Keeping your watch clean may be a bit more intuitive, but your watch straps may need a different type of care when maintaining it! Here are some general guides on how to clean different kinds of watch straps you may have.
1. Leather Straps
Remove the strap from your watch and wipe it down with a cloth or a soft brush. In some cases, you can try to use a little water and gentle soap to clean your strap, but don’t do this if your strap is suede or something similar. When your strap is dry, you can use a leather conditioner to keep the leather soft. Be careful though, because some leather conditioners can darken the color of the leather.
2. Nylon Straps
Remove your strap, wipe it down with a towel or a soft brush, and place it in a small bowl that has warm water and soap in it. Soak your strap for a couple minutes and gently wash your strap in the bowl. Rinse it with running water, and gently press the water out of the strap between a folded hand towel. Hang the strap to dry it, or lay it in on a flat surface.
3. Rubber Straps
Rubber is a lot more durable, and are therefore easier to take care of. Remove your strap from your watch, and rinse it under warm water. You can use gentle soap to wash the strap down too. Afterwards, dry off the strap but keep it out of direct sunlight.
I hope this gave you a quick overview on how to clean and take care of your watch straps. Just as with regular clothes or accessories, make sure to treat your straps in a gentle manner and they will last you a while!
Interested in building your own watch? You can now build your own beautiful functional mechanical watch from scratch with these watchmaking kits! Get all the tools and guide you need to make you own watch, challenge yourself, and learn about what goes into watchmaking!
