Leather straps collection redesigned I

Waxed leather strap: 77

I have a special affection for some models because I grew up with them. Without a doubt, one of these straps from the leather collection is the 77. For many years it was one of the best-selling models in every market where Diloy was present, however, over time, it had become obsolete, wherefore we decided to put it through a reinvigoration process, which I now explain.

Old model leather watch strap 77

Redesigning the model 77: from greased leather to waxed leather

The first big shift was the leather. Originally, we used greased cow leather from Italy. Good, beautiful, and expensive. Notwithstanding the price, the client could see the quality and would have no problems paying its price. But the crisis came and the Italian tanneries started to mischief with the leathers. Where there used to be an excellent leather with the exact amount of oil, was now an extremely expensive material with far too much oil in order to cover up the flaws of a definitely reduced quality leather. In the end, when heating the leather to make the semi-turned process, the mould would look like a fryer with the quantity of oil coming out of the leather. Of course, the oil and the glues don't go well together. Thus, before we had any complaints from clients, we decided to change the leather type. We went through countless suppliers of greased leather: Spanish, Italian, Pakistani... The problem was always the same: too much or too less oil. This way, the straps would easily tear, the oil would slip into the linings, staining them, there were problems with glues, etc. Luckily, these problems were managed at the production level and never came to the market. Our second attempt was a cow leather imitating the greased finishing. It wasn't bad, the leather quality was good, but the result was a strap that, instead of grease, was feeling like plastic. Something has to be wrong when you have to explain to your clients over and over again that the strap is made out of genuine leather and not plastic. If it resembles plastic, it doesn't matter the material that is actually used to produce the strap. Thus once again, before someone complained, we changed the material. Finally, we found the leather that pleased me. So much that we are now using it also, step by step, in our Vintage collection. It is a waxed leather. The wax gives it a matte finish, very trendy in this kind of strap, instead of the initial glossy finish of the greased leather. The waxed finish keeps the feeling of genuine leather, with a smooth and natural touch.

Changing the mould: from square tip to sharp tip

The next big shift was to refresh the strap's body. We stopped producing it with the classical square tip mould and started using our sharp tip mould. The result is a more contemporary model with a much more Mediterranian look. I know this will be hard to explain to our central European clients, who are still very found of the classical square tip, but we believe they will embrace the change.

To make it even more complicated: change of the lining and buckle

We wanted the new version of the model 77 to get back the position that used to occupy in the watch strap world, so we made it even better by changing the lining to boost smoothness and switching the buckle of golden aluminium for a new, more modern, stainless steel model.

Available sizes and colours

How could we say we had changed the model without adding the best-selling size of the last few years? Now, this strap is also available in 22mm. Regarding colours, we keep the classical: black, dark brown, and intermediate brown. We don't set aside the possibility of including a lighter brown soon.

The final result

We are proud to present you the new model 77. A classical strap with a modern and contemporary design, with a quality pattern much higher than the original that will surely be available very soon in all watch stores. 

New leather watch straps Diloy 77

Bonus Track

Do you know which brand is building straps very similar to the 77? Take a look at St Mawes strap by Daniel Wellington. I wish they continue to sell lots of watches. They surely build them in 20mm.

Daniel Wellintong strap

If you want to see more leather watch straps models, stop by our homepage.