Freshening Up Your Watch For Summer And Fixing A Perlon Strap With A Deployment Clasp

If like me you fell for the Instagram daily watch porn of men who take their beautiful watches and add a perlon strap with bangles etc, then no doubt you might have succumbed and bought some perlon straps yourself.

The fact is, they are cheaply made and for such a wonderful looking product to the eye, they are in fact a bit of a disappointment when they arrive. But you get what you pay for. They are finished with little metal clasps which, if you look at them closely, have the perlon threaded back and over through the loops.

It seems odd then that men are in such a rush to have a 50k watch finished with a perlon strap but the simple fact is that they look wonderful on instagram and really brighten up and funk up a traditional looking watch and give it a certain kind of summer chic.

I did not last a day using my perlons, not because I didn't like the look of them, but because I hate unbuckling a watch - period. And I will do anything to turn any old watch into one with a deployment clasp, I even do it with my Swatches that I wear for work during the week.

To cut a long story short, I managed to use a needle and a thread to add a deployment clasp to my perlon and it has reinvigorated my watch for the summer and given me a disposable style band so I don't thrash my exotic leather ones. Not that I wear my leather straps in the water, but I tend to get water all over me in the summer, be it on a boat or by the beach or simply working up a sweat from the heat.

The process was very easy so I will just post the photos below with a bit of a note. A small disclaimer before we proceed. I did this in between my usual jobs today so this solution is not rigorously tested and I used my own shoddy hands to sew it with thread lying around so please, if you have an expensive watch, do your own research before you go diving into the ocean with your favourite watch on using my technique.

Remove the perlon strap from the below average clasp it comes with.

Here I removed the other perlon strap I had previously attached. Note the deployment clasp knob is poking through the perlon to secure it. This can come off but as of today it didn't - could be just a spot of luck, but it did seem to grip ok. 

Now get some thread and turn back the perlon strap so that you can load a spring bar. (20mm is ideal)  In this makeshift instance I have given myself plenty of space to move. 

Now stitch, don't be like me, I had little prince fingers and I was nearly in tears but we got there. 

Hooray, you have attached your deployment clasp, threaded the the perlon through the lugs and you have fixed it to the clasp, adjusting it to your required length.