A JOURNAL BY SHINOLA DEDICATED TO JOY OF CRAFT

Finding Our Edge: Watch Strap Painting

BY Taylor Rebhan

Inside our Detroit leather factory, attention to detail is not only an essential part of every job, it’s also an art form. Our leather team takes extra care to make sure the raw leather edge of every watch strap is painted for a clean, finished look. On average, we paint 500 straps a day, many times by hand. Get a glimpse at the edge painting process below.

The majority of leather watch straps are made here at our headquarters in Detroit using American leather and imported hardware. We still work with American manufacturing partners to meet demand.

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DeAngleo Gray (pictured left) works in the leather cutting room and shows us what a raw leather hide looks like before it gets turned into finished watch straps. 

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Every strap gets 2-3 coats of paint. Here watch straps are painted and then pushed onto the conveyor belt. 

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Shelena Steward (pictured right) says sometimes it’s easier to handpaint the straps. She alternates between handpainting and using the conveyor belt.

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Straps making their way down the conveyor belt.

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Shelena Steward and Angela Langston (above left) handpainting leather straps.

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Watch strap loops being painted and pushed through the conveyor belt.

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