Shell Cordovan Leather Strap 20/16mm [Black, Full Stitch]

They're 20/16 straps — 20mm where they meet the case, tapering to 16mm at the buckle. That fits our 20mm-lug cases and any other watch with 20mm lugs, on standard spring bars. Two exceptions in our own line: the Bauhaus 33 runs 18mm lugs, and the Seiko-Dweller's bracelet is integrated.

Straps are sold by wrist size. Small fits a 14.5–17.0cm wrist, Medium 16.5–19.0cm, and Large 18.5–21.0cm, measured around your wrist where you'd wear the watch. Between sizes? Size up — a 16.8cm wrist takes Medium. The long/short ends run 105/65mm (S), 115/70mm (M) and 125/75mm (L).

Yes — the strap comes with quick-release spring bars already fitted. Slide the little tab on the underside, drop the strap between the lugs, and release. No spring-bar tool needed, and no risk of scratching the lugs. It fits any watch with 20mm lugs on standard spring bars.

Yes — cut, chiselled and stitched by hand by our leather artisans. Every stitch is placed manually rather than run through a machine. The leather is real hide too: full-grain vegetable-tanned cowhide or shell cordovan from horsehide, never synthetic or bonded.

Keep it out of prolonged water. If it gets wet, wipe it and let it air-dry away from direct heat, never on a radiator. A soft dry cloth brings the surface back; shell cordovan can bloom a light haze that wipes straight off, and a little cordovan cream or leather conditioner a few times a year keeps either leather fed. Both darken and patina with wear — that's the leather ageing, not failing.

Best not to. Leather isn't waterproof — repeated soaking, sweat and salt will stiffen a leather strap and shorten its life. A splash is fine; swimming, showering or diving is not. If you want a strap for the water, rubber or nylon is the better call, and leather is for everything else.

It's where the stitching runs. A full-stitch strap is stitched along its whole length down both edges — a cleaner, more formal line. A side-stitch (sometimes called vintage) strap is stitched only near the ends, leaving the middle unstitched for a softer, more casual look. Both are hand-stitched and equally durable; it's purely the look you prefer.

Full grain cowhide is the workhorse: the top layer of the hide with the natural grain intact, handmade and priced accessibly. Shell cordovan is the upgrade — denser, glassier, and noticeably more expensive. If it's your first handmade leather strap, cowhide is the easy start; if you already love cordovan, you know why it costs what it costs.

A leather from the hindquarters of horsehide, where the fibres pack so densely that the surface takes on a deep, glassy smoothness. It's among the most prized — and most expensive — leathers in the trade, which is why cordovan straps carry a premium over cowhide.

Shell cordovan is cut from a small, dense part of the horsehide, so it's scarce and costly before anyone touches it. We then build ours double-sided — shell cordovan for the lining as well as the face, where most makers use a cheaper backing leather. That doubles the cordovan in every strap: no rough flesh side against your wrist, and nothing cheaper to crack or peel. It's why our cordovan costs more than the cowhide, and why it lasts.

Real hide, always — never synthetic, never bonded, and never the offcut-and-glue material the industry confusingly labels "genuine leather". Two options: full-grain vegetable-tanned cowhide, the top layer of the hide with its natural grain left intact, which softens, darkens and takes a patina as you wear it; and shell cordovan from horsehide, where the fibres pack so densely the surface turns deep and glassy — the premium choice. Every strap is cut, chiselled and stitched by hand rather than machine-run.

The photo is honest — every strap is photographed under studio lighting with the colour left unedited. Two things can still make the strap in your hands look different from it.

Screens. Every display renders tone its own way, so the same cognac reads warmer on a phone than it does on a laptop.

Hand dyeing. Our coloured leather is dyed by hand, so shade varies from batch to batch — no two runs come out identical. Colour variations are normal for natural leather, not a defect.

Black is the exception. It is the one shade that stays consistent from batch to batch, so if you want the colour you see to be the colour you get, black is the safe choice. Torn between two shades? Message us before you order and we will help you pick.