My first leather strap mod!

[cwazy1]

So I got sick of my boring lightly colored caramel leather strap from panatime. I tried to contact a few other people about some vintage looking straps with no avail. So I decided that I would just do the modifications myself. Here are some before and after shots. What do you guys think? It cost me about 12$ worth of supplies and theres enough to mod a thousand straps :lol:

These are the things I modded:
1. Removed the edge glue/finish
2. Remove 10mm from the buckle side by cutting and re-gluing the buckle area. I removed the stationary keeper and make it a free keeper.
3. Re-finished the strap for an antique look.
4. Punch design'd the keepers for a 'gunfighter' look

BEFORE:

AFTER:

On 111h:

On 207A:

If theres enough interest, I'll post a how to. Til then, enjoy! :maty:

 

[Deadbear77]

Yes. It's great. I love it. Please post!


Sent from my iPhone using my fingers

 

[cptkirk]

looks good

 

[crossbones]

very well done!

 

[d4m.test]

Very nice! I think I just started doing the exact opposite to my strap. It started to really stink, so I (stupidly) started following an online tutorial on cleaning the strap, and it turned the strap into a dry piece of crap. I (more stupidly) followed another online tutorial to oil it up with olive oil, and the thing turned black. I washed the crap out of it after all that, and my strap changed color from a beautiful red/brown to a faded chestnut brown with no sheen. Although it still looked nice, I missed the red/brown color.

So, I picked up a $3.99 bottle of Eco-flow Cherry Chocolate leather dye pre-mixed with finish, and a $3 pack of wool swabs. I tested it out on my keeper, and I really like the results.

I'll post a finished product later on when I'm done. I'm gonna have a hell of a time cutting thin strips of masking tape for the stitching.

 

[d4m.test]

I hope I'm not hijacking your thread here, but I decided to mod/restore my leather strap to the way it was before I washed the hell out of it to get rid of the stench.

Requirements:

Eco-Flo leather All-in-one Dye and Finish
Wool Swabs
Plastic Disposable Dish
Tools to remove strap
Wax Paper
Matchsticks or Toothpicks

Optional to Protect Stitching:
Masking Tape
Ruler
Knife
Tweezers
Cutting Surface

Step 1: Test the dye on a small surface (I tested a whole keeper)

Step 2: Remove watch and buckle from strap

Step 3: Stick a piece of masking tape on your cutting surface. Length should be at least as long as the longest piece of stitching

Step 4: Cut strips slightly (like 0.5mm) wider than your stitching with the ruler, and peel with tweezers

Step 5: Mask the stitching! Press hard with your fingers. Put sticks in straps so you have something to hold

Step 6: Use the wool swab to rub a small amount of dye across the leather. Use the dry side of the swab to spread and wipe any excess dye. Don't over dye! A little goes a very long way. If masked, wipe along the path of the tape, not against the side of the tape or else it may peel. In this picture, I used way too much dye and wiped sideways against the tape. Don't do it.

As you can see from the first to last picture, this whole process took less than 20 minutes while taking pictures. I'd imagine it should take 10 minutes on your first try, and probably much faster after that. The actual dyeing process took about 2 minutes. Make sure to dye the edges as well. This leather dye really seems to re-finish the edges very well. Don't do this if you appreciate the vintage look.

The amount of dye you need is so miniscule, this $3.99 bottle will probably last a thousand applications.

I'd probably invest in a pair of disposable gloves as well, since this is after about 15 seconds of contact with the dye, and after 5 minutes of scrubbing.

In about an hour, I'll edit this post with the dried finished product!

EDIT:

And the finished product! Although it's difficult to tell in the photo, the dye did slightly bleed into the stitching, probably through the masking tape or from the sides. It seems to not show up in the photos, so I suppose that's a good thing.

When I said "Don't use too much dye" or "Wipe with the tape, not against the sides" I was speaking from 10 minute old experience. I'm sure you won't have any bleeding if you do as I say, not as I do.

 

[wat44]

Cool!

I've been modding a radiomir strap for weeks - this makes me want to finish it

 

[co-axial]

I think i'll give this try with a cheapo rep strap, cool stuff. I like these kinds of mini mods

 

[d4m.test]

Updated with the finished product. I know it seems hard to tell from the pics, but there really IS a difference (at least in my eyes). lol. It doesn't really show unless it's side by side, like in this pic:

 

[cwazy1]

Oooh, nice! I like how you covered the threading... Here is the video on when I did mine a while ago...

http://forum.replica-watch.info/vb/showthread.php/how-vintage-ize-100726?t=100726

Raji, in response to your post on the vid thread....

I think they recommend adding a finishing clear coat to it.... I ended up being cheap and settling for just the dye. What I have noticed without the clear coat is that if you get the strap wet... the dye will leech out a little bit :lol: then again, I don't really care about this, as I"m not swimming with this particular rep.

In your case, the all in one dye is awesome, I love the finish it provides. Maybe I'll have to redye it with the dye that you used

 

[rols16610]

These look great, very impressive +1

 

[the_don_robinson]

Cool! One of my favourite things about pams is the ability to change the appearance so much by changing the straps! Cheers!

 

[d4m.test]

Oooh, nice! I like how you covered the threading... Here is the video on when I did mine a while ago...

http://forum.replica-watch.info/vb/showthread.php/how-vintage-ize-100726?t=100726

Raji, in response to your post on the vid thread....

I think they recommend adding a finishing clear coat to it.... I ended up being cheap and settling for just the dye. What I have noticed without the clear coat is that if you get the strap wet... the dye will leech out a little bit :lol: then again, I don't really care about this, as I"m not swimming with this particular rep.

In your case, the all in one dye is awesome, I love the finish it provides. Maybe I'll have to redye it with the dye that you used

Thanks! Of course, my mod was more of a "restoration" and so wasn't nearly as drastic as your mod, but I figured that showing how to mask the stitching would be useful.

I notice that even if you do get a bit of the leather dye on the stitching, if you wash the strap (with a tiny bit of dish soap) within the first couple of hours about 80% of the dye will wash off the strap, while only about 20% will wash off the leather. The all-in-one dye seems very forgiving. The next day, it didn't seem to bleed of the leather at all when it got wet.