Watch strap & bracelet changing mats

I made one of these for myself and thought they were cool, so I also made one to give away. Now, apparently, I’ve developed an addiction to making these this week 😁

Some of us change straps regularly, while for others, it’s a seasonal thing. Whatever the reason or regularity, it’s nice to create a sense of occasion that will elevate a task into a memorable moment.

These strap changing mats will do just that. They are entirely made by hand from premium vegetable-tanned leather, and hand-stitched to look dope and last forever. A inset tool tray gives your spring-bar tool, extra links and spring bars a place to rest without rolling away. I’ve lined these with suede to keep the pad in place regardless of how much you are fiddling around or cussing because you’ve just launched a spring into space. Size is 8.5” x 11”.

Using a changing mat has the added benefit of protecting your table from getting gouged with your springbar tool - just in case you were wondering how to justify buying a treat for yourself. Plus, you’ll only ever need one of these.

I’ll be having more available shortly, and will post a photo.

Some previous projects

View attachment 1530905

These take a good bit of time to produce, so I’m asking $190 CDN for each to reflect my time and to some extent, increase in materials. Local pick up in Vancouver BC, or shipping at buyer’s expense.

Thanks for looking, and thanks to the forum for this space 👍

Glad it arrived to such a nice reception 👍

I should have taken the free one! Now I'm like, grrr, ok, take my money, dude!

How much would it cost to ship one to Europe, and more specifically to France?

I absolutely love the idea, and I've been wanting one since the giveaway.

thank you so much 😀 PM me your mailing address and I will take a look. I think it went just lettermail for CDN $7 or so to the US. More if insured and tracked of course.

I also took a shot at making a fancy schmancy brogue-pattern strap changing valet. For the first try, I am very very pleased. I’m still not sure how pleased my neighbours are from all the hammering I was doing 😗. There are some alignment errors, and next time I’d use a different stitching pattern & ivory thread instead of blue, plus other refinements you may or may not see. These are a lot of time to make, with a correspondingly high level of satisfaction. Throwing it out to gauge interest.

Wow, that is some fine work Dave!

The DaveK elves humbly suggest these colours of stitching for the sexy brown strap mat. Open to exploring other requests 👍

Thank you 😀

On the one hand, that's an amazing first try. To me, this is splendid work!

On the other, what constitutes to me part of the charm of the original is its tool-like simplicity. The mat was clearly (well-)made with one purpose in mind, and that was it. We're getting away from that here.

So it's really a matter of personal tastes, I suppose. I would choose the initial workmanlike design, but I certainly couldn't fault anyone for fancying this more elaborate iteration. Great work in any case!

Excellent question 👎 I’ll make up a colour sample in a bit 👍