Leather Watch Bands

Yes. A well-made leather watch strap improves with age, developing character through daily wear. Quality full-grain leather molds to your wrist over time, becoming ultra-comfortable, creating a custom fit that mass-produced bands can't match.

We handcraft our watch straps from North American leather, hand-stitching each one for durability that lasts generations. While other materials have their place, leather remains the benchmark for watch straps because it simply works - and works well.

It’s possible to change your own watch strap at home. 

Start by finding a clean, flat surface. Lay down a soft cloth so that you don’t scratch your watch face while you’re changing out your strap. Then, lay your watch down on its face so you can see the back, unbuckling it so the current buckle lies flat. 

Then, orient yourself with your new watch strap. 

Your new strap comes in two pieces. The shorter piece will have the buckle attached, while the longer piece has holes in it to attach to the buckled piece. Lay these pieces underneath the same types of pieces on your existing watch strap so they’re parallel. This will help you fasten the new strap to the correct sides of your watch. 

Next, you need to remove your old watch strap. Most straps are attached to watches using a telescoping, spring-loaded bar. Use a spring bar tool to maneuver these spring bars out of the watch strap. Make sure you have some sort of barrier set up; because spring bars are spring-loaded, they can easily fly off in any direction, and can quickly get lost in shaggy carpets or down vents. 

Finally, place the spring bars in the replacement straps. Insert the bottom part of a spring bar into your watch face, then push on the top to telescope it into place. When you maneuver your strap into place and remove your spring bar tool, the telescoping spring bar should snap into place. 

Do this to both sides of your strap, and you will have installed your new watch strap. 

Replacing an Apple watch strap is even easier than replacing a traditional watch strap. Apple link bracelets offer a quick-release button. Your old watch strap will pop out, and you can insert the new watch strap.

Apple also offers a visual guide on replacing watch straps for all their watch models. So, even if you don’t have a quick-release button on your Apple watch strap, it’s easy to follow along and swap out your watch band yourself.

At Popov Leather, we believe in minimizing waste and maximizing efficiency. Since spring bars and watch pins can usually be kept for years, we don’t include those in your purchase of a leather watch band.

However, if you do need some, we sell them separately here.

One great thing about Apple watches is that they’re built to be compatible with all other watches in their series. For this reason, the connector size and shape are the same for all Apple watches in the same series. 38mm, 40mm, 42mm, and 44mm Apple watch bands are all interchangeable. 

One of the great things about leather watch straps is the patina they develop over years of use. 

Sweating while wearing your watch strap will add oils back into your leather, keeping the leather feeling buttery-smooth and hastening the patina process. This means that wearing watch straps while working out is a great choice, especially if you love the look of leather with a rich patina. 

Leather watch straps are also more gentle on your skin than other materials. This reduces chafing during your workout, allowing you to keep time and track your steps without any discomfort.

While our leather watch bands are great for working out in — and even improve with a little sweat worked into the leather — they are not waterproof. 

When leather gets soaked and then dries, the drying process leaches the oils from the leather. This leads to the leather drying out. It can become brittle and even crack. 

While you probably don’t have to worry about a little sweat during a workout, or even wearing your watch on your wrist out in a little bit of rain, you don’t want to wear your Popov Leather watch strap swimming or working outside in the pouring rain.

Apple watch straps are designed to be interchangeable. However, if you know the size of your current Apple watch, it’s a good idea to get a compatible size watch strap just to be on the safe size.

While it’s not a good idea to throw your leather watch strap in the washing machine, it is possible to clean your watch. 

Use a gentle, microfiber cloth to prevent scratching. To clean the surface and wash away a little bit of dust or dirt, all you need is some water. Using a damp cloth, wipe the surface, and then leave it to air dry. 

If you need to do a deep clean of your watch, or your find that cleaning it with water is drying it out, you can use cleaning products specially designed for cleaning leather. 

Never use harsh cleaning products on top-grain leather. Chemicals like bleach, Chlorox, or even harsh soaps can degrade your leather and ruin it forever.

We offer two different sizes of Apple watch straps. 

The first is designed for Apple watches with a lug width of 38, 40, or 41 mm. The second is designed for Apple watches with a lug width of 42, 44, or 45 mm. 

In either case, the watch straps themselves are designed to fit a wrist circumference of 6” - 8.5”.

A proper leather watch band shouldn't need replacing for many years (if ever).

Mass-produced straps might give out after a year or two, but hand-stitched straps made from full-grain leather are built tough. Keep it away from water, give it a quick wipe down when needed, and treat it with leather balm occasionally. That's all it takes.

We back our watch straps with a lifetime guarantee because we know they're built to last.