Just received an original Armani strap for an ebay cheapie I bought a little while ago. The watch head was fine, but the strap had seen better days, made worse by me trying to superglue a loose bit on the back and making a proper mess of it (doh! :wallbash: ). Anyway, here are a couple of quick pics showing the old and the new:
Here's one from the outside (note: I had to cut a slot in the buckle end, because this strap normally has a deployment clasp)
And here's a close up of my handiwork with the buckle which came from another spare Armani strap:
Finally, a pic of the finished watch:
I know Armani are not very well respected by some people around here, and I certainly wouldn't pay the RRP of over £200 for this one, but I think it's a nice looking watch for my investment of just under £60 in total (the strap cost more than the watch :lol: )
With regards the strap, the quality of the leather is really nice, which you'd probably expect. It's very supple and has a nice fine texture to it, plus metal inserts at each end which makes it fit perfectly and firmly into the case lugs. As mentioned above, the original is supposed to have a deployment clasp, which was missing when I bought it. However, I bought another Armani watch recently from a member on here, and he kindly included a spare leather strap, which is where I nicked the buckle from.
For anyone looking to buy original replacement straps, I used a place called Babla's Jewellers. This one wasn't in stock when I first looked a few weeks ago, but I gave them my email address and they contacted me as soon as it was available. Also, it was delivered the next day, which is pretty cool.
Just thought I'd share that anyway
Here's one from the outside (note: I had to cut a slot in the buckle end, because this strap normally has a deployment clasp)
And here's a close up of my handiwork with the buckle which came from another spare Armani strap:
Finally, a pic of the finished watch:
I know Armani are not very well respected by some people around here, and I certainly wouldn't pay the RRP of over £200 for this one, but I think it's a nice looking watch for my investment of just under £60 in total (the strap cost more than the watch :lol: )
With regards the strap, the quality of the leather is really nice, which you'd probably expect. It's very supple and has a nice fine texture to it, plus metal inserts at each end which makes it fit perfectly and firmly into the case lugs. As mentioned above, the original is supposed to have a deployment clasp, which was missing when I bought it. However, I bought another Armani watch recently from a member on here, and he kindly included a spare leather strap, which is where I nicked the buckle from.
For anyone looking to buy original replacement straps, I used a place called Babla's Jewellers. This one wasn't in stock when I first looked a few weeks ago, but I gave them my email address and they contacted me as soon as it was available. Also, it was delivered the next day, which is pretty cool.
Just thought I'd share that anyway