The Best Affordable Leather Watch Straps

Leather watch straps have to be the most common type of strap out there and it’s the most common for a reason. Leather is comfortable, looks attractive and so versatile in the colours, textures, finishes and sizes they come in. Wear your watch on a calfskin strap at the office for a smart-casual look, then swap it out for a luxurious ostrich strap before heading out for dinner - it completely changes the look of your watch.

But how can you be sure you’re getting bang for your buck? Well, we specialise in great value leather watch straps that are guaranteed to last, and not cost the earth. With this in mind, we’ll look at some of our recommended budget-friendly leather watch straps.

Painswick Watch Strap with Quick Release Spring Bars

The Painswick makes a great choice as a high-quality and affordable leather watch strap for Rolex watches, as you can see from the above image. Its classic design with matching stitching sits right at home on a dress watch. The slim 2.2mm thickness truly makes this the perfect leather watch strap for the Rolex Oyster Perpetual. (Check out our other suggestions for the best watch straps for the Rolex Oyster Perpetual here). This strap colour has a stunning subtle hint of brown really giving the watch that reassuring feel of familiarity. You also get quick-release spring bars here for those speedy strap changes.

Besford Premium Genuine Leather Watch Strap

One of our top watch strap recommendations is the Besford Genuine Leather Watch Strap, which is a premium-quality vintage-style strap for dress watches. They suit both vintage watches and make great replacement leather watch straps for the Hamilton Mechanical watch. The leather straps are handmade, supple, elegant and available in five colours. There’s, of course, a classic black leather watch strap, and a selection of more autumnal colours.

Dedworth Distresso Cowhide Quick Release Watch Strap

 Made from genuine oiled cowhide leather, the Dedworth Destresso gives any watch a timeworn and distressed look that that looks classic without being overly formal. Paring the Dedworth leather watch strap with a Tudor Submariner really dresses the watch down, ideal for more casual settings.

Vintage Highley Genuine Leather Watch Strap

 The Vintage Highley leather strap is one of the most popular watch straps on WatchGecko and is our stand-out padded leather strap offering. It’s thickly padded (6mm thick at the lug end) and made from the very best Italian vegetable-tanned, full-grain leather. The supple pull-up leather is oiled and will age with grace, picking up patina as it’s worn. This strap is well-suited to a huge variety of mid-size to large watches, from dive watches to pilot watches, and everyday wear watches. Personally, I find the Vintage Highley is a great choice as a quality leather watch strap for the Omega Speedmaster.

Beaufort Racing Genuine Leather Perforated Watch Strap

 The Beaufort Racing straps feature an iconic racing style design, with a contrasting stitch and quick-release spring bars. They use a tumbled vegetable-tanned leather with a natural grain for a richly coloured and supple strap, while the suede leather options are incredibly tactile and a timeless choice for those looking to dress down their watch. We find the suede strap really compliments a Pepsi bezel, an ideal leather watch strap for the Tudor Black Bay GMT.

Stanton Genuine Leather Padded Watch Strap

The Stanton padded leather watch straps offer a much thicker strap that works well with bigger cases like dive watches. Pairing this watch strap to the Seiko Prospex Captain Willard complements the wrist-heavy appearance of the watch with a well-aged appeal. The natural grain of this strap also gives the watch some needed texture, an ideal leather strap for Seiko dive watches.

 

Make sure to check out our full range of leather watch straps here.