The Breitling Watch Source Forums

I sincerely appreciate the input, fellas . . . as well as the pictures. I'll look into this kiwi wax thing as well; thanks for that, breitlingsource. However, I may give this olive oil thing a shot first. I'm traveling right now, so may have to wait a couple weeks until I get back home.

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Chronomat 01- Sierra Silver/Steel
Navitimer 01- Limited Edition #1337/2000

Both look great Sharkman.

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Al

“Quis custodiet ipsos custodes"

I use this on rubber bands don't have ano leather.

http://www.veraet.com/collections/watch ... ather-care

Cheers!

Curious to know, how did the olive oil work out? I recently purchased a Navitimer World on brown calfskin, the leather seems to have faded from sitting under showcase lighting. The AD mentioned giving olive oil a shot. At first, my response was then I will throw it in the fryer, but he was serious and I am chicken. Hoping to learn from experience and knowledge.

I haven't tried it yet. I've been traveling and am not back home. I'll post some pics once I've applied olive oil.

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Chronomat 01- Sierra Silver/Steel
Navitimer 01- Limited Edition #1337/2000

You bought a New Nav from an AD with a faded strap and they did not replace the strap?!

Tell them to Navv off!

(not tried this on a calf, I have slight doubts)

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Al

“Quis custodiet ipsos custodes"

[quote="Alan M"]You bought a New Nav from an AD with a faded strap and they did not replace the strap?!

Tell them to Navv off!

(not tried this on a calf, I have slight doubts)

Hi Alan - under normal circumstances, I couldn't agree with you more. But, they made me an offer I couldn't refuse and disclosed condition of the strap upfront.

I'm finally home from my travels and applied some olive oil to my strap last night. I used a cotton swap, as Sharkman said, and lathered it up pretty well. I tried to avoid the stitching as much as I could, but the olive oil didn't seem to impact the coloring at all anyway. Regarding the leather, it didn't bring the strap back to life as much as I'd hoped. It's slightly shinier now, which looks more like it did prior to me using Autoglym, but it's definitely not perfect.

I applied the olive oil about three times hoping that it would get better with more applications, but it didn't seem to matter. My next order of business will be to try the Kiwi wax that breitlingsource mentioned. If nothing else, it looks better than it did before.

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Chronomat 01- Sierra Silver/Steel
Navitimer 01- Limited Edition #1337/2000

Thank you for sharing, sir. I hope you achieve the results you are after with the Kiwi wax. I decided to leave the strap alone, until the black calfskin I ordered arrives. Will continue to research and might take the strap to a leather cobbler to get his thoughts.

I think I've made my issue worse. As it was clear that the olive oil was not going to darken the places on the strap where some color has been removed, I decided to go the shoe polish route. It didn't seem to "attach" to the leather as well as it does to my shoes, and in the end, it took off more color. Now my strap has a bunch of lighter spots all over it.

Before I throw it in the garbage, I'm thinking about using leather dye. I haven't quite worked out how I'd keep it off the stitching, though. Has anyone used leather dye on a croc strap before? Opinions are welcome.

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Chronomat 01- Sierra Silver/Steel
Navitimer 01- Limited Edition #1337/2000