2018-05-22: Finally, some bands have arrived.

[foxint@foxint.com.au]

Hi Guys
I have not yet fully evaluated the bands – may take some time. I am wearing it on my MS-6538 and will report. But my first impressions (and the only guy who has one) is GOOD. If there is a god, he/she is a Kangaroo – the leather is excellent.

My motivation for making the bands: all (almost all) bands have some sort of filler. Many have PU Leather – a sneaky way of saying plastic. Many have this or other artificial material inside and on the underside of the band – where you cannot see it. Makes sense – BULL SHIT….this stuff is next to your skin and in my mind not good, not value and not authentic.

An all leather band MUST be ALL leather, not partly leather not strange reconstituted leather and certainly not PU leather. And next to my (manly) skin I do not want this strange stuff.

OWC Leather Band is made from Leather – simple. Aside from some glue, stainless steel fittings and some thread and stain – ALL LEATHER it’s that simple.

It is made from the Australian National Animal – KANGAROO - its meat is a delicacy – yes, we eat our national animal – and its skin is made into high end leather and much is used in motor sport for gloves and “leathers”. Kangaroo is one of the most (probably the most) durable leathers on the planet and it is very good for sweat – hence the motor GP us it for gloves as it retards slippage.

There is a stainless-steel tube at each end and at the buckle (so the band should last for ever…ha-ha – (that was a stupid thing for me to do).

WARNING; If you decide to put this on a watch without drilled lugs, it will/may be hard to get off. I evaluated a pre-production one and put it on a 1950’s DOXA Grafic – again I will say: Doxa were famous for making dress watches long before they made divers. The band will not come off easily. I like the band so much I will be leaving it on the Doxa. (Yes, this is brown, and all the other bands will be BLACK).

They are good. There is one change I will ask – the width is exactly 20mm and this makes it a little hard to get onto the watch. But it is a nice fit and will wear well. I have asked the Sweat Shop to make the next batch slightly thinner at the lug.

Not sure final pricing or shipping. I am not sure if Australia Post will accept them in an envelope – they are A-holes and consider anything NOT paper as a parcel – I will try. My estimated price is USD65.00 plus shipping.

But for 10 bands ONLY I will ask for only USD36.25 each – no more to pay for the first 10.

(This is all I currently have).

[Tanukjaju]

I’m in for a couple please..... I assume that these come with a buckle? Any pics of that?

[foxint@foxint.com.au]

Thank you.

Here is a photo of the buckle on a pre-production model

Best email...me only 10 available

FYI - Just back from Australia Post. I tried to put a band in an envelope - well they rejected it. So next time all bands etc will have to be parcels. - See how the Australian Government is causing small business to go out of business.

[Emilio]

It looks like they would match a fine car interior

[Tanukjaju]

So I was a little intrigued by these for various reasons. Here are my comments.

- I was a little skeptical that these straps would be soft... looking at the pics they looked stiff but rest assured that these are much softer than they look. Softer than the suede straps I typically pick up from eBay (those do need breaking in). These do have a broken in feel right out of the box. Like wagyu beef...or dare I say wagyu kangaroo. The keepers are sturdy and right sized such that they are easy to slide into yet the floating one not slide up and down when on the wrist.



- I noted that [mention]foxint@foxint.com.au[/mention] mentioned that these straps are a 1 way ticket - impossible to remove- unless you had drill through lugs..I do have drill through lugs on this watch, but not on others, so as a work around, I exposed the steel tubes and machined them down 1-2mm. Problem fixed.



Length...my wrists are 6.25 inches and I’m on the smallest/shortest positioned hole. Here is the texture of the leather




Before anyone asks... this is not a freebie strap. So I’m under no obligation to kiss up... Dan did send me an extra free strap that will be going up either as a raffle door prize (later this year) or as a goodwill pass it forward item.