Our watch straps are a perfect example of finding common ground between a truly hand-crafted product, and modern techniques in manufacturing. As with all Shinola wares, both components are equally as important, but finding that balance is never easy.
Creating something by hand adds certain characteristics that are extremely difficult to replicate with machinery, which is why our straps are truly a collaboration between specialists in each field.
We’re working closely with Hadley-Roma in Largo, Florida, a company that dates back to 1905 and is one of the last manufacturers producing watch straps at a large scale in the United States. The handcrafted component of this process comes largely from our second partnership with Rob Montana of The Strapsmith. Rob has been designing, developing and constructing custom watches and straps for years and brings an immense amount of knowledge to the table on incorporating these qualities into our products and manufacturing process. With a collaboration like this, we’re able to produce a strap of the highest quality, using the finest leathers, with all the hand finishing touches.
Our straps are made from two types of Horween leather: Dublin and Cordovan. Dublin leather, which the majority of our straps are made of, is a waxed leather that comes from top-quality cowhide, but uses the same tanning techniques as the cordovan shell. Genuine Cordovan comes from a specific part of horsehide and takes roughly 6 months to process. Once the leathers are treated and colored, they’re sent to Florida to be manufactured in Hadley-Roma’s 60,000 square foot facility.
The straps are cut-edge, which gives them a raw edge, allowing you to see the sides of the leather, or they can be hand-painted. After the straps have been cut, they’re glued and sewn, the holes are punched and the logo is embossed. The final watches are assembled in our factory space in Detroit, where the movements are manufactured.