New Strap from BJ

Well after a painful hour of trying to put the new black leather strap from BJ on the Vortex it's finally complete. What a pain in the ass the screw and collar system is. Getting the collars lined up took forever.

Initial impressions:

* The strap looks great, the buckle I ordered was the Pre-V style in a brushed finish. Big, beefy, box stitched in white.
* Length. Perhaps this is my fault being a Novice to leather straps. Per the Site it states to order a 130/80 for a 7 to 7 1/2" wrist. I have a 7 1/2" wrist. Well it's on the last hole of the strap. I figured I'd have at least one extra hole. WTF? Guess I won't make that mistake again.
* Delivery and communication: I have to say I'm not pleased. After a full 5 weeks I emailed BJ and he said he was sorry he was behind schedule. He then said it would go out mid week the following week. Okay fair enough. After not hearing back, I emailed him last Thursday and he said it was shipping that day. I received it today. 5 1/2 weeks is a bit ridiculous imo. But never the less it's here.

I'll get some pics up when I get a chance.

They are sweet looking straps but 5 1/2 weeks is way too long dude.

Lets see some pics

Look forward to the pics. I always use stonecreekstraps and the wait is typically 4-6 weeks.

Still waiting on mine. Ordered March 9th. Very frustrating.

I have one on order and am going to order another one. I'm prepared for the wait and I'm kind of glad he doesn't just pump them out to ensure quick delivery. From what I've seen the quality is worth the wait.

foghorn wrote:I have one on order and am going to order another one. I'm prepared for the wait and I'm kind of glad he doesn't just pump them out to ensure quick delivery. From what I've seen the quality is worth the wait.

That's what I'm telling myself. I have a bulova ready for it.

The size of the strap does'nt matter as much as where the holes are located on it. Many of the handmade leather straps have two large keepers anymore so extra length is left over just to tuck in. I've had better luck ordering XL straps from Panatime and Watchprince.

Mark1 wrote:The size of the strap does'nt matter as much as where the holes are located on it.

Mark1, that's a simple point, but wow is it a good one.

Watch Noob wrote:Initial impressions:
* Length. Perhaps this is my fault being a Novice to leather straps. Per the Site it states to order a 130/80 for a 7 to 7 1/2" wrist. I have a 7 1/2" wrist. Well it's on the last hole of the strap. I figured I'd have at least one extra hole. WTF? Guess I won't make that mistake again.
* Delivery and communication: I have to say I'm not pleased. After a full 5 weeks I emailed BJ and he said he was sorry he was behind schedule. He then said it would go out mid week the following week. Okay fair enough. After not hearing back, I emailed him last Thursday and he said it was shipping that day. I received it today. 5 1/2 weeks is a bit ridiculous imo. But never the less it's here.

I own 7 of Brian's straps. I always ordered multiple straps at the same time.
The first four were perfect. Then a couple of things happened. I placed my second order and out of the blue he tells me his price has gone up and his delivery times are much longer. I raised hell and he did agree to honor the old price and the multiple strap discount he gave me on the first order. The delivery time did escalate dramatically though.

Along with the delivery time on the second order going south, all the straps arrived incorrectly stitched and had to be returned.

He did get the replacements to me sooner than he got the original order but it's quite obvious he rushed the work. The stitching was very inconsistent from strap to strap and overall nowhere near as nicely done as the first ones.

One of the last three I got also seemed 'short.' All my others buckled on the middle hole. The odd one buckled on the next to last hole.

Upon laying it next to the others the length was dead on. What I discovered was the questionable strap was much thicker than the others. This in essence moved the hole further out making the strap seem smaller.

I would have sent it back but I was kinda done with Brian. It's one thing to raise prices and another to extend delivery times. To do both simultaneously and not insure all product was perfect the first time was intolerable.

I actually wrote him and offered to discuss streamlining his productivity. He replied that he'd contact me. I'm still waiting to hear from him.

no pics? sorry my imagination seems to be out of order today

a quick pic from my BB

Looks cool Jim... but I agree, the waiting seems
just too long...read phephner comments with interest too.