There are many kinds of materials for making watch straps, including metal, plastic, leather, PU leather and other materials. They all have their own characteristics. For high-end watches, leather straps are most commonly used. Watches equipped with leather straps have an elegant and fashionable feel, and are more comfortable to use than other straps.
According to the material, genuine leather watch straps can generally be divided into crocodile skin, lizard skin, python skin, ostrich skin, shark skin, ray skin (commonly known as pearl fish skin or manta ray skin), calfskin/ordinary cowhide, sheepskin, pigskin, etc. . These materials are the basic materials for making genuine leather watch straps. Different materials have different leathers and patterns, and different styles. Only crocodile leather has fine, oily leather, exquisite texture, and elegance. It is the top leather material for making genuine leather watch straps. This article will also mainly discuss alligator leather watch straps.
Alligator leather strap and caiman leather strap
There are two main types of crocodile leather watch straps on the market. One is the alligator leather strap, which is called Alligator in English. Some say it is Mississippi alligator, and some say it is Louisiana alligator. No matter which one it is, anyway. It is the skin of a short-mouthed crocodile. The other kind is the Caimen crocodile leather strap. The English on the back of the strap is usually Caimen, or Genuine Crocodile. In terms of material selection, the materials used for crocodile leather watch straps are very picky. Not all crocodile skin can be made into watch straps. The leather on the back and tail of the crocodile is hard, and only the tenderest and softest piece of leather on the belly can be used as a watch strap. This is one of the reasons why crocodile straps are expensive.
Of the two types of crocodile leather straps, the American alligator strap is the more upscale choice. Because generally speaking, the texture of alligator leather straps is relatively regular. Depending on the cutting location, the texture of the strap can be made into bamboo patterns, circular patterns, bamboo patterns combined with circular patterns, etc. The bamboo pattern is the most commonly used in high-end precious metal watches. Its characteristic is that the pattern of the finished watch strap is like bamboo. The curved direction of the strap has exactly one section of the pattern, which is very soft and close to the wrist. The round strap is softer and more durable than the bamboo strap, but the leather is not very neat, so the price is lower than the bamboo strap.
Compared with alligator watch straps, the texture of Caiman alligator leather is a bit irregular. It is usually messy and has no regular lines. Therefore, Caiman alligator leather is rarely used in high-end watches. In addition, Caiman alligator leather straps are usually finished. The thickness is relatively thin and suitable for small and thin watches, while alligator leather is suitable for all kinds of thick, complex and large watches.
How to identify crocodile leather straps and crocodile pattern cowhide straps
In recent times, watch friends often ask me how to distinguish between crocodile leather straps and crocodile pattern cowhide straps. On a well-known domestic watch forum, a watch friend mistakenly bought a crocodile pattern cowhide strap for a crocodile leather strap when matching his Longines watch with a leather strap, and spent a thousand yuan more in vain.
On the market, crocodile leather straps are most easily confused with crocodile pattern cowhide straps. Because crocodile pattern cowhide straps are cheap and can be decorated with crocodile leather patterns, they are also very popular among watch fans. However, there are also cases in the market where profiteers sell crocodile pattern cowhide leather straps as crocodile leather straps, so it is still necessary for everyone to understand the difference between the two.
First of all, crocodile pattern cowhide straps are made by pressing crocodile pattern molds on cowhide straps. In order to reduce costs, manufacturers generally only use one set of molds, so a brand of crocodile pattern cowhide straps generally has the same pattern. . But the patterns of real crocodile leather straps are different. Even the patterns of several crocodile leather straps of one brand, one model and one batch are different. Because the pattern of crocodile skin is just like human palm prints, it is completely formed naturally and has natural differences, so the pattern of each crocodile skin is unique. Cutting from different parts of a piece of crocodile skin will result in different strap patterns.
Therefore, when buying a crocodile belt, you might as well ask the store to take out a few more crocodile leather belts for comparison. If the textures of each belt are different, then 70% of them are crocodile belts. If the pattern on each belt is the same without any significant difference, then it is probably an artificial pattern, that is, other belts with crocodile pattern.
Advanced is always relative. There is no superlative, only higher. But generally speaking, the most commonly used belt for high-end watches is crocodile leather. Crocodiles are amphibious, carnivorous reptiles that are widely distributed. There are 23 species of crocodiles in the world, including the Mississippi crocodile in North America, the Amazon crocodile in South America, the Nile crocodile in Africa, the Indian crocodile and Thai crocodile in South Asia, the Chinese alligator and the Australian Gulf crocodile. However, due to various reasons, including the protection of crocodiles and the leather itself, not all crocodiles can be used to make watch straps.
