have the disposable income it's quit high on the list of items I plan on acquiring. I wish I could find a video I saw recently that covers saddle stitch splicing because it makes, when you realize that the guy making the belt probably had to do several splices over the course of the work, the belt video even more impressive.
On the topic of Chester Mox I very much appreciate the work that goes into their products though I would like to see a bit more of a comparison about edge work regarding beeswax, painted/dyed, etc. and how each option holds up. About the only real criticism I have of them is that it would be nice to see more images of what their wallets look like with stuff in them.
I guess my last thought at the moment on saddle stitching is that with price vs. durability it's definitely made me reconsider what is and is not a good deal for leather goods. I recently encountered a company (who shall remain nameless) where when I saw what they where asking for machine stitched wallets I was all like "Nope".
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