The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Anyone else suffer from sweaty wrists?
What is the best treatment for 'croco skin' watch strap? inside and out.
Cheers.

The best thing you can do to prolong the life of a strap if you have sweaty wrists is to alternate your watches/straps. Not only will it mean you are wearing the strap less (and less means it will last longer), it will also give the strap time to dry out which can massively increase the lifespan on it's own. If a strap is constantly damp/moist it can be a real leather killer.

However in terms of cleaning, then wiping with a warm water and a mild soap works fine. just make sure you DO NOT immerse or otherwise soak it. Let it dry naturally - no radiators, etc - and it'll be fine. Once it's dry you can and should use something to replace the natural oils in the leather to keep it supple. I actually use Autoglym car leather products. They have a cleaner spray and also a leather nourishing cream - both of which work fine on Breitling leather as they don't dry the leather out. (Disclaimer - Autoglym has worked OK for me, but I'm not guaranteeing it will for everyone. Use on your own straps entirely at your own risk!)

A couple of points to note though - the cleaners will darken the inside of the strap as it's more or an unsealed nubuck kind of finish. It won't affect the performance of the leather, but it will darken it (although it gets darker naturally by being next to your skin anyway), but to be honest I'm not sure about having the cleaner in direct contact with your skin like that anyway. And secondly, as a related point, the leather creams and cleaners should only be use on sealed straps - i.e. not suede or unsealed nubuck due to this darkening effect.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

I have the same issue. My wrists are good at corroding metal watch bands. I ultimately wound up ordering a shark skin strap that had a waterproof liner for this reason. As said, damp leather destroys integrity. It also stinks to high heck!

I would recommend Leather Honey. I've used it on gator and croc. In fact, I use it on every leather product I have. http://www.amazon.com/Leather-Honey-Con ... B003IS3HV0 ... It gives the actual leather a nice 'rich' complexion. As noted, the inside will be darkened some, but with the Leather Honey the insides darken very, very little compared to other products I've used. While I've used a lot of good products, this one is the one I've gotten the best results from. It seems exceptional at preventing the 'cracking' that tends to happen to leather that flexes a lot, such as a belt.

It's also worth noting that a deployment buckle puts a lot less strain on a strap than a normal tang for the obvious reasons.

Especially with Breitling's razor edged tang buckle, which is just ridiculous in my experience. "Oh, chef! Would you come over and scrape up my $600 croco strap your knife?"


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SHARKMAN

Their use of edges look great as it looks 10x sharper than rounded ones...however, I agree with you...at least the ones I have seem to destroy cow leather pretty quickly. So the use of curved tangs/buckles seem to be a functional design. Bummer for me is my wrist is too small for a deployment buckle

I apply the following product to the INSIDE of the strap before wear & at regular intervals;
http://www.waproo.com.au/products/boots/dubbin/

This is essentially a leather conditioner that contains natural oils and waxes. It 'waterproof's' the leather and prevents it from absorbing any moisture (sweat). It works really, really well and a 2 year old strap will still look almost like new on the inside if used regularly. I'm certain similar products would be available under different brand names around the world.

One question though about using conditioning products onthe OUTSIDE part of the strap, how do you manage to keep the stitching clean and white in appearance?

I try to avoid using any product on the outside as it all seems to make the stitching appear grotty and dirty after not very long at all. This can easily turn a wonderful looking strap in great condition, into an aged beast that does no benefit to the classy timepiece on your wrist. I'd love your input here.

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Montbrillant Datora
Chronomat
Superocean Steelfish
A number of strap / bracelet combo's

Simple soap and water gently applied to avoid damaging the stitching and then let the strap dry naturally.

Hi there.
I haven't tried to clean and nourish a leather strap but I am familiar with leather cleaning in general.

Dr leather andLTT are very helpfull and shoot em an email asking what will work with your strap.
Colourlock makes good leather products as well.

http://www.colourlockleathercare.co.nz/
http://www.drleather.com/
http://www.lttsolutions.co.uk/

I don't think there are natural oils in leather any more, and that fact is quite debatable among leather cleaning professionals.
Hence leather doesn't need any type of feeding and nourishing, just a clean with the appropriate product.

