Ivory....

This is the final part of the review on exotic buckles from Fine Watch Buckles from Germany. Talk about saving the best for last. Ivory. Not just any ivory but vintage ivory... no, ancient would be a better word. 

The buckles below are all made from ivory that is more then 10,000 years old. Yes, 10,000 years old. These would not be from elephants but its ancestors, the mammoth. Wow. 

Blue mineralised mammoth ivory fossil. Very rare.

The inside.

A sample buckle made from this material. 

As with other buckles from Fine Watch Buckles, this buckle is well made. It has a polished finish. Smooth to the touch. 

You can see the texture on the top of the buckle. 

The spring bar holes. 

The trademark tapered underside. Very smooth and well finished. 

No tool marks evident. 

Other buckles made from 10,000 year old ivory...

This has a dark brown finish. I like this buckle. 

Again well made with a beautiful finish. 

The buckle maintains the curved nature of the ivory. 

This buckle is unique as it does not have the smooth finish. You can actually feel the grooves of the strips. 

This is the same in that you can feel the grooves or indentation on the buckle. 

Again, very beautiful buckle. 

The smooth tapering. 

The deep grooves. 

For more information:

Fine Watch Buckles

Black and white..

The buckles below are made of ebony. But not your normal ebony but a rare black and white ebony. Yes, these buckles are from Fine Watch Buckles. The buckles are finely textured and have a very smooth polished finish. You can see how it reflects the light. 

The first buckle is more refined in design. You can see the 'strips' on the buckle. 

The beautiful ebony black on the top of the buckle. 

The trademark tapering at the under side of the buckle. 

A very well made buckle. 

The second buckle is more industrial in design. Note the angles. This buckle is for 26mm straps. The earlier buckle is for 24mm straps.

The taper. Well made buckles and well finish. 

I do like the strips of the wood. 

The holes for the spring bars. 

For more information:

Fine Watch Buckles

FIS Strap II

This is the second strap from FIS Strap that I am reviewing. And yes, it is also made from fish skin. This time it is sturgeon skin and best of all it is just dried skin with no leather safe the lining.

The strap comes fitted with a buckle from FineWatchBuckles and it is made of Cocus Rosewood. The buckle is beautiful, I like the graining. The buckle is a squarish and as with other buckles from FineWatchBuckles, it is well made. It is coupled with the tang from MadDog.

The signature tapering....

Now on to the strap. The strap comes in at 83mm on the buckle side and 135mm on the hole side. It is 25mm wide at the lug mount point and tapers down to 24mm at the tip. The option to go with 25mm at the lug point is a common practice (now) as this is to account for shrinkage in the future. It is 7.5mm thick at the lug mount points and tapers down to 5 mm at the tip. The strap is thick because of the ridges on the top of the strap. The edges are raw.

The strap comes with two strap keepers, one fixed and the other floating. The keepers are 11mm wide and the loop is big enough for the strap end to go in easily. The ends of the keepers are stitched.

The edges are also raw.

I find the texture of the strap interesting. It is rough, yet not uncomfortable. Not too sure if it will flake over the long run, but at the moment, I like the texture and also the colour. The colour is rather like a dirty beige with a ridge along the spine of the strap.

The strap has a 3 layer construction. I believe the top is dried sturgeon skin with a leather core. There no stitching in sight.

The under side of the strap is lined with a simple beige leather piece. It looks like it is bonded in place and there are no excess bonding to be seen. The finish is good as is the construction of the strap.

The strap is signed at the tip of the hole end of the strap.

I did not try on the strap as there were no holes on the strap. But safe to say that it is comfortable on the skin. It is soft and there is no smell. :)

For more information:

Strap:

FIS Strap

Bolt

maddog

Buckle:

FineWatchBuckles

Buckle Review VIII

Wood, part 2. These buckles are also made of wood. The buckles here have some of the nicest graining I have seen. Lets start.

Sapelli with Pommele patterns.

Again, another rather squarish design. 

Desert Iron Wood. I understand this is one of the most expensive wood in the market. Beautifully made, lovely graining, and nice glossy finish. 

Trademark tapering. 

Beautiful finishing.

Amboina. This is a very rare wood. This buckle has the razor edge design and it is for 28mm straps. 

The colours and graining of the wood is just unbelievable. I understand Roll Royce from the 30s use the same wood in the interior. 

The colours are just awesome.

Honduras Rosewood. I love the graining on this buckle. 

Nice glossy finish. 

Mexican Bocote. The graining of the wood reminds me of tigers. 

All the buckles are well made and robust.

For more information:

FineWatchBuckles