Gunny Straps has become the fashionable artisan who supplies watch straps all over the world from Indonesia.
According to their website, they have clients in 54 countries, and by visiting it you can find up to 75 different models. Mainly for Panerai watches, but also for Bell&Ross, Rolex, Omega or whatever one has, because they proudly proclaim that they can make any size and any color.
We met Peter in a central hotel in Barcelona. A jovial and smiling man, eager to explain his work: he brings a huge sample book... and an impressive gold AP OffShore with a beautiful strap on his wrist. And willing to submit to a battery of questions.
Ask: When did you start with straps and where did the idea come from?
Answer:I worked in a company that manufactured furniture, and that among other things produced leather bed headboards. There I learned to handle this material, and since by then I already liked watches, I started making my own straps. In 2008 I decided to set up on my own to sell them.
P: Even though you have some straps available immediately (Ready Made), most of your customers have to wait weeks to receive their order. How many straps do you produce per month?
R: Approximately six hundred straps per month(surprised faces). This is possible because I currently have a team of thirteen people, although the first two years I worked alone. The incorporations have been progressive (one person in the third year, two in the fourth... and then everyone else: the work accumulated!)
P: And they are all made by hand?
R: Yes. We do not use molds or cutting templates, so each strap is drawn on the leather, cut and sewn (always by hand) or with additions depending on the model, such as canvas verte, in which we combine leather with canvas. We have 75 on the website, but we can make anything the client asks for, from straps for IWC Ingenieur or the Bell&Ross aviator series to unconventional widths for custom watches.
P: What kind of leather is used?
R: Basically cowhide. We give it a special treatment to make it soft and flexible, always with natural ingredients. I can't tell you which ones because it's like a chef's secret, but I will tell you that you could drink them without danger to your life.(laughs). We have recently started working on crocodile skin, but we are managing it from another website so as not to mix it up. It's called vintagecroco.com
P: How long does it take to make a strap at Gunny Straps?
R:That is difficult to answer because we no longer follow the process of one belt-one craftsman: we have systematized the work, so that there are cutting and sewing sections through which the different orders evolve, which are many!
P: Where do most of those orders come from?
R: If we talk about a single country it is undoubtedly the United States, but if we put together all the orders from countries like Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Holland... it is Europe that wins.
P: We already know that the answer would be the Internet, but within the Internet, where would you say your fame comes from?
R: Mainly from Paneristi.com, although also from forums... let's say unmentionable here because of the type of watches they deal with. In that regard I will only say that sometimes they paid more for the strap than for the watch(laughs).
P: Finally, we know that you are coming on tour in Europe. Brussels, Paris, now Barcelona and tomorrow you leave for Munich. What did you like most about our city?
R: The weather, the atmosphere, the shops... but literally speaking, the food: I have tried the acorn-fed Iberian ham(says it out loud)and I think it's one of the tastiest things there is. You are lucky to have him here.
Well, thank you very much for serving us, we wish you much success.
A pleasure. See you soon.
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