How to take care of your new leather watch strap

Characterized by its timeless style, the hand-crafted leather watch straps are your choice accessory to add a touch of elegance. It's ideal for any case and a genuine daily companion that's carefully chosen to complement the wardrobe. This is why you'll want to always wear it for as long as you can – and rightly so. For you to do this, we often advise you to take some precautions when you use your strap.

All Finwatchstraps are made from the Horween leather delivered from the Chicago tannery - the tannery making leather the old-fashioned way. The watch straps are hand-made in Finland from the cow Horween leather. Straps are made using materials which are carefully chosen by a monitored procedure that will ensure they are of the top quality, a real gage of durability. Below are some practical recommendations on how to take care of the leather watch bands.

Note some of these mistakes:

For you to protect your watch strap as you can, be careful to avoid contact with humidity or water. In particular:

Do not forget to remove it before having a shower or bath.

Don't immerse it in the sea or swimming pools, no matter where your leather is made from.

Avoid applying or spraying your skin creams or perfume directly onto your strap.

Remove the strap before you carry out any housework to prevent any greatly detrimental damage to it.

If your strap needs cleaning, just rinse it in clean water only and don't leave it to soak. Now, make sure that you dry it well using a soft cloth and then leave it to dry fully, without any exposure to the sun or other strong heat sources.

The biggest enemy of natural leather is water.

If you drop your watch in the sink or get caught in the rain - take it off and let it dry for a night in a room temperature. Then use a leather conditioner to bring it back to life from post-water stiffness.

Don't have a conditioner nearby? I'll let you in on a little secret: standard kitchen olive oil will work just fine. Use just a little bit and massage it gently into the front side of the strap, then buff it with a cloth. The color will darken from this treatment but only temporarily, don't worry. Water or no water, I advise you to go through with this process every two months or so.

There two other elements which make a great impact on leather: sunlight and heat. The more of those it gets, the darker it will become. You can wear a natural colored strap for months around foggy London and not see much of a difference but take it for your holidays in Thailand and suddenly - your strap looks vintage. Just keep that in mind and depending on the look you prefer act accordingly.

A few ideas for extending your strap's lifespan:

Ideally, you have to change your watch strap always, either by you alternating watches or fitting the strap with a rapid-change system that allows you to change it easily daily. This system can be mounted on most models of the strap, and not just does it let you match your outfit with the strap, but it helps you in extending its lifespan too.

Additionally, avoid fastening the strap very tightly around the wrist. It is a bad habit that prevent proper blood circulation in around your wrist, moreover it stresses the strap each time you move the wrist leading to an early deterioration of the watch band. Selecting a looser fit spare the strap from the constant strain that will damage your leather faster.

When other ways fail to get rid of heavy stains as well as dirt, you can use the leather care products. The leather care for home leather furniture is one which fits well for removing dirty stains from your watch band. In case you do not have any, you can also utilize a simple homemade combination of water and baking soda. Mix a tablespoon of your baking soda into water of equal amount to form a paste. Then apply the paste on each part of your watch leather strap, and leave it on for a while. Subsequently, wash your paste off, and leave it to fully dry before reattaching your watch to the watch strap. It is good to cover the strap with special leather care oil after cleaning it. 

Similarly, do not forget to freshen up the watch strap after a while.

Finally, do not forget to select a lining which suits your requirements best. If you reside in a hot country or you practice sports while you wear your timepiece, go for a lining with an extra-resistant from materials such as Horween leather.

NB Suede and Shell Cordovan leather require special leather balms for treatment. Please, remember to check the leather balm instructions carefully before applying to the strap. Also, remember to test the leather care balm on the small piece of leather inside the watch strap before applying. 

We recommend the Smith's balm for applying on the veg tanned leather straps, such as vintage Ammo collection and 4 mm bull leather.