10 years and counting. The calendar showing 10th anniversary of the first Toshi Strap

Next week it will be 10 years since I first picked up a round knife and cut my first leather watch strap. Since then I’ve made close to 15,000 watch straps and sent them to customers all over the world. My life has changed quite a lot over that 10 years, and continues to do so, but I still enjoy building a strap just as much now as I did when this all started. Believe it or not, I have kept a record of every one of the watch straps I have made – the materials, dimensions, special notes and who it was made for. Looking back at the early entries reminds me just how long I’ve been doing this!

A question I get asked a lot is “how did you get started?” and so I thought I would write a blog post to answer that. The truth is I’ve always enjoyed making things, and at one time or another in my spare time I’ve tried my hand at woodwork, pottery, knitting and painting, but in October 2006 I decided to make a strap for a watch I had at that time. I bought some cheap tools from eBay and read up on how to cut & stitch leather. For my first attempts I used leather from an old jacket and spent an entire weekend working away in my spare room. I had to make several attempts but by the end of the weekend I had built a watch strap I was happy with (I would estimate that I put about 15 hours work into producing that one strap). I’ve long since sold that watch (it was an Enzo Mechana EMV) but I did manage to find a photo that shows the watch and the strap together – the strap looks a little rough around the edges, but at the time I was very happy with it for a first attempt, even if it did take the whole weekend.

Enzo Mechana EMV on the first Toshi Strap ever made

 

I had found the process of making the strap quite relaxing, and so went on to make another two or three straps from that jacket. A few of my friends also collected watches, and on seeing the strap on my Enzo one of them asked me if I would make a strap for his Panerai. I was thrilled to be asked, but a week later when it was finished I remember being very nervous handing it over in case he didn’t like it! I wasn’t expecting any payment for the strap, but he said he was delighted with it and insisted on picking up the tab for our dinner, so although no money changed hands I suppose that was the first strap I ever sold. From there, word seemed to get around somehow and by the beginning of 2007 I was being contacted by other people I knew and even receiving emails from people I didn’t know asking what I charged and what leather I had available.

Making watch straps for watch collectors continued to be a hobby for me for the next 6 months, and I would spend most weekends working away (the practice meant I was quicker now and I had got it down to around 4 hours per strap) but in the summer of 2007 I was made redundant from my job and knew finding another might take a while. Redundancy meant I had a lot more free time, and as I hate to be bored I decided to start some projects. One was to contact a master saddle maker and ask if he would help me with some basic training. Looking back I realise now just how important that decision was because I learned so much from him. By the winter I still hadn’t found a job and decided that I was going to try to turn my strap making hobby into a business, so I built my first website over the holidays and Toshi Straps went live in January 2008.

 

Inspiration.

There have been some important people in my life, but one of the most inspiring was my Grandfather (the photo below is of the two of us together in 1968 when I was around 2 years old). He was a very important figure in my early childhood, and soon after starting Toshi Straps I remembered something he told me when I was in my teens. He said that too many people seem to fall into work they don’t really enjoy, and urged me to find something I loved doing. He explained that people who enjoy and take pride in their work do a better job as a result, and that the appreciation of others is often more valuable than money. I realise now how wise those words were. After 10 years of making watch straps I’m certainly not rich but I still enjoy what I do as much as I ever have, I take great pleasure in the comments my customers make when they receive their straps, and I always look forward to the next days work. I am fortunate to be able to say that I love what I do, and I sincerely hope that the love comes through in my craft. Here’s to the next 10 years, and whatever they may bring!

me at 30 months of age, with my Grandad

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