Often when a new strap is received the owner is thoughtful enough to take a photograph or two when it is fitted and send them through to me. I know I always say I enjoy seeing the strap finally mounted and being worn, and maybe some of you think I am just saying that, but there is something very satisfying for me when I see a photo of the strap attached to the watch it was commissioned for – in many ways it’s almost like reaching the end of a journey for me. I always save these photographs, and once in a while I spend some time going through them and selecting a few that I will add to my gallery.
The gallery has become something of a monster over the 10+ years I’ve been making watch straps. When I first started my business the gallery contained just a handful of images of straps I had made for myself, but since then it has grown and grown. Now there are over 600 images in the gallery, and although I still add the odd one myself, almost all of them have been taken and supplied by my customers. The gallery is the most viewed page on my website now, and I’m often told how instrumental it was in helping my customer decide which leather to choose for their strap.
If the gallery ever gets a criticism, it’s that sometimes a leather can look slightly different in one photo to the next. I’m afraid this is unavoidable as the photos are sent in by customers who may have taken the photo in different lighting conditions, and often after the strap has been worn for a while. Obviously a strap can appear a slightly different colour in shadow to how it will appear in bright sunshine, and most of the leathers I use are full grain so will a strap will develop patina with wear, which can also subtly change the appearance. In truth, the gallery was never intended to give a true reflection of how a strap will look when it is new (for that I always suggest looking at the photos of that particular leather in the store pages, as the photographs on those pages are taken by me in neutral diffused light and when the strap is brand new), but the gallery photographs do help to give an indication of how a strap will look on a particular watch, and overall it seems to be a useful part of my site.
This afternoon I’ve added a few more images to the gallery. Thank you to everyone who has sent me photographs over the past few months. A few of them are below – I hope you like them.
