A leather watch strap is a small object made from a handful of parts: a top leather, a lining, thread, and a finish on the edges. Very little of it can be hidden. Every cut, every stitch and every edge is visible on the wrist, a few centimetres from the dial.
I make every strap myself, by hand, in my workshop in Germany. This article follows one strap from the first decision to the moment it leaves the bench, so you know exactly what you are paying for when you order a handmade strap.
1. Starting with the watch
Every strap begins with a watch, not with a piece of leather. Before anything is cut, I need to know the model, the lug width, the length, the clasp and how the strap attaches. For a standard watch, that is a short list. For a watch like the Cartier Santos with QuickSwitch, or the Santos-Dumont with its custom end piece, the attachment decides how the strap end is made.
When an order arrives, I check the specification. If anything is unclear, I write to you before I start. A strap made for one watch cannot simply be re-cut for another.
2. Choosing the leather
The top leathers come from renowned tanneries in France and Italy: alligator in matte, shiny and large grain finishes, and French goat leather. For the lining, the side that touches your skin, I use Zermatt leather from Tanneries Haas in France, or goat leather in a colour chosen to suit the strap.
No two hides are the same. With alligator in particular, the pattern of the scales changes across the skin, so where each strap is cut from the hide matters as much as the colour.
3. Hand cutting
Each strap is cut from the chosen leather by hand, following the grain and character of the hide. The outline is cut for the lug width and length you ordered, and for watches with special ends, for the shape of the case.
Cutting by hand is slower than a press, but it lets me place every strap exactly where the leather is best, and cut each one for its watch rather than for a standard size.
4. Skiving
Skiving means thinning the leather. I thin the edges and the folds by hand, where the strap wraps around the spring bar or the end piece, and wherever layers meet. Without skiving, a strap is thick and stiff where it should be flexible, and it stands away from the wrist.
The finished thickness depends on the watch. A slim dress watch needs a slim strap: the Santos-Dumont straps, for example, are made at approximately 1.6 to 2.0 mm, while the Santos QuickSwitch straps are approximately 2.0 to 2.2 mm. Skiving is how those figures are reached without weakening the strap.
5. Assembly and padding
The top leather and the lining are joined into one strap. This is also the stage where the strap’s profile is decided. The configurator for many watches offers three padding styles: no padding for a flat, refined strap, half padding for a gentle rise, and full padding for a fuller shape.
6. Hand punching
The stitching holes are punched by hand along the edge of the strap, at an even spacing. The holes decide how regular the stitching will look, so this step is done carefully and checked as it goes. The buckle holes are punched the same way.
7. Saddle stitching
Every strap is stitched by hand with a traditional saddle stitch: two needles on one thread, passing through each hole from opposite sides. Because the thread crosses in every hole, each stitch locks on its own.
The thread is Meisi Super Fine waxed linen from Japan, in the colour you choose. Depending on the watch, you can also choose the stitching style: a classic stitch along the edge, a side stitch, or no visible stitching at all.
8. Edge finishing
The edge is where a handmade strap shows its quality most clearly, and where shortcuts are hardest to hide. Depending on the leather, the edges are sanded, burnished or painted. Painted edges are finished with Italian edge paint, applied by hand in several layers and polished, until the edge is smooth and closed.
A well-finished edge should feel smooth between your fingers and look even along the whole strap, from the case to the tip.
9. Final inspection
Before a strap is packed, I check it against the order: width at the lugs and the buckle, length, colour, lining, stitching, and the fit of the strap end. Then I look at it as a whole, the way you will: on the wrist, next to the watch.
Because each strap passes through the same hands from the first cut to the final inspection, nothing is handed over to someone else to finish.
How long it takes
Each strap is made to order and usually takes 3 to 5 weeks before dispatch, depending on how many orders are in the workshop. It travels in an Atelier Taha strap box.
Why I work this way
Leather has been part of my family since 1988, when my grandfather and father opened a small shoe repair workshop. When I returned to the craft in 2022, it was with the wish to make things by hand, for one person at a time. Watch straps became the work I care about most, because they sit at the meeting point of two crafts: the watchmaker’s and the leatherworker’s.
If you would like to know more about any step, or see how a specific strap was made, write to me. I am always glad to talk about the work.
