Hirsch Model # 0925128010-2-22 (22mm standard/regular length)
Brand/Model: Hirsch ‘George’
Country of Origin:
Austria
Material:
water-resistant brown leather with white contrast stitch, lined with
black rubber caoutchouc, silver tone stainless steel buckle
Price: MSRP $99.95 USD
Hadley-Roma Model # MS2016 BLK 20R (20mm standard/regular
length)
Brand/Model:
Hadley-Roma Sharkskin
Country of Origin:
USA
Material: water-resistant black sharkskin with
matching black stitch, silver tone stainless steel buckle
Price: MSRP $69.95 USD
Plenty of photos follow the review.
Click on the pictures to enlarge.
For this review, I
am not reviewing a watch, but something that can truly improve the looks and/or
wearability of a watch and that would be, a quality watch strap. I was contacted recently by Total Watch
Repair of Los Angeles and Encino, California to see if I would be interested in
reviewing a couple of watch straps from the extensive selection they carry
on-line. Since I’m always up for a nice
watch strap, I said ‘yes’ and the company duly complied.
Total Watch Repair
is a full-service watch repair and accessory dealer, with a complete array of
watch repair services, watch batteries, tools and a wide selection of watch
straps from most of the major watch strap manufacturers, including some styles
I have not seen elsewhere.
In perusing their
web site, I have found the watch strap descriptions they provide to be very
complete and accurate, with a good amount of information about each strap they
sell. Their prices are also competitive;
each strap I was sent for review retails on their site at $10 USD below the
MSRP.
One other important
aspect of Total Watch Repair’s web site is the ease of navigation within the
site. Some web sites that sell watch
straps are very unwieldy in their search functions. At Total Watch Repair, one can search for
straps by strap brand, size, watch brand, style, material, length, etc. It makes it easy and fun to look for a new
strap.
The company also
shipped the straps to me promptly and well packaged, so if you’re looking for a
great place to buy watch straps from, give Total Watch Repair a try, I think
you will be pleased. As a matter of
course, I do not list outside links on my watch reviews blog, so a Google
search is all that is needed to be directed to Total Watch Repair and their
quality products and services.
The only thing I
specified that I wanted in regards to the watch straps they sent me for review
was that I preferred brown or black in 20mm or 22mm sizes. I was excited to see what they would send
me. The two straps I received for review
are extremely nice and I honestly couldn’t be more pleased. I will review each strap separately below,
starting with the Hirsch ‘George’.
For the purpose of
this review, I have installed the Hirsch strap on my white-dialed Orient
saturation diver, which perfectly complements the watch. Some people don’t like leather straps on
divers; I on the other hand, love leather straps on divers, so this was a great
opportunity to put the Hirsch strap on a well-regarded dive watch for some
glamour shots.
The Hirsch ‘George’
strap is a 22mm matte-finish dark brown calf leather with an alligator grain
and white contrast stitching. There are
two keepers, one fixed and one floating.
The silver tone buckle is stainless steel and is signed with the Hirsch
‘H’. The buckle also has a smooth point
to it, which adds a bit of class. The
strap measures 22mm at the lug end and tapers to 20mm at the buckle. The strap reviewed here is a standard/regular
length, measuring just over 7-7/8” long.
The inside of the
‘George’ is black rubber and is sectioned or grooved into rectangular blocks,
three across the width of the strap.
This makes the strap very flexible and comfortable and also helps hold
the watch is place on the wrist. This design element also helps the strap breathe
on the wrist, so a buildup or sweat or moisture is better controlled. The strap itself is mildly padded, but with
the addition of the rubber lining, the strap has a fair amount of thickness
without being overly thick.
One note about the
George, when I installed this strap on the Orient diver, I wanted to use the
heavy duty spring bars that came with the watch from the manufacturer. Due to the size of the spring bars and the
rubber lining of the strap (which also includes the holes for the spring bars)
it was very difficult to push the large spring bar through the hole in the
strap. Perhaps a bit of dish soap would
have eased the job, but since it was too tight a fit for me, I relented and
used standard spring bars, which worked fine.
The overall quality
and workmanship on the Hirsch ‘George’ is exceptional, as it should be for a
strap that retails for about $100 USD. The
‘George’ is available in 18, 20 and 22mm sizes with either a silver or gold
tone buckle. I’ve always liked the
Hirsch brand and the ‘George’ would make a worthwhile addition to a watch in
any collection.
Pros: great
dark brown color, unique rubber lining makes the strap very flexible and
comfortable, quality all the way through
Cons: buckle looks a bit plasticky although it’s
stainless steel, a bit pricey for some, hard to use heavy duty spring bars due
to rubber lining
Verdict: a
superb quality watch strap that works well for divers, dressy watches and
everything in-between, the Hirsch ‘George’ watch strap is a real looker and a
fine addition to any timepiece
For the second
strap in this two-barreled watch strap review, I installed the Hadley-Roma
black sharkskin on my Tissot PRC200 automatic chronograph. The grey dial on the Tissot plays off
extremely well with the black color of the strap and the sharkskin graining
adds a nice bit of interest to the overall presentation of the watch.
The Hadley-Roma
strap is semi-gloss 20mm black genuine sharkskin with matching black stitching. There are two keepers, one fixed and one
floating. The inside of the strap is
lined with tan leather. The buckle is a
simple silvertone stainless steel style that is unsigned.
The Hadley-Roma
measures 20mm at the lug end and tapers to 18mm at the buckle. This strap is a standard/regular length,
measuring in at 8” in overall length.
The upper half of
the Hadley-Roma sharkskin is fairly heavily padded, with the lower half of the
strap (where the holes are for the buckle pin) being largely unpadded. The strap is fairly flexible overall, but it
will take some breaking in to achieve the best fit. Best to leave the strap buckled to the
appropriate hole when not wearing it, so the strap can begin to take on its
rounded shape.
The Hadley-Roma is
handmade in the USA and one nice thing about black sharkskin is that the
characteristic black flecks in the sharkskin blend into the overall black color
of the strap. This tends to highlight
the graining of the sharkskin more, compared to other sharkskin straps I have owned
that were not entirely black.
The overall quality
of the Hadley-Roma strap is fine in all respects, and of course, since it’s
sharkskin, the strap is water resistant and is also hypo-allergenic.
The Hadley-Roma
black sharkskin is a stylish watch strap that would add a dash of daring to a
dress watch or a subdued sinister look to a sport watch. Whichever you prefer, you can’t go wrong with
this competitively priced sharkskin strap.
Pros: black
genuine sharkskin looks great and wears well, good quality, competitive price
Cons: buckle is very plain, tan lining seems a bit
thin, upper portion of strap is rather stiff when new
Verdict:
Hadley-Roma presents a stylish sharkskin watch strap in all black and
the results speak for themselves. This
strap works great with a variety of watch styles while setting itself apart
from the standard leather crowd. Well
done!
Thanks for reading this
special dual watch strap review and enjoy the pics.
Excelsior!
-Marc
