What do you thing of Shell Cordovan leather ?
I've just received a shell cordovan leather strap for my watch that I had ordered a few days ago. When I unboxed it, I was very surprised by the plastic look and feel of it and how rigid it was.
I had to check on the internet to see that it supposed to be rigid and feel plastic.
I was wondering if it gets any softer as we wear it and if the plastic look and feel fades as it gets patina.
Also the seller told me to be careful not to put water on it. Does it mean even on rainy days we should avoid wearing this type of leather ?
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Fabien
French watch enthousiast. Fell in this rabbit hole 5 years ago.
Lyon
Member since
Last active: 9 hrs ago
Sorry, no experience of cordovan straps. I do however have cordovan shoes. The are sturdier than calf, they don’t crease as calf (rather get waved). So maybe the strap doesn’t wear in as easy. But it do patina. I don’t think a cordovan bracelet is more sensitive to rain than calf. My cordovan shoes get spotted in rain but that is quite easy to wipe out.
I've never had one, but NOMOS watches use shell cordovan leather for their straps, and I seem to recall that they had a very nice feel to them when I had tried one on at the AD a few years ago. Does yours have a more "plastic" look than these:
https://nomos-glashuette.com/en/store/straps?o=9#/en/17-mm/horween-genuine-shell-cordovan-black-17-mm
I was under the impression that shell cordovan leather could handle water better than other leather straps, but that you should still try to keep it dry.
Which brand of strap did you buy? Perhaps it's just the brand and not an issue with shell cordovan leather in general?
I have a couple cordovan straps and a cordovan wallet. One strap is quite a few years old, and was handed down to me from my dad. I've had it at least 4 years, and I don't know how long he had it before then. The feel on it is absolutely phenomenal. My wallet had that plasticky feeling originally as well, but it's buffing out as time goes on and is pretty much completely gone by now. My other strap, which is the stock Nomos strap, still has that feeling but I wear the Nomos on a Chromexcel strap about 80% of the time. I bet after a couple months worth of wear time, it will feel a lot better.
I've never had one, but NOMOS watches use shell cordovan leather for their straps, and I seem to recall that they had a very nice feel to them when I had tried one on at the AD a few years ago. Does yours have a more "plastic" look than these:
https://nomos-glashuette.com/en/store/straps?o=9#/en/17-mm/horween-genuine-shell-cordovan-black-17-mm
I was under the impression that shell cordovan leather could handle water better than other leather straps, but that you should still try to keep it dry.
Which brand of strap did you buy? Perhaps it's just the brand and not an issue with shell cordovan leather in general?
Hello, that's the one I bought : https://www.esprit-nato.com/en/horween-shell-cordovan-interchangeable-select-heure-leather-watch-straps/2775-9499-cognac-horween-shell-cordovan-select-heure-leather-watch-strap-handmade.html#/100-width_lug_buckle-20_mm_buckle_16_mm/253-length-one_length_110_80
I have a couple cordovan straps and a cordovan wallet. One strap is quite a few years old, and was handed down to me from my dad. I've had it at least 4 years, and I don't know how long he had it before then. The feel on it is absolutely phenomenal. My wallet had that plasticky feeling originally as well, but it's buffing out as time goes on and is pretty much completely gone by now. My other strap, which is the stock Nomos strap, still has that feeling but I wear the Nomos on a Chromexcel strap about 80% of the time. I bet after a couple months worth of wear time, it will feel a lot better.
That kind of confirms it feels plastic at first. I hope it will patina quickly.
And by the way, here is what it looks like on my watch :
I have a shell cordovan strap for Grand Seiko. It's very nice