Another stupid question - Leather on divers

[uktotty]

So I received my sexy new bronze diver and immediately transferred it to the leather band from the rubber.
Looks so much better, but how does leather fair in wet conditions, I realise of course that cows don't leak but is leather on a diver advisable?

[JonRA]

I wear an MM300 on a Toshi leather and like the look and the comfort. But I wouldn't swim or shower wearing it.

[LorneG]

It depends completely on the strap. Some leather straps are silicon impregnated to give them a decent level of water-proofness (Hirsch do this with many of theirs). Other straps are made from very high quality leathers that are waterproof (for example your shoes or anything made from saddle leather). Some straps though, may have an internal 'padding' layer that will soak up water and hold it there to slowly rot the strap from the inside out.

In general, if you go high quality on the strap and keep the leather properly treated (leather cream or shoe polish), it'll be fine on a divers watch. With all divers watches though remember to wash them off with fresh water if you've been in the sea as the stainless steel in a bracelet, case, lugs, lug springs is only stain'less' and not stain'free'. For some reason architects never seem to have figured out that stainless steel does actually rust!

[ratty_uk2011]

If it's a "distressed" look leather, then a few splash marks add to the patina I suppose.

Otherwise it's not a good material for immersion.

[mjgerrard]

I've always aligned leather bands on divers that have been "put out to pasture", which is pretty much any vintage diver that you wouldn't want to risk getting wet, due to being suspicious of water resistance and/or the value is to high to risk the damage.

Which is therefore a bit at odds when it comes to a new diver, because it's obviously pretty good for water use. Buying a diver makes sense because it's hard wearing, waterproof and therefore useful. Putting it on leather changes the look but makes it less useful...

[PickleB]

So I received my sexy new bronze diver and immediately transferred it to the leather band from the rubber.
Looks so much better, but how does leather fair in wet conditions, I realise of course that cows don't leak but is leather on a diver advisable?

Probably not...if you intend using it for diving. Otherwise they can do the job and look good too; see Diver on Leather - can it ever be right?

[D4RW1N]

So I received my sexy new bronze diver and immediately transferred it to the leather band from the rubber.
Looks so much better, but how does leather fair in wet conditions, I realise of course that cows don't leak but is leather on a diver advisable?

It is a bit wrong to be fair....

However, similar to previous reply about vintage divers, I think this also applies to “faux vintage” such as Tudor black bay or similar.

I think some of those distressed leather straps look great with these retro looking divers, even though new, capable divers....

Wouldn’t want to get them wet though.

[MrGrumpy]

How it looks is in the eye of the beholder of course.
Divers watches are designed to get wet, so, to me anyway, if your strap puts you off getting the watch wet, then its all a bit silly!
There again, I guess it depends on whether you are a wet- diver or a desk diver.....

[JasonM]

I’ve not seen a diver on leather that looks right yet.

[The_Perfect_Sandwich]

Looks good on Seikos like skx007, IMO

[Plug]

I have a Seiko SKA369 (Pepsi BFK), sometimes wear that on a leather rally strap, so completely inappropriate. But I like the way it looks and it's very comfortable, so why not? It's not like the watch ever goes near the water anyway..

Cheers,

Plug

[mycroft]

Every Panerai I’ve ever seen looks better on leather than steel and they’re divers (apart from the new ones with the pathetic WR, of course )...


Simon

[Topcat30093]

I would love to wear a vintage or distressed leather strap on my divers watches.
But for me, it somewhat takes away the purpose of having a dive watch.
So, I now tend to fit either a NATO or a rubber strap.
Though in the past, I have worn WP leather straps, which do look rather good.

[Riley]

I have my PO on a black Hirsch Leonardo at the moment, just for a change.
I was surprised at how good it looks, in fact if anything it looks little more upmarket.

[catch21]

I have a yellow BFK which sometimes goes on a tatty mid-brown chunky leather. The colours and effect are quite good I think. Only trouble is it is hard to find one that matches the case thickness at the lugs, so there's a quite a noticeable and pronounced mismatch in heights where the strap joins the case, to me anyway. I happily swim in it.

[uktotty]

I’ve not seen a diver on leather that looks right yet.

All my SS Divers are on bracelets, this came on rubber, but didn't look right, I transferred it on to the leather in the box.