If the strap has a type of suede/alcantara type of leather, there are a few dedicated products made from Swissvax and Raceglaze UK.

Hope this helped.
All the best.
Nick

Is that really correct? (Not disputing you per se, just asking). I've always been of the opinion and belief that leather will dry out over time and then start to crack if it's not appropriately looked after by occasionally nourishing it. I'm basing this statement on leather car seats, as I've seen a massive difference between seats where the leather has been cleaned and fed regularly compared to those where it hasn't. Almost every leather product I've ever bought has always recommended some kind of periodic feeding........

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Driver8

Site Moderator

Well I am not here to dispute with anybody or cause any trouble. Just trying to offer my help and small knowledge in return to this forum.

As I said in my first post, leather "feeding" "nourishing" etc is no longer needed according to some leather cleaning pros. Thats because modern leather types have a form of a water-based clear-coat on top of it. From my understanding modern leather hydrates it self with just the water contained on leather cleaning products. This should be sufficient enough to preserve the leather in a good condition.
This approach is the cause of many disputes amongst car care product manufacturers.

To answer your question old fashioned leather especially on old car need nourishing. This has to do with the old style tanning processes were used to make leather.
Tanning the leather means to remove the moisture from the finished leather product, in order to be flexible.
There is a funny story, that Steve Mcqueen never showed up on a date with a girl, because he stayed home to wax his leather Belstaff Jacket.

here are some links

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/s ... p?t=243218
http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/s ... stcount=11
http://www.autopia.org/forum/blogs/togw ... ather-404/

All the best Nick

Interesting stuff. Thanks for the post.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

Leather with this coating is plain awesome given how easy it is to care for...however, this coating is not found with all modern leathers and most strap makers I know of advise Bick 4 and/or Leather Honey and/or sometime similar. In some cases, these products are exclusively used just for the protection against mildew and mold. My experience with using Leather Honey on things like belts, wallets, watch straps, shoes, planners, portfolios, cases, etc. has kept them softer, more flexible, and looking better with increased water resistance/stain resistance. It also rehydrates older, dried leather. Another one to mention is Saddle Soap, which is a better cleaner than the other mentioned. For my best leather, I usually clean with Saddle Soap and follow up with one of the above.

Well as I said its a very dubious matter. Leather treatment is a huge industry and I am not quite sure whether we are told the truth or not.
Additionally I am not aware what type of leather they use to make leather straps. If you want to be sure you can ask the guys on the above links, and I am pretty sure they will be more informative than maybe I am.

It is commonly believed that a car shampoo has to have suds to be affective and good. All manufacturers advertise the sudsing action as well.
If its true is a different story though. I was curious and I 've asked all major car care companies, via email, whether suds are needed in the shampoo in order to be effective.
All of them responded negatively. Suds aren't needed although are highly promoted as an essential property for a car soap. Here's an example.



I think the are is a big psychological factor, that we need to care for our stuff such as watches, cars, vinyl records etc, and this is being used in a bad manner from companies.
If feeding your leather stuff makes you happy, do it. But its not necessary and it may cause more damage than do any good. It also may not cause damage and do no good. Its all depending on the leather type its used in the final product.

I am just saying that we have to be a bit sceptic before we make our own mind, when it relates to our hobby/passion. Especially when we talk about very expensive stuff, such as leather watch straps, leather furniture, car interiors, bags, wallets etc.

All the best.
Nick

I have ordered custom straps from a variety of well known makers...all gave me similar answers when asking about care. If the maker is advocating how to care for it, then to me that makes sense to follow...I doubt the makers themselves would mislead anyone and given they deal with these things every day, I have to assume they know what they are talking about.

That's the proper way to do things. Ask and act accordingly.
I just pointed out a different point of view.

Please keep in mind, that leather straps, for watches are made for daily use, contact with water, sweat etc, and may behave oddly with various leather treatments.

Nick I am not here to argue just for the shake of it. From my perspective I doubt that a maker of leather cleaning products, would make such a bold statement, without knowing his job. Especially when they have the ability to manufacture and sell loads of an unneeded product.

If you point out these strap makers to me I will be more than please to ask them directly, and post their responses over here.
All the best
Nick