Leather strap advice

[mindforge]

All you leather experts out there....



I have my Zenith El Primero on a brown leather strap, fitted to a period Zenith deployant. It's 19mm lug width, tapering down to 16mm at the deployant. At the moment the strap is a cheap Accurist one which was £10 from eBay - this was to see whether I liked the look and I do, but now the coating is peeling off as can be seen, so it's starting to look cheap.



Hirsch seems like the obvious choice, but I'm not sure of the difference between the various types of leather.

Lizard might be interesting but I have no idea how this will wear/look,
https://www.watchobsession.co.uk/col...iant=317704687

Then there's shiny crocodile which I suppose is the most similar looking to what I have already,
https://www.watchobsession.co.uk/col...iant=315853197

And alligator, although I don't understand the difference with crocodile,
https://www.watchobsession.co.uk/col...iant=315200167

Would be interested in your thoughts and recommendations...

[nunya]

Alligator and Crocodile have different grain / scale pattern one is larger than the other (can't remember which way around). Croc tends to be the gloss finish and 'gator the satin / matte finish to the leather.

Hirsch is a good call I have a couple for my PAM00512, a Carbon fibre in black and a calf leather Hirsch Knight with Alligator pattern in dark grey

[ordo]

I agree that the 2nd one looks similar to the one you have now. I personally don't like shiny straps as they look cheap (most cheap es are shiny so...).

I like the first one but feel that the 3rd might feel better for this watch model.

[mindforge]

Alligator and Crocodile have different grain / scale pattern one is larger than the other (can't remember which way around). Croc tends to be the gloss finish and 'gator the satin / matte finish to the leather.

Hirsch is a good call I have a couple for my PAM00512, a Carbon fibre in black and a calf leather Hirsch Knight with Alligator pattern in dark grey

Ah that's helpful, thanks.

[animalone]

I think you may find the Lizard is a bit thin for the watch as it is flat and not lightly padded like the croc and alligator ones are.
IMHO I don't think you can go far wrong with either the croc or alligator you have linked.
Do you have a jeweller nearby that has Hirsch? you should go in and have a look at the colours in person if you can as the pictures don't always convey how the straps look.

[Omegamanic]

ABP look very nice too.

[mindforge]

I think you may find the Lizard is a bit thin for the watch as it is flat and not lightly padded like the croc and alligator ones are.
IMHO I don't think you can go far wrong with either the croc or alligator you have linked.
Do you have a jeweller nearby that has Hirsch? you should go in and have a look at the colours in person if you can as the pictures don't always convey how the straps look.

Ah that's a good idea, didn't realise they were widely stocked.

Do you know anywhere in London?

Edit, I see there is a Watch Surgery in Bond Street who are down as a stockist, wonder if they would be trustworthy to change the strap over.

[animalone]

Ah that's a good idea, didn't realise they were widely stocked.

Do you know anywhere in London?

Edit, I see there is a Watch Surgery in Bond Street who are down as a stockist, wonder if they would be trustworthy to change the strap over.

Lot of stockists http://hirschag.com/haendler/?lang=en
Can't comment on the Watch Surgery (not been to Bond Street in years), sure someone on the forum will have advice though