Almost 10 years ago to the day I saw a watch advertised for sale on a UK based watch forum. It was made by a hobbyist to resemble a beaten up Panerai 3646 with fixed bars from the late 1930’s, but was obviously not made to trick anyone into thinking it was a genuine 3646. It was advertised as what it is (i.e. a handmade homage to a Panerai 3646), had a distressed sandwich dial and plexi crystal, and was powered by a vintage Molnija 3601 pocket watch movement that dates to the last quarter of 1948. This was a nice touch as the Molnija 3601 movement is derived from the Cortebert movement used by Rolex in the 1930’s and 1940’s and supplied by them to Panerai for the original 3646. The more I looked at the advert the more I thought it was a bit of fun, and it was cheap (I seem to remember I paid around £80 for it), so I bought it. It keeps fairly good time for a watch with such an industrial movement (gaining around 2 min a week) and I’ve enjoyed wearing it as a “beater watch” for the past decade.
Today I decided the old strap it was on had seen better days and needed to be replaced. The issue is that the watch case has wire lugs that (unike modern Radiomir) are fixed in place and can’t be removed. This means that a standard strap just isn’t suitable – a new strap for this watch means either an open ended strap (which I personally don’t like) or literally stitching the strap while it is in place on the watch lugs. I got to work this morning, removing the old strap and cutting a 26mm strip of Horween Essex leather to length for a new strap. I wanted to use Horween Essex because it builds patina quickly and is also a beautiful light tan colour which I thought would go well with the watch. I had a 26mm handmade flat style buckle spare so added that to the pot, and decided on two keepers, both 10mm wide (one of them sewn into place and the other floating). First, I threaded the leather through the fixed bars, made sure everything was lined up correctly and started to glue the new strap together. Then it was time to get the strap stitched. I decided that “natural” coloured Irish linen thread was the right choice (actually, in my opinion it is just about the only choice for Horween Essex as it works so well).
All my straps are stitched by hand using a traditional saddle stitch. Hand stitching a strap might seem un-important and time-consuming, and it’s true that to stitch a strap by hand takes just under an hour, but it results in a strap that is stronger with stitching that won’t unravel if one of the stitches wears out. It’s done using one length of thread with a needle at both ends, and means that every stitch is locked in place by a second stitch that holds it together. It takes time, but it’s worth it in my opinion. You really can’t beat a good hand stitched watch strap – not only do they last longer than machine stitched straps they look so much better too.
Once the strap was stitched it was just a case of punching some holes into the strap tail and burnishing the edges with some beeswax. 90 minutes after starting the strap was finished and ready to be worn. I’m really happy with it, I think the Horween Essex leather suits the watch perfectly and I fully expect it to last me another 10 years.
If anyone has a watch with fixed bars and after reading this is interested in the possibility of having a strap made for it, please drop me an email to rich@toshi-straps.com with details of your watch. I would obvioulsy need to have the watch sent to me here to be able to help because the strap will need to be sewn onto the watch, but I’m happy to discuss this with anyone who is interested.