Friday, February 1, 2013

Slimmer Watchstrap

After wearing my watch with the Derweesh MkII strap for a few months, I decided it was just too bulky. Especially when wearing long sleeves. And especially when you wear gloves. Both of which you do when it's cold. Which it has been this winter.

What's more, the pattern I used has a flaw. The original Derweesh Mark II pattern has one working strand going in the opposite direction to the other (the best way I can think to describe this is that, when you start weaving, one of the strands initially comes out from under the belt, while the other goes in from over). This time, because of how I initially intended to pass the spine strands under the watch, it made sense to have the two working strands going in the same direction to make the join look uniform. This forced me to use a slightly different pattern in order to achieve the crossover. The difference is not obvious but it's a little less neat.

Anyway, I finally got around to weaving a traditional strap for the watch:

I forget the name of the weave, but it's basically a typical pattern for a watch strap. The two sides are separate straps, cutting the extra bulk up top, and the clasp removes the overlap and so cuts the extra bulk at the bottom. I did make the first piece a little too long, making the watch a little "unbalanced". I'm not sure if making the sides more even might have made it a little more comfortable or not.

This is the only type of suitable clasp I found that's actually adjustable to a degree, thought it is a pain to take on and off. Plus I think the watch is just generally a little less comfortable now (it's hard to say really), though I am enjoying the slimmer dimensions. I didn't undo the old strap, just slipped the watch off, I can always put it back on if I decide I don't like this one.

I'm contemplating using a one-piece strap like the old one with this kind of clasp and an ultra-thin watch. That should be comfortable without being too bulky, and would also have the (minor) benefit of using a single longer piece of cord rather than two shorter ones. I just can't seem to find a really thin watch that I actually like.

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