A customer review that makes your year!

Tony got in touch and left this about our President strap. It is wonderful to see such a detailed and lovely response

The strap is here

https://www.luxurywatchstraps.co.uk/products/solid-stainless-steel-bracelet-for-rolex-president-watch-20mm-superb-quality-features-screw-links?_pos=1&_sid=5dc2ace1a&_ss=r

"  I thought that you might like to know something about the intended ‘destination’ of your erstwhile bracelet. I recently purchased a NOS (New Old Stock) Jaeger-leCoultre Master Control Memovox, which came equipped with a Black Alligator wrist strap.  Previously, JLC offered the option of a Stainless-Steel bracelet but, for their more recent wristwatches, this option appears to have been withdrawn.  Why?  Typically, no one seems to know!!   The original watch bracelets, bearing the JLC logo, were made by NSA Novavit.  However, Novavit have long-since ceased trading and most 20mm NOS Novavit bracelets with curved ends, with or without the JLC logo, have effectively become NLA  -  No Longer Available. Well, I really wanted a reasonably good quality SS bracelet just so that I could keep the Alligator watch strap in its current pristine, unused condition.  After all, you cannot real ‘deep clean’ any genuine leather watchstrap and, within a very short, period, such straps can and indeed do become more than a little smelly! Anyway, I spent weeks ‘surfing the net’ in an attempt to find a watch strap in either Stainless Steel or Natural Rubber that would perhaps be suitable for more than just occasional use.   The average high-quality SS watch straps, including a few from NSA Novavit, tended to be priced at around £300.  Some Swiss-made ones, allegedly made for Rolex , Omega and other well-known prestigious watch brands, but without the engraved or embossed logos, also tended to be in the region of £400 - £500 because, quite simply, they were NOT generic copies; they were the real thing but lacking the particular watch manufacturers’ trademark ‘badging’.   Those watch straps that were NOS that had been obtained directly from the watch manufacturers, were usually priced between £600 - £800 and even as high as £1,200 for a Rolex example. Frankly, this is utter madness!  I purchased a brand-new Omega Speedmaster Professional ‘Moonwatch’ in 1977 for the list price of just £150, together with a spare SS bracelet for £30.  Omega in Southampton, where the watch is still serviced to this day, have told me that a replacement SS bracelet is approximately £900 plus VAT, and possibly more for the vintage versions like mine, whose dimensions are slightly different to the later versions in that they are 20mm across the logs with a 39mm diameter case. Well, for trial purposes, my Omega bracelet fits the Jaeger-leCoultre Memovox perfectly but the Rolex ‘President’ pattern seemed much more appropriate to the Memovox and, indeed, looks a great deal better than the broadly similar NSA Novavit bracelets that were previously offered as an alternative purchase option! As the owner of a genuine Speedmaster, I really can distinguish between the quality of the genuine article and the cheaper generic copies.  One of the key differences is that the links on the genuine article are invariably fitted with very well-made machine screws rather than just ‘interference fit’ pins  -  which, quite often, are not even stainless steel! I have examined my purchase from you in very through and minute detail, using a 40x magnification professional hand-held microscope, and I can assure you that this bracelet really is the ‘superb’ quality that you claim it to be.  It doesn’t matter whether it has been made in Switzerland or the Far East, good manufacturing quality is normally readily apparent and can even be found in China  -  but so also can a whole lot of very much cheaper ‘lookalikes’ which, effectively, are simply fakes  -  like many of their fake watches which, to the naked eye, seem indistinguishable from the genuine article.  When in doubt, always look at the movement; all will be revealed to the expert eye! Anyway, this ‘President’ bracelet is absolutely perfect for my purposes and I really am so very pleased to have been lucky enough to find it.  Perhaps I need to get a rubber one as well, so that I can also keep this one in pristine condition!   Oh dear; I must be going barmy!!! That’s about it; it’s been very rewarding doing business with you. Take care. Bye for now Tony"

 

Enough said! Thank you Tony!