Back in March, I introduced you to Daniel Cheek of Beckett Leather Goods, an American brand handcrafting bespoke watch straps, including those made from exotic leathers and up-cycled items. Daniel now has another Venture, Solomon Straps, to provide high quality, artisan-made straps at a more affordable price. For this review, he gave me a strap of my own from the Solomon collection.
The brand offers straps in ten different color full-grain leathers from the Badalssi Carlo tannery. Lovely as those various leather and stitching options may be, I had something specific in mind. I needed a strap for my Pancor P03, whose dark green dial and yellowy vintage lume begged for something unique. I went for the inverse of that color scheme, choosing Sahara tan leather with Spearmint stitching.
Solomon offers each strap in 18, 20, 22, and 24mm widths in addition to large and small Apple watch sizes. They are 120/75mm long, with two floating keepers. The site lists the thickness as 3.2mm, but you can expect some variance. Mine was closer to 4mm. The sides are finished but unpainted, revealing a cross-section of thick leather unsullied by cheap filler.
While the strap bears tool marks and minor imperfections, they characterize its hand made quality rather than any defect. The holes and stitching are straight and clean. On the underside, you will find doubly secure stitches on the keepers, carefully skived tabs, and a surface identical to that on top. A sturdy, polished stainless steel, square frame buckle caps it off.
I popped it onto my Pancor and was delighted with the pairing. The strap was comfortable right at first wearing, requiring little to no break-in, although I am confident that given the weight and quality of the leather it will continue to improve over time.
Solomon straps sell for $60. This is significantly cheaper than the Beckett straps, and you are still getting an excellent product. I wouldn’t hesitate to order one or two more for myself. Perhaps in a tasty violet or turquoise? I highly recommend you head over to SolomonStraps.com and check them out for yourself. ⬩
