We love watch straps so it’s only natural that we use them every day. But! There are consequences, especially with the leather straps. If not cared for they will lose their noble look and color, stretch and even fall apart completely. So if you really do love your leather straps it is important to learn how to take care of them.
That’s why today we want to remind you all the rules and best practices that will keep your straps in top condition for many, many years.
Keep your leather watch straps off the sun
When you buy new leather watch straps one of the things you consider the most is the color of the strap. There are many methods of coloring straps from enhancing the natural color tone to covering the strap with a layer of chemicals. What is common for all those methods is that those straps HATE sunlight. Prolonged exposure to sunlight will cause discoloring that can mean pale colors or ‘stained’ look of the watch strap. So do not leave the watch in the sunlight to protect its colors.
Let the leather watch straps breathe and keep it dry
If you never take your watch off, your sweat and cumulating bacteria will be sucked in by the porous surface of the leather wearing it and destroying it structurally. This can actually cause the strap to fall apart after some time. The same goes to exposing the straps to water. So if you do not want your beloved watch straps to literally rot you should take it off your hand when going to sleep and in the shower. Remember – high humidity is the worst enemy of leather.
What to use to clean your leather watch straps?
You should clean your straps regularly to remove dust, stains, dirt, and perspiration. As you can imagine from reading the previous paragraph, you should never wash your leather watch straps submersing them in the water in any way. You simply use a soft cloth and just a little bit of cold water with saddle soap (or good quality hand soap) or olive oil. It is very important that you wipe it off carefully afterward so there’s no liquid on the strap at all. This will give it a shine while cleaning the strap.
Don’t keep your strap too tight
First of all, it’s very unhealthy to do that – blood circulation might be non-optimal if you do that.
Second of all, your leather watch straps will stretch and stress with your every wrist’s move. This, of course, will shorten your straps lifespan and it will wear and tear much faster.
We hope that those simple rules will help you keep your leather watch straps in perfect condition for a long time.
