Barton Watch Bands Toffee Brown Alligator Grain Leather Watch Band
February 27, 2019
Disclaimer, no alligators were harmed in the making of this strap. Okay, I had to get this out of the way as the truth is the vast amount of ‘gator’ straps are not real gator so this is not really a big deal. The truth is most gator straps are just embossed with a grain that resembles our multi toothed modern day dinosaur and since I am not a Herpetologist (one who studies amphibians or reptiles – yes I had to look that up) I am going to say the grain on this strap is just as convincing as the grain on most other embossed straps. That is to say it looks alligator-y.
Barton bands is known for easy to switch out, fun straps that are priced as easy to buy as they are to change out. I have long wondered when they would move into the dressier spectrum of the watch world by offering different leather or really anything other than the standard straight sided well-made straps they have always offered. No sooner than I contemplated this the strap wizards at Barton told me that they had a new alligator strap that was not only embossed with an alligator skin pattern, but it was padded AND it tapered. Wishes do certainly come true. This was a decisive move into a more upscale strap. But how does it compare? Will the traditional Barton recipe of value and quality hold true in this new strap? When I took a visit to Barton Watch Bands in Austin (https://strapsense.com/news-blog/an-afternoon-with-barton-watch-bands/) I had a chance to find out. I left with a beautiful toffee Brown Alligator strap (among others) to try out on my latest Seiko mod and this review will concentrate on that. But here is how the friendly folks at Barton describe this strap.
Our toffee brown Alligator Grain Leather quick release watch bands feature a 2mm taper from watch head to buckle and are padded for style and comfort. Crafted from hand selected top grain leather and embossed with premium alligator texture, these straps are sure to be the envy of your town (or at least your break room).
DIMENSIONS
The gator strap I have is the 18mm version. It measured 17.8mm at the lugs and tapered to 15.4mm. It was 5mm thick at the lugs and tapers down to 2.8mm at the free end and the buckle. A word about the padding. Some straps have a noticeable ‘pillow’ near the lugs that abruptly ends before the adjustment holes start. Barton chose to do this a bit more elegantly. They padding gradually disappears and the strap gets thinner evenly toward the end. I really like this method better than the sandwiched pillow between two pieces of leather some straps use.
The length of my strap was 115mm/74.5mm on the free and buckle end respectively. This mean on my 6.85” wrist I was on the 5th of 10 adjustment holes, which is just about the perfect length for me and should serve people with wrists much larger and much smaller than mine. This is typical of Barton, they do not rush a design out the door, they give each design feature some thought.
DESIGN
This strap has many of the features I love about Barton Straps. It has the beautiful smooth calf skin leather liner that feels so good against the skin. This light brown leather has a velvety feeling and wears remarkably well over time. I have had many Barton Straps over the years, and even the oldest ones still look good after hot nights coaching baseball and giving the kids baths. Another feature I love about ALL Barton Bands is the quick release spring bars. Every single Barton Strap has this feature and as far as I am concerned it should be mandatory for every strap maker.
So with the natural goodness of the Barton strap recipe in place, let’s look at what is new with this strap. This strap represents a host of firsts for Barton. It was the first tapered strap from them, the first padded strap, and the first leather with a texture applied. While all of these features are not unique to Barton, the inclusion of all of them together represents a departure into a far dressier strap than they have offered before. All three of these new features work together quite well and if any of them were removed, I think the overall product may not be as inviting as what is currently being offered.
As I mentioned before, I am not a reptile expert and I am not versed in what a true gator skin looks like (although being from Louisiana I have seen my fair share). However, I have many alligator embossed straps from the likes of Hirsch, Fluco and from OEMs such as Grand Seiko, and to me this pattern used by Barton is no worse or better than any other. So full marks for that. The thickness of the strap is well chosen. The 5mm to 2.5mm means this strap has presence on the wrist, but without being bulky and stiff. Some padded straps suffer from lack of flexibility that can be a negative for some watch strap buyers. The Barton strap padding is easily compressed by the fingers and is soft to the touch. I am happy to say that there is no appreciable break in period to this leather as it conforms to any desired shape quite easily. This is no mistake either as talking with the head of Barton Watch Bands himself he made sure this flexibility from day one was paramount. His efforts have been worth it.
The alligator strap has stitching around the periphery that highlights the padding near the lugs very well. The stitching is done in short stitch lengths and closely matches the color of the toffee leather and blends nicely. I consider them more structural than design focused like a contrasting stitch would be. Still the grain on the leather hogs the attention and I think this is what Barton was going for.
KEEPER AND BUCKLE
Like all Barton Straps this strap has the standard two keeper system with one being fixed and the other floatings. The buckle was one of the 5 available from Barton, and is fully polished. It does its job with admirable quietness.
The keepers are also grained in alligator like the strap and do a good job of keeping the loose end tidy and held firm. If I had to nit pick I would have wanted the keepers sides finished the same way the strap was for the sake of uniformity.
HOW DOES IT WEAR
As I mentioned before, this strap is comfortable from day one. I generally take every single strap I get from the most inexpensive to the very best Shell Cordovan and work them in my hand for a few minutes prior to installing. This gives me a chance to feel the flexibility, softness and test the pull up (tendency for the strap to change color as it is bent) under controlled conditions. This strap has very deep embossing and should stand up to time and use very well. The inner top grain leather is very soft and comfortable against the skin and feels good to the touch. The strap feeds through the buckle and keepers easily as the free end of the strap offers ample flexibility.
The thickness of the strap works well with any of the watches I owned that would fit it. My little Seiko mod which is about 11mm thick worked perfectly with this strap and was neither overpowered or smothering of the strap at the lugs. The padded portion had no issues curving around the my wrist comfortably and through a couple of weeks of wear only got better. As you may imagine I try many straps on many watches, I am happy to say that this strap was durable and showed no damage to the outside embossed satin finish (like flaking or discoloration) throughout the abuse I put it through. I have never had a Barton strap lose its flexibility or color no matter how much it has aged or is used.
WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR
With the alligator embossing and the slight taper this strap is destined for a more casual or dressy watch. I think it could work on some aviation pieces as well since the padding gives it some extra heft and the embossing adds some texture (in the same way a good buffalo grain does). I would avoid water exposure, so naturally this is not a diver watch strap, and I would probably not put this on an ultra thin piece as the 5mm of thickness may overpower ultra thin watches. So that leaves a wide variety of timepieces this strap may look great on. I had it several of my Seiko 5 mods (which is why I picked this particular size) and it looked good on the dressy versions, the tooly versions and the aviation based 5’s I have built. This strap comes in 20mm and 22mm sizes as well and all of them come with 5 different buckle finishes for you to pick from so a match to most timepieces will be perfectly possible.
WHERE CAN YOU GET IT
You can get the Barton Watch Bands Toffee Brown Alligator strap at Barton Watch Bands website:
Or you can pick them up at Bartons Amazon outlet here:
SUMMARY
Barton Watch Bands is growing up and with the addition of a stylish alligator strap they are moving into new areas they have not dabbled into previously. Whether it is casual or sporty, or dressy to aquatic Barton has a strap for you. I am happy to say that even with the host of firsts for Barton in this particular design, they have kept to the core of the business that makes Barton such a success. The straps are well made, fun, affordable and are offered in a variety of colors and sizes that are sure please so many people. I hope you take a look a these new offerings and find one that fits your lifestyle. If you are into modding SNK809s Barton Watch Bands is your new best friend.
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