Does your Rolex case rub your leather watch strap?

I thought it would be wise to address a common thing that I see on instagram and online in general which is the Rolex watch case rubbing against the leather watch straps. This is something that I see all the time and I think it’s important to address is. Firstly this is not the fault of the strap. This is a common thing I read. Customers suggest that strap should be made thinner at the lugs. This is rarely possible as you must have a certain amount of leather at the lug, it’s a fact. Some leathers you can only thin so much. The real fact is that the Rolex watch case is sharp and if you do not fit the strap correctly it most definitely will rub the watch strap and even ruin it in some cases.

If you’ve already mounted the strap and damaged it on the case then there’s little you can do to remedy it. What I do suggest for straps that have not been too badly damaged is to rub leather oil or balm onto the damaged area, this will at least condition the damaged area and make it less noticeable.

The fix – you must use curved spring bars! They are essential on the Rolex case to avoid it rubbing or damaging or watch strap. It’s a very simple and effective fix. You won’t even notice the curve once mounted (see the strap on my Rolex Submariner in the post), they simply pull the leather away from the case. I also suggest to my customers that once you have mounted the strap you use a blunt device (I use the pin pushed metal of my springbar tool) to gently pull the leather back from the case. Imagine you were trying to wrench the spring bar out by using the case as leverage, this is what I mean to do, simply you do this very gently and it sits the leather in to the curve of the spring bar. You only need to do this gently once and then once you wear it you’ll get the leather to settle so to speak.

I always ask my customers what they plan to mount my straps to and this ensures I can offer sound advice before they damage the strap without taking care to fit it correctly. These curved spring bars are peanuts online, ebay etc so grab yourself a load when you can. Any questions please just give me a shout.