How strict are you on matching leathers?

Now that I get to dress like a person for my new job I've run into a problem. Matching my leather watch straps with my belt and shoes. How strict are you with this "rule"? Do you ever wear brown strap with black shoes and belt? Or vice versa?

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Always. At least the strap + shoes

The problem is you can't match the exact tone or material if you get off the shelf products, you're gonna have to go custom made and that gets pricy.

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im with you with this one my friend. and to answer the question very strict

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As with belts, tonal variations are permissible as there is decent distance between items and realistically a perfect match is nearly impossible and perhaps too fastidious.

But black and brown are totally different and I'd never voluntarily mix them. Often, when in a rush, the first choice watch gets benched if on the wrong band and I choose something on a non-leather band instead. Quick release is a major aid in avoiding this.

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I do match with what I’m wearing. I avoid brown with black and also tend to match color highlights on the watch with shirt or socks. Not super fastidious though, just a bit of fun. 

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This is where quick changing straps come to the rescue. Simply swap a 18mm or 20mm (or whatever) strap out to match the shoe and belt. They just need to be in the same family (browns or blacks). You can match gingerbread to something darker, for example.

I have found this tone to be helpful:

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It is a dark gray/brown and it blends with anything.

I think that matching too closely is worse than not matching at all.  Too closely and you appear to be an OCD poser. A black band can go with any shoes if you are willing to look like a geezer. Brown with black shoes means that you don't care.

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 Not worried about tones, but brown with brown and black with black. Metal bracelets go with anything imo.

I won't mix brown with black (I favor brown shoes/belt anyway), but I'll mix either with tan leather straps. Sometimes I'll wear a blue or green leather strap strap if it matches something in the shirt or pants and doesn't clash with brown the way black does, that's just me. 

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I tried. Especially now I mostly wear brown leather footwear. (Do Skechers count as shoes? Or trainers?) But then the Mrs adopted my decent brown leather strap, and it’s all much of a muchness because my leather jackets are all black. 
On the plus side, NATOs match well with braces, and if you’re going Bond style, anything works because he will wear a diver in a dinner jacket. Worse if it’s Connery… wrong size strap, with green in it. And red! What about people who are colourblind! 
 

I think, if it’s the situation where anyone is even going to notice, it’s worth asking if it’s about you or them, and how much their opinion matters. 
I probably wouldn’t wear a G-Shock to a job interview, but these days you probably want an Apple Watch on flag colours of some kind anyway. 

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I solve this problem by having no leather straps For any of my watches. I wear my office pieces on bracelet or rubber (like my Omega Aqua Terra). Leather and I don’t work well.

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I approach this question in the same way one would approach mixing gold and silver jewelry.  For example, if you wear separate solid gold and solid silver pieces at the same time, you need one two tone piece to tie it all together.  For me this is usually a watch.

Similar goes for leather.  Black leather always goes with everything which is why I have tons of black leather straps in my collection.  Brown goes with brown but two tone (black and brown) belts and shoes can allow you to wear either the black or the brown strap.

Other color leathers are more difficult, IMHO.  I don't wear them, but if I did I would bring it together with a tie.  I almost always wore white dress shirts and concentrated on my suit and tie for the pop.

Finally depending on the work situation, you can probably adjust your ensemble accordingly.  My office was in Midtown NYC and your ensemble had to be on point at all times.  Now I see people in the city wearing Converse Chuck Taylors with suits and I just shake my head.  I actually think it works, BTW.  Point being you may have great flexibility in a less stodgy environment.  Start basic and adapt accordingly.

Not my actual shoes but something along these lines.  My brother is a golf pro and he calls my dress shoes "golf shoes" lol.

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I just buy all my leather in black; it saves taking the time to think about it.

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ds760476

I just buy all my leather in black; it saves taking the time to think about it.

But what do you do when you wear blue pants?

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Yes I do. I feel kind of strange if I wear a brown strap watch on the black belt&shoes day. 

This is why I tend to choose a watch on a bracelet to give it more versatility with my daily wear

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matching leathers ....

