The Breitling Watch Source Forums

IMO, the biggest drawback of Breitling's leather and croc straps is the white stitching (on black straps in particular). Day-to-day wear makes it grubby and no matter how gently you clean it, you still end up with a fuzz of white fibers which are very visible against the darker leather. I get the whole contrasting colors thing, but white is just not practical. Has anybody had any success in applying a tiny amount of a stitch guard product to try and seal the stitching against dirt and fraying? Or any other recommendations?

I pretty much agree with you. While the white stitching can give a "preppy" look for the country club, I kind of wish the stitching was a bit more muted of a color--it wouldn't have to be fully the band color, even. I don't find it too bad for my Chrono Evo when on my brown croc strap, but kind of wish it was a bit different.

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Chris
Club Member #0070
2009 TT Chrono Evo w/Rose gold, blue face
2009 Airwolf w/black face, Co-Pilot module
2009 TT Lady Cockpit w/Mother-of-Pearl, Diamond face for the wife

Picking up a Blue leather strap for my colt on Monday, so eould be interested to know if anyone can suggest a way to keep the white stitching white! will posy a pic next week

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Chrono Colt II - White Dial Blue Subs
SuperOcean Heritage

I wasn't a big fan of white stitching on straps but then I got this and really like it:



But I just got this on Thursday and like this look a lot better. I was worried the white stitching might get dirty and eventually not look as nice. These are both OEM Panerai straps.

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Justin
Please contact me via PM for the contact details for Govberg Jewelers
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I find that mine clean up preety well with just a little soap and water - obviously avoiding getting the leather too wet. Can't really say that I have noticed that the stitching gets particularly 'fuzzy', but maybe I have greater tolerance for that

I never wear my Breitling watches on straps, so its never been a huge issue for me. However, with Panerai watches I do have this problem... the white stitching gets dirty and shows age much quicker than black, brown, ecru or any of the other colored stitching. However, Breitling should offer black stitching on the black straps in particular. Especially with Crocodile since the black on black looks much classier IMO, if not for any other reason.

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BreitlingSource Admin
http://www.breitlingsource.com - http://blog.breitlingsource.com

I've always felt that the OEM straps were too limited. Imagine how great it would be to decide on a Bentley Motors, and then have the sales person pull out a nice leather folder and open it up to show you a choice of 12 different OEM strap options that you can choose for your watch as part of the original purchase? Perhaps another folder of straps as "upgrades". Maybe even a few "loaner" straps to try out. You could pick a strap that best suits your personality and thus create a watch that us unique and different from the next guy.

I think this would elevate the brand to something more customer oriented and persoanl feeling, and not cost the company much in the big scheme of things.

Maybe I'm just dreaming.

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Yep!

I love the idea of a great range. The thing is, Breitling used to have a larger range as they used to have shark as an option. Additionally they could make lizard straps in a larger size than the 16mm or so ones they make for the women's models.

With regards to the white stitching, I must be honest I don't have a problem with it. I'm fortunate enough to have more than one watch, so I don't tend to wear the same watch for that long at a time, and I also don't tend to wear watches on leather in certain circumstances (i.e. like if it's very hot or if I'm playing sport where I might get sweaty). I guess I tend to be careful when and where I wear my watches. However, when they do get dirty I agree with Roff that a light clean with soap and watch (being carful not to immerse it) works wonders. For bad soiling, I've used leather cleaner to good effect. I've used Autoglym leather car seat cleaner as it replaces natural oils in the leather. (Disclaimer - Autoglym has worked OK for me, but I'm not guaranteeing it will for everyone. Use on your own straps entirely at your own risk!)

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Driver8

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