- 22/4/14
- 383
- 7
- 18
I picked up Gold theme AP ROO from the recent noob sale that was going on. The watch is awesome, but the rep strap is so awful. It cracked first time i bent it and overall was very poorly made. I ordered a new strap and in the process of waiting for it to arrive.
Today was a rainy day and I dint have much work to do, so thought I would do some research on taking that super shiny-ness off the rep strap. While searching for that, i found out that you could use Acrylic Paint on leather and apparently its very durable. I was gonna throw the rep strap away after i got the new strap anyway due to the cracks everywhere like on an old sofa.To start off, this is how the strap looked before. Its super shiny and has yellow stitching which i am not a real fan off.
I used Apple Barrel Acrylic Paint (Jet Black). Costed me 50cents at walmart.
Step 1: Taped the watch up and Sanded the strap with super fine sand paper
Step 2: Took a brush and painted the strap. Waited barely a minute before coats, since i used the heat gun to speed up drying process.
Step 3: Put the last coat and let it dry overnight.
Pic while drying.
Next Morning, I noticed it was matte as i wanted but a bit too much, where it looked almost faded, so I took some leather conditioner and applied on to the strap. Waited a bit and wiped it off with a microfiber. This gave it a little sheen, where it looked like a quality application and not an inexperienced DIY
unk:
This is the final product. Pictures actually do not do it justice, it looks even better in real.
In the day light outside
Not bad for 50cents i must say. I am actually pleased with the results, because I thought I was going to just ruin the strap and that would be the end of it.
It actually came out to my liking. I was picturing Hublot rubber gummy strap sort of a finish, and it came out exactly like that. The paint also hid the cracking and since it was self leveling, no brush strokes are visible. Overall it gave this strap a very nice look.
I know, quite a few of you don't like the rep strap from the APs, so maybe this is something you could give a try.
I have not seen this done to a watch strap before, so I thought I would share my experience with you guys and see what you think. Let me know how you guys like the result.
Today was a rainy day and I dint have much work to do, so thought I would do some research on taking that super shiny-ness off the rep strap. While searching for that, i found out that you could use Acrylic Paint on leather and apparently its very durable. I was gonna throw the rep strap away after i got the new strap anyway due to the cracks everywhere like on an old sofa.To start off, this is how the strap looked before. Its super shiny and has yellow stitching which i am not a real fan off.
I used Apple Barrel Acrylic Paint (Jet Black). Costed me 50cents at walmart.
Step 1: Taped the watch up and Sanded the strap with super fine sand paper
Step 2: Took a brush and painted the strap. Waited barely a minute before coats, since i used the heat gun to speed up drying process.
Step 3: Put the last coat and let it dry overnight.
Pic while drying.
Next Morning, I noticed it was matte as i wanted but a bit too much, where it looked almost faded, so I took some leather conditioner and applied on to the strap. Waited a bit and wiped it off with a microfiber. This gave it a little sheen, where it looked like a quality application and not an inexperienced DIY
unk:This is the final product. Pictures actually do not do it justice, it looks even better in real.
In the day light outside
Not bad for 50cents i must say. I am actually pleased with the results, because I thought I was going to just ruin the strap and that would be the end of it.
It actually came out to my liking. I was picturing Hublot rubber gummy strap sort of a finish, and it came out exactly like that. The paint also hid the cracking and since it was self leveling, no brush strokes are visible. Overall it gave this strap a very nice look.
I know, quite a few of you don't like the rep strap from the APs, so maybe this is something you could give a try.
I have not seen this done to a watch strap before, so I thought I would share my experience with you guys and see what you think. Let me know how you guys like the result.
