Many people consider shell cordovan to be the best leather there is for a watch strap. If you’ve never owned a shell cordovan strap and wonder what all the full is about, then now could be the perfect time to order one and find out. This month I’m making Burgundy Shell Cordovan my leather in the spotlight, so I’m offering a £20 discount on any Burgundy Shell Cordovan strap ordered during April (see the bottom of this blog post for details of the promotion).
I’ve been using shell cordovan for my watch straps for many years now, but many people get confused when talking about this leather. So, let’s start with a simple question – what exactly is shell cordovan?
The first thing to understand is that unlike most leathers, shell cordovan is not made from the skin of an animal. As the name suggests, shell cordovan is actually produced from the “shell” of a horse (the shell is the dense, fibrous muscle beneath the skin on the rump of a horse). To produce shell cordovan leather, these shells are first put through a traditional vegetable tanning process, before being retanned and then dyed & glazed. The whole process is done by hand and takes between six and eight months, and the resulting leather is not only very strong and hard wearing but also very pliable. It’s this combination of strength & pliability which makes shell cordovan an excellent choice for a watch strap. If you want to, you can read more about the process of how shell codovan is produced in this blog post I wrote some years ago.
Another feature of shell cordovan that makes it such a good choice for a watch strap is its resistance to water – the result of both it’s structure and the retanning process it goes through in it’s production. I’ve heard it claimed that shell cordovan is waterproof, but I’m afraid this simply isn’t true – no leather is waterproof, and all leather will need some after care to prevent shrinkage / staining if it gets wet. Because of the dense structure of the shell, however, and the amount of oil, grease & wax that is stuffed into the fibres of the shell during the retanning process, shell cordovan is far more water resistant than most other leathers. If you plan on showering or swimming wearing your watch then a rubber or nylon strap might be a better option for you, but if (like me) you want your strap to be made of leather then I would recommend shell cordovan as the best choice.
Burgundy Shell Cordovan
I have a number of different colours of shell cordovan available currently, but the specific shell cordovan leather I am highlighting this month is Burgundy shell cordovan. All the shell cordovan I use is produced by the Horween tannery, in Chicago, USA. Horween have been producing shell cordovan since 1905 so they know a thing or two about it, and in my opinion they produce the best shell cordovan there is (and I’ve tried lots). They call this colour “number 8”, and it is probably the most famous of all the shell cordovan colours, as well as being my personal favourite. It’s a deep burgundy colour which I think goes perfectly with a black dial watch for a classic look.
I love this leather. As well as looking stunning it is resistant to stretch and won’t crease when folded like many other leathers. With a little care (regularly brushing with a horse hair brush is recommended, and a very occasional treatment with a shell cordovan cream will replenish oils and keep it supple), a watch strap made from shell cordovan leather will last you many years.
The Burgundy shell cordovan strap pictured on my Panerai 233 to illustrate this blog post has been stitched with grey linen thread. This is my personal favourite thread combination with this leather, but I’m aware that many of you are less conservative than I am. With that in mind, if you are looking for suggestions for an alternative thread colour, it’s worth noting that Burgundy shell cordovan looks great paired with natural, dark brown, black or butterscotch stitching too.
As it is the leather in the spotlight for April 2022, for the whole of the month you can order a Burgundy shell cordovan strap with a £20 discount (see below for offer).
A promo for April 2022 and the T’s & C’s
During the entire month of April 2022 you can use the promo code BURGSC20 when ordering to get £20 off the cost of a Burgundy shell cordovan strap. Simply enter BURGSC20 into the “coupon code” box at the top of the checkout page and click “apply coupon” – doing so will reduce the cost of your Burgundy shell cordovan strap by £20 (my website will recalculate the total cost automatically).
The coupon code BURGSC20 is active from now until midnight (BST) on Saturday 30th April 2022.
This offer is applicable to online orders placed in April 2022 where the promo code is used at checkout, and applies only to straps made from Burgundy shell cordovan leather.