I'm sending them to Paul's Watch Shop in Sacramento, CA. They come highly recommended and turnaround is about 2-4wks, depending on what they need to get for parts. I really liked using Rumlee's Watch in Green Bay. @JBraun recommended Mike, the watch maker there. Mike does great work, but 2.5 years in getting two watches back to me is a bit long.
Not very good. It's wake surfing season. I also got into a project with a friend's submariner. He's had it for about 30 years and it had incredible bracelet stretch. I ended up taking some of it apart and sending it to Hong Kong for repair. I did a bunch of research and almost bought the tooling to do it myself. I'd love to do one sometime.
Any good recommendations for a place to buy a leather strap? It’s hard to tell what is total garbage and what is nice quality just based on photos. Looking for one for my new Tudor.
All depends on your price range... https://www.combat-straps.com/ <--- $$$$ https://www.vintagerstraps.com/ <--- $$$$ https://www.watch-band-center.com/shop-watchstrap.html. <--- I have ordered from these guys for a spare strap for my Hamilton IntraMatic 68 (1st year of re-release) and it's quite nice. https://www.strapcode.com/collections/leather-watch-band <--- These guys are big in the seiko world and have a good selection.
Check these guys out. I have a couple and they are fantastic. Hand made and tons of options https://mansarea.com/en/shop-catalog/watch-straps
Damn the vintagestraps place is bad ass but effff me they are pricey! The combat ones are expensive too but it seems like a huge PITA to figure out what you want. Still digging through them all, thanks!
Just picked up this G-shock Mudmaster. It's my 5th G-shock on the shelf now.....I should probably stop.
You can look on YouTube for some examples. Basically you use a device with small clamps on each side to pull each link apart horizontally. The stretch is caused by the bars that hold the links together being worn. The watch I was messing with also had some wear on the center links because they were able to tilt and rub on the corners. Those were repaired with laser welding. Basically, a new bracelet was going to be around $3500. We were able to repair this one to almost new condition for about $750 all in (including some parts for the clasp).
Sometimes too many choices are a problem. For your Tudor, you may want to play with the Blue or the Red from the GMT Bezel and GMT Hand. Blue Leather, red stitching, or Blue Leather with Red free loops (part that tucks the extra strap) and red stitching. Or you could go with Red leather, and white/cream stitching with blue free loops.
From memory the cattle dynasty fuel franchise guy recommended these before he disappeared. Yeah I can't remember his name.
Mine is the Heritage Ranger so the only color is the red on the second hand. I'm a little all over the place-I may try hitting up a couple good local watch stores and see if they stock anything because its hard to tell what will look good just seeing a photo.
I have the Gravitymaster. I really like it. It’s my “adventure watch”. It’s built like a tank. I’ve had it for two years and treated it like a clapped out SV650. It still looks almost new.