Choosing which leather to go for is possibly the toughest part of any customer’s decision making process when ordering a new watch strap. At any time I normally have a stock of around 100 different leathers available at Toshi Straps HQ, which doesn’t make for an easy choice! I’ve been told in the past that there is possibly too much choice, but surely there can ever be too much choice, can there? It seems I’m a sucker for a nice piece of leather. I simply can’t resist if I see something new & interesting.
As a result of having so many different leathers available, the question I get asked most frequently is = which leather is my personal favourite? Now that’s not an easy question to answer, and I’m not even sure there is just one (do I really have to choose just one?). It’s probably an obvious comment, but I only use leathers that I like when making watch straps, and I rate all of the leathers in my store highly (which is why I use them). I will admit to having some personal favourites, however, and as the weather seems to be improving I thought I’d suggest six of my favourites for the summer ahead here in my blog. They are six fabulous leathers featured below, all of which make a great watch strap that I would be proud to wear myself. If you are contemplating ordering a new strap for your watch you really can’t go wrong with any of the following:
Desert Kudu
Desert Kudu is a leather that I’ve launched quite recently. I’ve sourced kudu leathers for my watch straps for many years now, and there are several to choose from in my webs store, but Desert Kudu is new. Unfortunately I was only able to buy a small quantity of this leather, and so I’ve launched it as a “limited edition”. I’m sad to say that when it’s gone I won’t be able to find more, but whilst I do have some it just had to feature here. As with all of the kudu leathers I use, this is a very soft & pliable leather with a real character to it. It’s certainly a distressed looking leather, but don’t let it fool you – it’s strong and robust and makes a great watch strap.
Redwood
Redwood is another leather I launched at the start of the year and has already prooved itself to be very popular. It’s not just my customer’s who rate this leather highly, I’ve had a Redwood strap on my Panerai zero for the last month and I’m loving it. This is a heavyweight “crazy horse” leather, robust and very hardwearing. It is a reddish brown colour with a slight pull up and a vintage feel, and will age beautifully.
Horween Essex
This is a leather I’ve had for a while now and I think it is just wonderful. It’s a top quality cow hide that Horween put through the same tannage as they do all of their shell cordovan leathers. It’s a long tanning process but it results in a full grain leather that is buttery soft and makes a fabulous watch strap. Being full grain and veg tanned, Horween Essex straps will build a lovely patina in double quick time, darkening slightly. I just had to include it in this selection of six.
Horween Nut Brown
Selecting a brown leather for this feature was tricky as there are quite a few I’m very partial to, but if I have to choose just one of them it really does have to be Horween Nut Brown. This is another leather from the Horween tannery, and another that I’ve been using for many years now. Horween Nut Brown is a full grain, heavyweight horse leather that’s been fully veg tanned. It’s beautiful, comfortable from the start and builds patina quickly. A firm favourite.
Vintage Black
Again, choosing just one black leather is not easy. Both Nero and Raven are very close to my heart, but instead I’ve decided to suggest Vintage Black. Vintage Black is produced by a British tannery from young ox hides in a traditional tanning process that takes over a year to complete. Once the leather has been fully tanned it then has a traditional cross-hatch pattern pressed into it, and it is hand dressed with dubbin and birch oil. This produces a leather that has both strength and hardwearing characteristics. Vintage Black is probably the closest thing there is to a truly vintage leather in the way it is produced. For anyone interested, the tannery wrote an interesting article on their website about it.
Trident
Finally, as the weather changes and the days are getting brighter for those of us in the northern hemisphere, I wanted to bring something bright to the party. There were a few contenders but in the end I decided on Trident. This is another leather that was launched at the beginning of the year, and another that has become popular very quickly. Trident is a modern leather with a wonderful depth of colour and an antiqued finish. This leather is soft and pliable from the start, with a serious pull up (the pull up is achieved by trapping a layer of wax between the natural antiquing and the aniline top finish). If you want something a little different then I’d suggest Trident is one for serious consideration.
So, there you have it. My six suggestions for 2023. If you are going to order a strap this year I can strongly recommend any of them to you.