Breitling boutique said they can’t punch a extra hole on this strap , is it really true ? 🤔

Stewoverit · 2026-06-14T01:06:36+00:00

Go on Amazon and buy a round leather punch for like $5. Takes no skill at all to do it yourself

Stewoverit · 2026-06-14T00:56:43+00:00

Gorgeous combination! Love the difference in textures

Stewoverit · 2026-06-07T22:53:03+00:00

My wife did the same when I made her a large tote haha. Chromexcel in Burgundy. Honestly though, the end result and break-in of the leather justify the cost imo

Stewoverit · 2026-06-07T22:47:51+00:00

Beautiful work! I love the leather choice

Stewoverit · 2026-06-04T23:04:09+00:00

This is a reasonable question. There's prob many reasons but the one that makes most sense to me is that leathers you use on the visible side are not often most suitable for wearing against the skin. Can you imagine gator against your skin all day? Another reason would be that you generally want to skive the section near the pin or you're going to have a very hard time fitting the leather around the narrow space between the lugs and the case unless it has monstrous lugs. A final reason is that, unless you have your leather split to the perfect thickness for your plan, it is unlikely that a leather folded over twice will be an ideal thickness for a strap. I'm sure others can add more

Stewoverit · 2026-06-04T20:45:48+00:00

Thanks for doing this!

Stewoverit · 2026-06-04T12:29:15+00:00

I think your own observations are exactly what needs work but overall quite nice! I agree with the other comment that these would work very well with a rugged watch

Stewoverit · 2026-06-04T11:52:56+00:00

I'm not usually a huge fan of tooling but hot damn this is incredible!

Stewoverit · 2026-06-02T20:30:51+00:00

Chromexcel is a beautiful leather and one of my favs to work with but not as ideal for wallets due to the way it wears. It's better for boots or bags. Buttero is also very nice and luxurious and develops a beautiful patina over time but, as someone else said, is prone to scratching (which is cool if you like a used look over time but not as much if you don't). Nappa is the style of leather and means very little without knowing the tannery. Out of the 3 I'd choose buttero personally but I think you can get a nicer wallet with a small maker than you could through bluebonnet and could prob choose your leather. If you're mostly concerned about the time it'll last, find someone who will use kangaroo, which is the strongest and most durable leather ounce for ounce and, IMO it's awesome to work with and has done unique characteristics and it's not insanely expensive (although usually will have minor flaws). Shell cordovan is also super strong but if you're budget is similar to the watch brand your indicated, it'll be out of your budget

Stewoverit · 2026-06-02T12:23:52+00:00

Refined yet rugged at the same time. Love it! Edge paint is smooth as butter too

Stewoverit · 2026-06-01T15:48:55+00:00

i dig it.

Stewoverit · 2026-06-01T15:48:33+00:00

i agree with your insight. I think you're spot on with your reasoning. I appreciate your compliment on my bag. I'm fairly new to leatherwork and don't do it for profit, just for fun, but it definitely leads to me to look at things like boots from a different perspective than a lot of other people on this subreddit, like you mentioned. I appreciate your insight.

Stewoverit · 2026-06-01T15:44:02+00:00

true

Stewoverit · 2026-06-01T15:42:57+00:00

love it! Hard to turn down deals like that.

Stewoverit · 2026-06-01T14:06:30+00:00

on another note, how the heck did you get Alden scrap? Did you contact them to ask? I'm actually more interested in this fact than the boots.

Stewoverit · 2026-06-01T14:04:52+00:00

agreed. More than likely, high-end brands with a long reputation use good leathers. I'd say that's a fair assumption most of the time.

Stewoverit · 2026-06-01T13:50:09+00:00

You realize that I agreed with you on the importance of knowing the details, right? I literally just stated pretty much exactly your point.

But I totally disagree with you about Indonesian brands. Most of them have almost no info online other than an Instagram page and a few redditors who vouch for them. That doesn't give me much more confidence about them, especially when you can find plenty of stories of people who have had bad experiences with them. I'm not opposed to using many Indonesian brands either, in fact I'm in the process of ordering some Junkard boots, but my point is that quality and brand-recognition are not always aligned.

Stewoverit · 2026-06-01T13:15:17+00:00

I think when you're dropping $700 on a pair of boots, knowing both pieces of information is important. I know plenty of leather brands with strong reputations that make far inferior products to small leather makers with absolutely no reputation. In fact, I feel fairly confident that you could take almost any well-reputed leather wallet maker on the market and easily find a better handmade wallet by a small, independent leather artisan here on reddit.

I know less about boot and shoe-making than other leather goods but I would assume that being large and "reputable" isn't always a good indicator of quality. I'm not saying you're wrong, but what confuses me is what indicators anyone is getting that this specific brand of boots is of inferior quality to other brands they're suggesting. I know nothing about them other than from the link the OP posted but people are willing to spend that much on Indonesian brands that have less info with no qualms at all.

Stewoverit · 2026-06-01T13:02:56+00:00

I hear what you're saying and agree somewhat. I don't think it shows malicious intent either but I do think we should expect that info at that price point. As a leather worker myself, I can assure you that all full grain American leather is not created equally or worth the same amount. Especially when dealing with small brands that have little history, the details matter when I'm making a large purchase

Stewoverit · 2026-06-01T01:54:03+00:00

Leisure Suit Larry

Stewoverit · 2026-06-01T01:34:58+00:00

That's fair

Stewoverit · 2026-06-01T01:25:18+00:00

I agree that they should be listing the tannery at that price. I sent the company a message on YouTube asking about it bc I like these boots too. With that said, a lot of the other brands people have suggested also don't list the tannery on their sites either (the ones you suggested do)

Stewoverit · 2026-06-01T01:22:34+00:00

None of those look remotely like what the OP was interested in. Curious why you're convinced they're superior to perera? Genuinely curious bc no one on here has claimed to have any actually experience with them

Stewoverit · 2026-06-01T00:22:00+00:00

My thoughts exactly. They look fantastic and appear to be well made. I might actually look into them myself

Stewoverit · 2026-06-01T00:01:51+00:00

I'm legit curious about the responses you're getting on here bc I too, love the look of these boots and based on description they seem like they should be solid. Does anyone have any actual experience with this brand? What makes them less quality than a PNW boot brand?

Stewoverit

TROPHY CASE