Hand Antiqued Alligator Finish for Your Custom Straps

IWC-Big-Pilot-on-Alligator-strap-with-Hand-Antiquing-'Full Dye'-Technique
IWC Big Pilot on Alligator strap with Hand Antiquing ‘Full Dye’ Technique

 

Hand Antiqued Alligator Finish Custom Watch Straps:

Hand Antiqued Alligator Finish Custom Watch Straps – Hi strap lovers, in 2011, soon after my arrival in Germany, Andrea and I attended the Munich Time watch fair, which is a wonderful little watch fair that takes place in Bayersherhof Hotel in Munich every October.  Among the wonderful examples of watches from the many great brands represented, I as a strap maker was overall left unimpressed overall with the straps on offer with many of these magnificent timepieces.  However, on our way out, we stopped by the IWC booth to have a look an was smitten by the IWC Portofino 8-day Rose Gold with Anthracite grey dial.  Now, this is truly a stunning watch, but the thing that bowled me over was the antiqued finish Alligator strap made for them by Santoni.  I just loved the outstanding beauty and depth of color that this strap offered and compared to the rather bland strap offerings we had seen throughout the rest of the watch fair, this was a real show stopper!  I resolved then and there to teach myself the technique of Hand Antiquing alligator:

My source of inspiration:

Antique Alligator strap made by Santoni shoes for IWC
Antique Alligator strap made by Santoni shoes for IWC

 

Hand Antiquing Over Tannery Dyed Alligator:

Quickly thereafter, I began my first experimentations.  Success soon followed and I have been custom dying and staining Alligator to achieve a Hand Antiqued finish ever since.  When I first started making these, I was using Alligator which had been dyed to a lighter brown color by the Tannery and just adding the Antiquing color between an at the edges of the scales.  These are some great examples of the color finish that I can achieve using this technique and this is a technique which I can still use on certain lighter color Alligator skins if they have a finish that is capable of absorbing leather dye and where the base color is ideal for achieving the final color finish that the customer desires:

Hand-Antiqued-finish-over-old-Walnut-Alligator-watch-strap-from-our-Veneto -Collection-for-Panerai
Hand Antiqued finish over old Walnut Alligator watch strap from our Veneto Collection for Panerai

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Full Dye Technique:

IWC Big Pilot on Alligator strap with Hand Antiquing 'Full Dye' Technique
IWC Big Pilot on Alligator strap with Hand Antiquing ‘Full Dye’ Technique

However, since 2015, I have been doing the full dye technique, which is where I start from undyed Alligator, which I currently stock in our Veneto Alligator Collection, and dye the underlying color and the antiqued finish as well.  In most cases, this is my preferred method of doing the Hand Antiqued finish.  The reason I prefer this is that I can have complete control over the dying a staining process, thereby giving me a wider color option which can be achieved

'Full Dye' Hand Antiqued Alligator Bund strap on Panerai PAM051
‘Full Dye’ Hand Antiqued Alligator Bund strap on Panerai PAM051

 

I can also make our custom fully Hand Antiqued finish in colors other than brown tones, a perfect example is this custom strap which I have made in blue fade to black Antiqued finish for my customer Oliver’s Rolex Deep Sea D-Blue with Lime stitching and Lime edge paint:

Custom dyed Alligator Hand Antique Finish Blue fade to black for Rolex Deep Sea D-Blue with our Fully Integrated Fit
Custom dyed Alligator Hand Antique Finish Blue fade to black for Rolex Deep Sea D-Blue with our Fully Integrated Fit

 

Olive - Hand Antiqued Alligator Finish for Your Custom Straps
Olive Hand Antiqued finish Alligator for Panerai

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2 thoughts on “Hand Antiqued Alligator Finish for Your Custom Straps”

  1. Hi, sorry to ask but i have emailed a few times now and have not received any replies, does this mean you guys are no longer taking orders please ?
    Obviously not a problem but a courtesy email to tell me you cannot complete my order would be fine just so i can look at other options, sincere best wishes and thank you Darren

    1. Darren,
      I’ve written you back 3 times now, so I’m assuming my replies that been directed by your Hotmail to your spam folder. Please check there.

      John
      Dangerous9straps

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