E.S Handcrafted Watch Straps Review

It’s been long overdue for my E.S Handcrafted Review. Based in South Australia, he offers watch straps and leather goods from various materials. What makes this strap order a bit different is that I didn’t only ask him to make me his most basic strap, but also do a custom job, making an LV strap from a worn out LV wallet.

I have been using my wallet for more than a year now until it started tearing apart. Seeing that the outer layer is still in decent condition, I just thought of making it a strap as I’ve been seeing plenty of the styling online. However, there’s no leather craftsman near my area that I know that can do the job. The only option is then to send it interstate, but I am limited as to where I can send it too and who will take the job. I saw his ad in Facebook and sent him a facebook message if he could do it and he said he can.

Pricing

His pricing is very competitive for a locally made and custom strap. The straps start at AUD$45 for the most simple strap which is perfect for very light watches. If you have a slightly heavier watch, going one step above it is recommended as it has stitching near the lugs and the tip.

• Simple Strap – AUD$45 (USD$31)
• Minimalist Strap – AUD$52.50 (USD$36.5)
• Custom work strap – AUD$70 (USD$48.5)

Of course he has a 10% off that he offers so definitely use that when purchasing.

My order was a simple strap, but he gave me a complimentary upgrade to the minimalist as a gesture of goodwill and he’s concerned I might use it on heavier watches. That’s customer service if I do say so myself.

Packaging

As I was in Australia, the shipment came in a normal Australian parcel post. Each strap is then individually wrapped in paper packaging with his logo on it. As I ordered over a specific amount, I also got a free key holder.

Straps

I requested for a thin profile for all my strap orders. His thin profile compared to manufacturers is really flat so do note how “thin” you want it to be. Given that it’s only going to be used for light watches, I didn’t mind it to be thinner than usual. Similar to my other strap orders, these have to fit 1.8mm spring bars and measured to a 105 / 70mm length.

After just a few days, he already showed me the wallet being separated. A week later, he already informed me that the straps are done and that I should receive them soon. Not too long after, they did arrive as advised.

Both straps are very comfortable to hold and feel outside the box. Kangaroo leather in general is very tough and would be interested to see how it holds up. General handling of the straps definitely shows that the flat profile has this flexibility, but might be a concern if one has heavier watches. This is not only due to the fact that the lug ends have to bear all the weight, but it is also not aesthetically pleasing.

The LV straps are well stitched. The edges are properly sanded, but not overly sanded nor have this glossy look. In addition, there’s a level of care when stitching the synthetic leather on the real leather. However, the punched holes on one of the straps are not in a straight line compared to the simple strap so consistency has a bit of work. There’s also the tapering on both sides being not equal, but I always try to remember that it is fully handmade strap and everybody is constantly improving.

It’s the small detail that counts. He mentioned that to strengthen the strap further, the underlying foundation will be on kangaroo leather. This will ensure that the strap will be good enough for everyday use. These are not something that I requested, but left it in the hands of the craftsman to decide what’s best.

The simple strap / minimalist was crafted better from my observation. Sanding on the edges is better and also the lug holes are all straight. The stitching on the lugs and the tip are good, but there are remnants of what I think are glue marks on the holes of the stitching. I compared this with my other straps that has a similar design and did notice the difference. Most of the time, for the glue to be completely hidden, the area has to be thicker. Overall, still satisfied with the purchase keeping in mind that this is a fully custom made strap for less than AUD$50.

Final Verdict

There might be some cons here and there, the pros outweights it by a far margin. This is definitely a strong contender if one is looking a custom made strap, but don’t want to pay the premium. I would rank this as 9 / 10 on the basis of price and output and would easily recommend him.

You can visit his page E.S Handcrafted via this link.