Horween Cordovan Brown Watch Strap

Cordovan begins with a selection, before it begins with a tannage. The shell is a fibrous layer found only in a restricted area of the horse’s hindquarters — roughly 30×15 cm per animal. Few hides yield it, and that little requires six months of vegetable tanning before it becomes workable. This explains the price, and it explains why it behaves unlike any other leather.

It is not leather in the ordinary sense. It is a compact fibre, almost mineral in its response to time. It does not scratch: it bends. When a mark forms, the pressure of a thumb is enough and it disappears — the fibres realign on their own. It is the most wear-resistant material I have ever worked with: I have cordovan straps in circulation for ten years that look two.

This strap is made from Horween Shell Cordovan, the Chicago tannery that has worked this leather with methods unchanged for over a century. The colour is black — but a black that does not stay flat. With use it gains depth and brings out that dense lustre which is the signature of cordovan; held against the light, the warmth of the layers beneath surfaces, and the black ceases to be merely black. Not a colour laid on the surface: it is the leather maturing. The ecru stitching provides the contrast — a pale thread on a dark ground that draws the line of the seam and makes it part of the strap’s character.

Cordovan does not age. It matures. Every mark of use becomes part of the strap’s character, not a flaw to be hidden.

Made entirely in Italy. Each piece may present chromatic variations compared to the images: this is the nature of shell leather, not an imperfection.

Technical specifications:

• Material: Horween Shell Cordovan
• Colour: black, ecru stitching
• Lug width: 20 mm (case) × 16 mm (buckle)
• Length: 115 mm (case side) × 75 mm (buckle side)
• Thickness: 2,9 mm
• Made in Italy