What do I choose? Steel bracelet or leather strap? The choices are almost infinite when it comes to completing the look of our dearest watches. But is that modern fashion or when do we start to see versatility in watch attachments? When are steel bracelets popular? And what does a leather strap tell us about Mid-Century watch design? And what does the US Federal Reserve have to do with all of this?
November 06, 2024
Hold on to Your Wrist! - The Evolution of Watch Straps & Bracelets
Marcus Siems @siemswatches
Collector, Author, Data Analyst
We all like to muse about the design of a watch but - miraculously - with a quick strap swap the entire look, feeling and presence of the exact same timepiece can change instantaneously. It is because watches are aesthetically complex and their character is more than just the sum of its components.
Comparing the look of Patek Philippe "Golden Ellipse" pieces from the 1970s with and without golden bracelets. Photos Goldammer Archives.
But an "attachment swap" of course goes beyond mere looks. The fabric, the metal, the patterns will affect the experience of a watch. Frankly, you don't know the potential of your watch if you haven't exchanged straps and more importantly gone from strap to bracelet and back.
These attachments are not just accessories, they're not simply there. They got their own aura, bringing a design and your attire to life. Choosing is not trivial, dozens if not hundreds of different strap and bracelet choices exist today... leather, rubber, fabric, steel, gold, titanium and other exotic materials... Freedom and chaos. But when did this versatility, the liberation of wrist attachments start?
An exotic Audemars Piguet Royal Oak in Tantalum and rose gold... one of the most exotic (and cool) bracelet combinations out there. You can check [here] for an Intro to Tantalum in watchmaking. Photos Goldammer Archives.
1) Straps, Bracelets & Their Popularity
Many of the very first wristwatches were actually converted pocket watches. Checking the time during the war rattled first quarter of the Century was easier on the wrist then from your pocket.
The result were cases and welded wire lugs to hold predominantly straps from fabric and leather. That was fashion and sadly the 'style' of the trenches of WWI - the time and reason wristwatches started to become popular for men...
A 1915 advertorial shows one of the first mass-producing wristwatch companies of the world and its creation - the US American based company Waltham with their 'Wristlets' (see also [here]). Advertorial Courtesy of HIFI Archiv.
That is the male perspective. However, wristwatches for women have been around at least about 40 years longer than for men (see [here]). During the 19th Century you'd see pieces of lavish jewelry gracing the wrists of Royal ladies ... and some of those happened to have a small integrated mechanical watch movement. A genre we would today call 'Haute Joaillerie'. And since these have been foremost decorative timepieces they were not only reserved for the elite but also matched with precious metal bracelets. Thus, the dichotomy between leather and metal during the early 20th Century was predominantly a 'battle of the sexes'...
Two examples of early 20th Century women's wristwatches (left 1917, right 1921) from Audemars Piguet. Photo Courtesy of AP Chronicles.
A change in pace comes during the 1930s and 1940s with the introduction of steel bracelets for men: Early Ladder, Bonklip, Bads of Rice or Oyster bracelets were introduced by several suppliers but most prominently probably by the now famous brothers with the ram's head: Gay Freres (see for example [here]). It is during the 1940s that a growing necessity for wristwatches made artisans realize that making intricate bracelets is a viable business pillar - and that is particularly for steel as the strong material was a lot harder to process than gold.
This also marks the 1940s as the perfect time to start comparing the popularity of all these different straps and bracelets. The necessity and craftsmanship are there so what did the people choose? What materials were the most common*?
Figure 1. Distribution of different watch strap and bracelet variations from 1940 to 2000. Data Courtesy of Chrono24.
Interestingly, straps appear to be the preeminent choice up until the 1970s. Before 1960 even over 80% of all watches seem to have come with leather straps*. But the lust for leather is declining - or the possibilities of other materials are on the rise: During the 1980s leather drops below 20%(!). At the same time steel and gold bracelets are on the rise and particularly steel eclipses leather straps by the late 1970s and stays above 40% popularity. The late 1970s is also the time we see bicolored- (steel and gold mixed) surpassing classic gold bracelets.
Bracelet makers did not only have to adapt to different requirements for materials but also styles. A 1970s steel bracelet (like this 1960s Universal Geneve Polerouter Super with Gay Freres bracelet) is a whole different story than a 1940 example. Photo Goldammer Archives.
2) But Why?
Why was leather so extremely popular early on? Wasn't there more gold? And why did two-tone materials spike during the 1980s? Well, asking why retrospectively is highly speculative... but there are still some hard facts we might be able to look into that can grant us additional insights.
Regarding the 1940s & 50s: During that period most watches were still made from precious metal (factoring out WWII) and that is almost independent of the brand - Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Rolex, IWC, you name it. A leather strap does indeed keep the prices relatively attainable. For example the very first Rolex Datejust (ref. 4467) from 1945 would come at 975 CHF on a strap and 1,785 CHF on a bracelet... Doubling the price through a bracelet is quite steep for most customers...
The 1945 advert for the 40th Anniversary of Rolex and their anniversary watch - the ref. 4467. In the fine print at the bottom you can also see the prospective price upon introduction wit and without bracelet. Photo Courtesy of HIFI Archiv.
What we might not see in the data is also the extreme spike of the gold price during the 1970s. Until 1970 the gold price was settled at exactly 35$ per ounce. Lifting that price limit and making gold a speculative good meant the price would increase by 20-fold to over 650$ per ounce just 10 years later (see [here]). This in turn may have led to several of the existing older gold bracelets to be melted.
Figure 2. Distribution of watch case materials from 1940 to 2000.
Steel in the 1970s & 80s: And since we're on the gold price topic... unattainable gold prices were of course also a reason for a decline in interest in these bracelet types. Gold from the cases was already hiking the material prices and slimming the margins - the rebranding of steel as a new type of 'luxury material' was a consequence that also spilled over to the bracelet construction and started the era of integrated luxury steel sports watches (see [here]).
Similarly, a new trend on the other end of the spectrum that was born during the 1950s was getting mass market approval during the 1970s - the tool-watch. As watches also transformed into the ultimate utilitarian objects, built to withstand every demand of your professional and personal life, steel was the material of choice gaining momentum since the first dive watches of the 1950s.
The epitome of the 1970s steel bracelet likely was the Royal Oak introduced in 1972. The bracelet was still as intricate and hard to make in its third iteration like this ref. 4100 in steel. Photo Goldammer Archives.
And what about Bicolored?: Well, same same but slightly different. The 1970s Gold Crisis changed the face of luxury forever. 'Affordable Luxury' became a thing and in particular Cartier was on the forefront of elevating the mixed materials from 1972 onwards. Gold in combination with steel both looked exclusive and was relatively cheap in terms of material costs.
3) That's Why!
Bracelets and straps are more than an afterthought in our modern horological world, and not only because new watches come with several different options... There are imminent historical factors that changed the way bracelets and straps were integrated into the mood and ambient a watch as a holistic design.
And here's the fun aspect - not only can these attachments change the way a watch looks and feels we are free to choose all of this ourselves. You could fit your vintage watch with a period correct Gay Freres bracelet. Or you can customize with a colorful strap... and who doesn't love to customize our dearest wristlets!? Should it change to retro, original, exotic? There's a reason all these different strap makers are keep popping up...
Footnotes
* I extracted data from chrono24 to assess the prevalence of several bracelet/strap materials. Amassing data in such large quantities (>50,000 watches) is a fruitful source to get a glimpse of former trends. However, there are of course other drawbacks as well (an over representation of Rolex for example) but I would consider the trends over time within each material to hold. But the data is biased in the sense that it mainly reflects trends on men's watches as there is little data on women's watches.
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