How to measure lug width and wrist size for a strap
Two measurements decide whether a handmade watch strap fits: the gap between the lugs and your wrist size. Here's how to take both.
Make a leather watch strap, step by step
Strap Bench Notes follows one job from start to finish: making a leather watch strap by hand. Each page starts with a thing that goes wrong, then explains the cause and the fix. You'll find measuring, leather, tools, patterns, stitching, edges and fitting.
Read the first pageChoosing leather for a watch strap
Which leather type and thickness suits a watch strap, what an ounce means in leather, and why too thick a piece causes trouble later.
Tools you need to make a watch strap
A short tool list for a first handmade watch strap, split into cutting, marking, stitching, edge and fitting tools, and what each is for.
Drawing a tapered strap pattern
How to draw a paper template that narrows from the lug end to the buckle end, then cut leather from it without ragged edges.
Skiving and thinning the ends of a strap
Why a strap end bulks up where it folds round a spring bar, what skiving does about it, and how to thin leather without weakening it.
Stitching a watch strap by hand
How to saddle stitch the keeper and edges of a narrow watch strap: marking, piercing, thread length, locking the ends and tidying the stitches.
Finishing the edges of a watch strap
How to bevel, burnish and seal the edges of thin strap leather, when edge paint makes more sense, and the mistakes that leave rough edges.
Fitting the buckle and spring bars
How to join the buckle to a finished strap, plan the holes, and fit spring bars without scratching the watch or losing a lug pin.