Dive Watches on Leather Straps: Sinful or Splendid?

Dive watches are built for the very condition that ruins leather straps: existing underwater. By this logic, a dive watch on leather is a lot like ranch dressing on pancakes: strange, unappealing, and borderline blasphemous. Plenty of watch forum dwellers will tell you just that. However, the pairing lives on as a popular one, and there are plenty of reasons as to why.

Because dive watches have evolved a great deal over their near century of existence, I’m splitting this discussion into two parts: vintage and modern.

Leather Straps on Vintage Dive Watches

While leather straps certainly have their place on modern divers, which I’ll get to in a moment, I feel that the material shines on vintage examples. Vintage dive watches’ downsized proportions, yellow-brown patina, and often-dubious water resistance ratings match leather both aesthetically and practically. Take the above ‘60s diver for example: it’s 36mm in diameter, less than 12mm thin, and has no business getting wet. For all intents and purposes, it’s a dress watch. Its diving days are over. It’s retired. Think of its leather strap as an oversized Hawaiian shirt, linen shorts, and a gold Datejust.

Of course, vintage divers can be fitted with new gaskets, pressure tested, and swam with, but when it’s time to go swimming, I always reach for a modern watch.

Image Source: @mentawatches on Instagram

As such, I treat my vintage divers as tougher-than average, casual-leaning dress watches: perfect canvases for leather straps. You can often match the hue of your vintage diver’s patina with a leather strap; both commonly fall between off-yellow and brown. Just look at this tropical Tudor Sub (ref. 7928 found at a Goodwill) on a matching brown leather strap. Tell me that’s not gorgeous.

Leather Straps on Modern Dive Watches

So what about modern divers? They’re big, they’re waterproof, and they’re rarely sold on leather straps. Are we back to ranch on pancakes? Not necessarily. The beauty of watch straps is that they’re interchangeable. 

Let’s face it, the vast majority of divers are desk divers. Swaths of Submariners go unsubmerged every day. If you like the look and feel of leather, why not keep your diver on a leather strap until it’s time to take a dip? At that point, you can swap in a rubber strap, nylon strap, or metal bracelet. With the right tools, this change shouldn’t take longer than brushing your teeth.

Final Thoughts

You shouldn’t need a stranger on the internet to tell you what to do with your watch, but if you’ve long kept your divers away from leather, I urge you to give it a try. It’s often a great look and you simply can’t deny the comfort of a nice leather strap. You may have just found your perfect pairing. 

Do any of your divers live on leather? Do you refuse the pairing all costs? Let us know in the comments below, and if you’re interested in finding a leather strap for your Rolex watch (diver or otherwise), check out our selection.