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A (Watch) Band Apart
In Paris, Atelier du Bracelet Parisien makes custom designed watch straps in a variety of leathers, linings and stitching.CreditCreditAgnes Dherbeys for The New York Times
By Libby Banks
A handful of small, select ateliers scattered around Europe let owners treat their watch straps as part of their wardrobe. And while the market for bespoke watch straps may be a niche one, it definitely is growing.
“We make more or less 5,000 to 6,000 straps each year. This figure is increasing about 10 percent more every year,” said Yann Perrin, co-owner of
Atelier du Bracelet Parisien, the 18-year-old Paris-based business, generally known as A.B.P., which offers clients almost infinite ways to freshen up their Rolexes, Patek Philippes or Audemars Piguets.
Manufacturers of women’s timepieces have long been wise to the power of color. Dior, for example, created alligator straps for its Dior VIII watch that precisely match the violet and blue palette of Raf Simons’s spring 2015 collection. And Chanel’s Boy.Friend watch, introduced this month, has alligator straps in red or navy that coordinate with two of the house’s most popular nail polishes.
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Agnes Dherbeys for The New York Times
But, Mr. Perrin said, the men’s market for changeable bands also is increasing. “Men are less and less afraid with using colors and special tannings and leather finishes,” he said, adding that alligator increasingly is considered a very masculine choice.
A trip to the A.B.P. atelier off the Rue Saint Honoré in Paris presents a dizzying number of options: 50 kinds of animal leathers, each in as many as 300 colors; 600 stitching colors; and hundreds of lining materials in varied colors, all of which can be combined to create straps in 20 different thicknesses.
A simple leather version of the common NATO nylon strap (first issued in the 1970s for the British military) takes an artisan only 30 minutes to make. But, Mr. Perrin said, more complex concoctions require about 100 different processes and can take as long as 18 hours.
“The possibilities are endless; we use a lot of rare leathers such as hippopotamus, elephant, cordovan” from a horse, he said. “My favorite leathers are alligator, python, calf and shark.” An A.B.P. strap costs an average of 250 euros, or $287, but prices can rise to €750.
The growth of the men’s fashion market has outpaced women’s for the past five years, according to luxury goods reports by Bain & Company, the global management consulting firm. So, as men’s wear has expanded, it’s not unexpected that male watch fans are experimenting beyond the conservative and quintessentially classic. After all, a zingy stingray, ostrich or alligator watchband offers both a discreet hint of dandy and a relatively affordable price tag.
“Watch trends evolve pretty much separately from fashion, in terms of materials, but they do pick up on those bigger cultural shifts in the way men are thinking about their clothes,” said Nick Sullivan, fashion director at American Esquire. “Men are definitely thinking more of watches as integral parts of their wardrobes — and owning more watches accordingly. In the old days men tended to wear the same watch with everything.
“Custom bands are allowing them to get more permutations out of their watches and put their personal stamp on a treasured possession,” he said.
Unlike the internationally recognizable watch brands, most watch strap businesses are small independent and artisanal operations, such as
Camille Fournet in Paris, which has a website program that allows clients to make choices in 14 categories to create a custom order for delivery anywhere in the world, and
Di Stefano Straps, an atelier in Florence, Italy, that specializes in recreating vintage straps.
The new Chanel Boy.Friend watch has alligator straps in red or navy that coordinate with two of the house’s most popular nail polishes.
Image
The new Chanel Boy.Friend watch has alligator straps in red or navy that coordinate with two of the house’s most popular nail polishes.
Luxury houses also have entered the field. La Montre Hermès, for example, opened its own strap atelier in 2006 and has a bespoke option for customers.
“The strap is now an important part of the watch, something which always used to be considered as secondary,” said Philippe Delhotal, creative director at La Montre Hermès. “This is the one element that you can easily change and that gives the impression of having a new watch. A nice material, a special texture or color makes a big difference to the overall look of the watch.”
Creating bands can be a time-consuming process, he said, estimating that an alligator strap for the luxury house’s In the Pocket watch takes craftsmen about a week to produce from start to finish.
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Jean Rousseau, a leather accessories manufacturer and tannery established in Besançon, France, in 1954. Jacques Bordier took over the business in 1999, initially focusing on watch straps for high-end Swiss brands. Then in 2001, he opened a bespoke atelier in Paris as a way of building brand awareness.
Dior created alligator straps for its Dior VIII watch that precisely matched the violet and blue palette of Raf Simons’s spring 2015 collection.
Image
Dior created alligator straps for its Dior VIII watch that precisely matched the violet and blue palette of Raf Simons’s spring 2015 collection.
The service, now expanded to Tokyo and London, has become a significant part of the business, providing about 10 percent of the company’s annual revenue. A boutique recently opened on Madison Avenue in New York, and two more are planned for Asia in 2016.
Prices for a bespoke calfskin strap starts at about €90, rising to more than €550 for exotic leathers. “You could have diamonds embedded in the strap; you could have it stitched with gold or platinum thread; and we do embroidery — we recently created one embroidered with cherry tree flowers for a Japanese client,” Mr. Bordier said.
The company also has its own tannery, so while exotic leather bands sell for €550, a client could pay about €1,400 for a band that matches his Savile Row suit or a Bugatti’s paint job.
Despite the dazzling number of options, Mr. Bordier said most clients take a subdued approach. “Black is still the most popular,” he acknowledged.
But, “the type of bespoke we offer is much more subtle” than just color, he said. “Nowadays, I think the ultimate luxury is not only producing something beautiful, but exactly to the customer’s taste and needs. That comes down to details: the color of the thread, or mixing alligator with a rubber lining.”
Mr. Perrin echoed the sentiment, saying a bespoke watchband is an opportunity to be distinctive in what can be a bland horological universe. “My best advice is not to select too classic a strap,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be funky, but the client should select a strap that is as original and unusual as its owner.”