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couldn't resist 

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IMHO opinion it's next to impossible unless you have a very basic wardrobe. Here are the shoe colors I own: snuff suede, tan, walnut, brown, olive, oxblood, color 8 cordovan, dark brown waxed flesh, chocolate suede and black.

It would be ridiculous to keep that many straps (though one could say it's ridiculous to have that many shoes).

My rules are pretty simple. Generally I stay in the same color family but try not to have my leathers on opposite spectrums, I wouldn't mix tan and chocolate for instance. Olive can work fine with brown, black or grey. Grey goes with any color as long as you stay as dark (dark brown and charcoal or light grey and tan). Oxblood and color 8 can usually be paired with dark brown or black. Of course then you have the whole issue of exotics. I sometimes wear a dressy piece on electric blue crocodile. As long as the blue compliments the rest of my outfit I ignore the other leather.

I think I could get away with three straps if I had to. Color 8, medium brown, and a light or slate. If you are a little less formal the grey works with black. It should also be fine with very light browns. The medium brown will generally handle most of the brown family and olive if you have it. The color 8 will work with oxblood, dark chocolate brown, and black if you need more formality. Unless you are often going black tie, you'd be fine with those. 

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It feels off when I'm wearing black/brown leathers, I try to stick to one. For brown I honestly don't try to match the tones, that's just too much.

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I don't worry about it. I don't think anyone really pays attention.

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Horween Chromexcel is your friend for matching straps and belts; very easy to get custom made for under $100. I don't have extensive experience with shoes (I've maybe only worn my Oxfords once in the past two years), but if you stick with core colors it should be easy to get a tonal match. 

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I tend to only wear black leather for dressy situations and my dress watches match that circumstance. That being said my daily watch goes with me everywhere if I’m wearing black leather or brown leather it just comes along for the ride. I mean the padding and stitching for its leather strap are red so the rule is broken!  

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Lol - seriously?  Belts and shoes I get.  It seems one would need to be more of a fashionista than a wristwatch enthusiast to really care about this.  In fact I'd go so far as to say in many situations you might want your watch to juxtapose the rest of your ensemble! 😂

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dennisbible

But what do you do when you wear blue pants?

Still black; I'm only willing to go so far...

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I'm very much in the camp of trying to match up straps and my other leathers. I'm not so particular that I have to have an exact tonal match but more of a general brown or black deal.

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Strict but not strict. Brown straps with brown belts and shoes but that brown may be lighter or darker. Blacks with the black strap. My shoes and my belt will be always be similar but sometimes the watch strap may pick out an accent colour somewhere else on my outfit.

A watch on bracelet will normally go with black shoes but it depends more on the watch and outfit. A weird quirk I have is seeing a watch with roman numerals with a very casual outfit

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Don’t think about it once I want to wear a watch I wear it . 

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If it makes you feel good about the way you're utilising your collection, and you want to satisfy the 1/50 people who might even look at you and notice it, go for it. But really, it's not necessary.

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This is a problem I WISH I had... I simply don't have enough watches, straps, or varied shoes / belts to match with exactly.

I normally am pretty strict with matching my outfit colours, but I prefer gold jewellery over silver, but silver watches on straps over gold watches... so there's always going to be a discrepancy. I absolutely despise mixing gold/silver on the same piece. Unfortunately lighter brown leather shoes don't fit my skin tone well either, so mine are usually black or a very dark brown, but I think my watch looks best with a chocolate coloured strap...

I'd like to get a blue sailcloth or contrast-stitched leather strap one day, but I doubt I'll dabble in coloured straps too much as I prefer my accessories to be neutral. Bracelets are pretty uncomfortable for me, but I like the black Milanese mesh on my Casio digital.

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Not a consideration for me. Polar Explorer II lives on oiled brown leather vintage strap. Looks great! Match the watch for the occasion, not so much the strap.

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Depends on what kind of bar I will be patronizing. 

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Doesn't always have to be leather, I was headed out the door wearing the Vintage Seiko w/ Grey Vario Harris Tweed strap and realized it didn't really match my boots so switched it up at last minute. So went with a King Turtle w/ brown Harris Tweed strap. Who will notice? Me all day long!

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Steel bracelets and NATO straps sole this problem.