How Are Luxury Straps Made: An Inside look at the LIC Factory

Over our 15-year history we have learned a lot about what goes into making the very best leather watch straps. Constantly refining and evolving our offering to ensure that every single strap that leaves our HQ is of the highest quality and makes your watch look and feel phenomenal.

Many of you may be wondering what goes into the making of some of our best straps. For many years now, our premium leather range of straps have been produced in Belgium by a company called LIC. A family run business, since 1971 they have been creating high quality leather watch straps using traditional techniques and carefully sourced materials.

I’ll be taking you through the manufacturing process at LIC from the raw materials to the finished product. Let’s get into it.

The very first stage to making a strap requires the manufacturer to select the materials. This requires a deep knowledge of the lather production process from the environment it’s sourced from to the type of dyes used in the tanning process. LIC have a strong relationship with many of the premier tanneries across Europe and can confidently source sustainable and high-quality leathers for a range of strap styles.

The sourcing process doesn’t stop there. Once the leather arrives at LIC it is carefully inspected for quality and colour. Every piece of leather that arrives at the factory is inspected by a team of experts to ensure it meets their standards.

Just like in watchmaking, precision is key to ensuring a strap is close to perfection. The next step in the process is measuring and cutting the outline of the strap using a laser cutting tool. This is one of the parts of the process that LIC have found using this tool to be the method that produces the best and most consistent outcomes over using human hand.

The margins for error are so tight here that it often takes several attempts using the scything machine. The leather arrives at thicknesses of between 1.1mm to 2.5mm. The leather needs to be thinned to exactly 0.8mm. There is real precision to this process, working to within tenths of a millimetre. No piece of leather will proceed further in the manufacturing process until it has met the required thickness.

The filling to a strap is an often-overlooked component in strap design. The use of appropriate filler material type and quantity can determine how well a strap wears and how its style compliments your watch and outfit.

Glueing is an essential part of the process, it ensures the longevity of the strap. In order to make the strongest bon between components of the strap, the leather is carefully roughned using a pneumatic abrasive tool creating a suitable surface for the glue to bond to.

Now that the strap is partially assembled and sized, the precise cutting takes place. This process uses a hydraulic press and cutting tools that were specially made for strap cutting in Switzerland. At this stage the strap really starts to look familiar and take the shape of the finished product.

Sewing is the most important structural part of the strap. It holds all sections together, supporting the glueing and holding the filler material in position. The attention to detail continues here from the types of machines used to the polyester content in the thread. A combination of automated and manual sewing machines are used to ensure accuracy and quality in every strap. The stitches are always hand finished using a soldering iron to remove excess thread.

The edges of the strap are then painted and dried multiple times over to create layers. This is not just an aesthetic touch; it prevents water ingress to the inside of the strap. The painting and drying process requires several different steps to ensure the paint bonds to the leather. Sanding and buffing ready the surface for the paint. Repeated painting and drying ensures a strong protective coat that looks smooth and rich in colour.

One of the later steps in this process is branding the strap. This is done using a brass stamp heated to exactly 100 degrees Celsius, any hotter and the leather burns, any cooler and the embossed logo fades over time.

As with every stage in this fascinating process, the final assembly includes a strict level of quality control. Every strap is inspected in its completed form to ensure it meets the high standards LIC hold themselves to.

The 316L stainless steel hardware is applied to the strap before being packaged ready to be received by a watch lover.

We are incredibly proud to offer high-quality straps from LIC with our designs, and I hope this has given you a better understanding of what makes our premium range of straps so special.

We often have a selection of these straps for you to be able to try on and learn about at shows, so make sure to stop by the WatchGecko stall at your next local watch show.