3 essential rules when choosing leather watch straps

If you are looking for a new pair of leather watch straps, your journey may last forever because of the massive options available in the market today. The more you research, the more questions you will start to ask yourself.

Which leather type should I get? Will it fit my watch? Will it be comfortable?
There are a lot more questions that will come to your mind and that’s why today is your lucky day. Let’s dive into the 3 killer rules that I’ve been using for years to choose the perfect leather watch straps for my watches.

Rule #1: Fit your watch

Several factors come into play to get perfect-fit straps for your watch.

Find the correct Widths

A strap width measurement should have 2 numbers, head width, and tail width.

For standard watches, you should measure the head width between the lugs of the watch face. The tail width should be equal to the inner width of the buckle

Measure the Width at the watch face’s lugs

 

Leather strap adapters might be necessary for smartwatches. In this situation, measure the width between the lugs of the adapter.

Tapered or not?

“Tapered” means to have the tail width smaller than the head width.

• Usually, 2mm tapered is recommended for the best look.
• 4mm tapered is ideal if the watch is way bigger than your wrist.

Choose your Padding

Adding padding to your leather watch straps can create a smoother transition between your watch face and wrist. At the same time, it can increase the durability of the straps. However, the tradeoff is that padding will make your straps stiffer and your wrist look bulkier

• No padding: More comfortable. Recommended for smartwatches and standard watches with a thickness of < 8mm.
• Half padding: Feels more solid and looks smoother. Recommended best for standard watches with a thickness of > 8mm.

Match the color

The color of your leather watch straps depends heavily on the prominent color of the watch’s face, which is usually defined by the color of the bezel and the dial.

 As a common rule, you can play along 2 strategies, complementary or contrasting. 

• Complementary color matching: The color of the straps should be similar to the color of the watch’s face. Choose this if you want to be conservative, formal, casual, and safe.
• Contrasting color matching: The color of the straps should be the opposite of the watch’s face color. Choose this if you want to be playful, active, and stand out.

Watch face color	Straps color by Complementary matching	Straps color by Contrasting matching
Silver	Any, literally	Any, literally
Black	Black, dark brown	Yellow, green, brown
Gold	Brown, white, or beige	Black, green, cyan, turquoise
Rose gold	Red, pink, white or grey	Green, yellow, or orange
Green	Green, yellow	Yellow, brown, beige
Red	Red, pink, orange	Yellow, navy blue, black

 

Choose the lining (Backside)

Our advice is to NEVER choose chrome-tanned leather for the lining as it may irritate when staying in contact with your skin for a long period.

Also, you may want to avoid using plastic-coated leather (PVC or PU)  for the lining because it is very stiff and will crack quickly.

Do you sweat a lot? If the answer is yes, you would have 2 options:

• Zermatt vegetable-tanned leather: Absorbs sweat and lasts the longest among genuine leather types.
• Silicone synthetic leather: does not absorb sweat, safe your skin, and lasts at least 5 years according to the manufacturer’s estimation.

Heritela is the first to use medical-grade Silicone leather as lining for watch straps. We tested it thoroughly before rolling it out to the market. The durability, as well as the comfort, has been proved by actual customers. Try out today our great variety of leather watch strap collections.

Rule#2: Fit your wrist 

You don’t want the straps to be too long or too short, which can look bad on your wrist. Below is a Length-size table created by Heritela for your convenience.

Heritela offers extensive customization for your straps since we also do hand-made watch straps. If your size is not listed in the table above, just drop us a message and we will help you to get the best-fit straps!

Rule #3: Fit your style – Choosing upper leather

Though it highly depends on your tastes, you can select the type of leather according to your style of outfit. 

• Formal/Luxury: Alligator/Crocodile, smooth-grain cowhide, or shell cordovan (horse-butt). 
• Vintage/Classic: Natural grain cowhide.
• Standing-out: Lizard, stingray, or ostrich leg.

Some leather will have more functional advantages than others:

• Epsom calfskin: resists stains, water (light), and scratches.
• Lizard: highly reflects lighting.
• Vegetable full-grain: highly develops patinas over time.

Do and don’ts

Do

• Get the softest straps possible.
• Get the hand-stitch straps if you can. Hand-stitching is more durable and looks more attractive.
• Clean the straps often.
• Match the color of the watch face with the complementary color of the straps, just to be safe.

Don’ts

• Do not use chrome-tanned leather for the lining. Chromium may cause skin irritation. 
• Do not leather and dive, ever!
• Do not clean the leather with strong detergents like gasoline, alcohol, or bleach.