Strap Maker Showdown!

[WatchEater666]

After going a bit nuts with straps this year I figured I’d do a review post of them all. In no particular order.

1. Terrycrafted. Very pricey but also insanely detailed. It’s just Terry making each strap. Padding is very cleanly executed, keepers are tight like they should be, holes are closer together so you can get a better fit, very tight fit with the buckle. Leathers are really really nice and carefully matched. I’ve handled 4 of his straps now and they’ve all been very very well made. If you’re going for a gator strap, then the delta on pricing is smallest here and he probably makes the most sense. Communication and his mockups are great. I don’t think it gets any better than Terry. His straps remind of the first time I bought really nice shoes from Edward Green. It's hard to go back! :) You really get the "wow this is art in and of itself" feel with his straps, and I think that's worth something.

2. Aaron Bespoke. Nice work, but quite pricey and IMO if I’m paying this much I’d rather go with Terry and get a lot more attention to detail for the money. Terry is a bit more, but it’s worth it I think. Aaron does have a very nice selection of leathers, and seems to get a lot of cool super matte leathers in. He also has a lot of unique fabrics. To be clear, I’d still order from here if I saw a really appealing leather and I much prefer Aaron to any of the $$$ euro brands.

3. Camille Fournet. I’ve had mostly good experiences with their off the shelf product but, I think I’d rather cough up more for Terrycrafted OR I’d go with a cheaper option like Delugs.

4. Jean Rousseau. IMO a bit of a step down from Camille Fournet. I’ve had two of these straps wear down surprisingly fast. Hard pass for me. Weird middle ground where you should just spend less and go Delugs.

5. Delugs. A well priced option with excellent customer care. They have a variety of leathers and options. Will do custom work too. I really love their new rubber sailcloth and their spring deployants. I think this the best bang for buck brand around. Have had multiple straps from them with no big problems.

5. LIC. The buffalo they do is reallllly soft. I love it. One of my favorite straps. Quality is good, but nothing crazy. Wouldn’t bother with them outside of the buffalo option. I just checked their site out again and can't seem to find it anymore, I guess they got rid of it! They are the ones that made the buffalo for Gronefeld.

6. Tuns. Cheap but hit and miss. I have some straps I love from them. However I’ve had two mediocre/bad experiences with them out of I think, 10+ products I’ve ordered. Unfortunately they were not great to deal with either time. Not sure I’ll be ordering again. Issues were basically related to my relatively simple and very clear instructions not being followed or in one case they straight up substituted a leather I ordered with another significantly different color, then tried to get me to pay to send it back. It's not really worth my time to email them back and forth, so I'd rather spend more and go with something like Delugs on the "value" side or vGreen.

7. Hirsch. Don’t love these. Seem to wear pretty fast in general. Meh.

8. Tropic. Overpriced. There is the same quality on aliexpress from Juelong but 10x more expensive lol

9. VGreen Co in Vancouver. I ordered a few straps recently in-person. David is nice to deal with and very attentive. Quality is somewhat similar to Delugs but a cut below. I think he is my new go-to for testing wacky ideas like a nuclear bright yellow alligator I had him do recently for my Panerai. He also has shark leathers which I haven’t seen before! They are very cool in person. Will post my Breguet up with those once swapped in. His straps are made in vietnm or Vancouver depending on what you order.

10. Molequinn. Similar quality to Delugs but more expensive...just buy from Delugs and save some $