Hodinkee Watch Strap Review
It’s as if I don’t have enough 20mm strap that I decided for a vintage style one for my Rolex. Not knowing what to buy, I turned to youtube and the first thing that I saw in my feed is Hodinkee’s Talking Watches. Like a flick of a switch, I know where to get my next strap.
Pricing
Pricing for their watches greatly varies. Their calfskin starts at USD$108 all the way to alligators that can cost USD$280. To make my option easier, I filtered out what they offer for “Short” sized straps, a style that I don’t have yet and the lug width being 20mm. It’s an easy choice from there as I ended up choosing the vintage inspired leather strap which cost USD$155.
Packaging and Shipping
Shipping with Hodinkee was very fast from NJ to Australia. I am also going to commend how impressive the tracking app of their choice is. Other than being able to track it, you also get links to their shops, see upsells for other things that might interests you and get delivery notifications. It’s a better version of a third party tracking service that can promote extra sales.
Packaging is also very impressive for a strap, however I question their use of magnets in the package to close the flap. It might not affect anything in that occasion, but magnets are known to be one of watches’ worst enemies. There’s no real reason to use them other than cost considerations when it can be swapped to a snap button or velcro.
Inside the box are the straps and a nice thank you note.
Strap
Initially I already have conflicting feelings about the strap after an initial inspection. It does however still feels like a quality strap, but cost wise there’s plenty of competition.
For a strap this thick, there’s obvious signs of glue marks on the tip stitches, but it’s not that obvious. There’s white stitching on the both straps on lugs which looks and feels thick. In addition, there’s also one underneath the fixed leather keeper.
As there’s no side stitching no maintain the vintage look, the leather is going to be glued and folder over.
People who have been following my blog should know that my mandatory requirement for lug hole diameter is the Omega spring bar. You will definitely have no problem with this as the holes are very big and loose.
Buckle is Hodinkee engraved, but quality wise it feels a bit flimsy. It doesn’t feel and look like solid stainless steel, but nickel plated. I am happy to be corrected on this.
The strap is already comfortable outside the box. After wearing it for a few weeks, it got a bit more soft. It feels very smooth on the skin and the vintage look really makes vintage watches stand out. The leather is soft enough you can fit it in lugs that are 19mm.
Final Verdict
A vintage strap is something most strapmaker can do so the bar is higher. I personally find that this Hodinkee strap is a bit overpriced for what you get. Though the quality is there, it has certain areas that needs to be improved upon such as better eye for detail and hardware quality. I would rank this as 8.5/10. You can buy their straps from their shop via this link.
