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dasman
387
Nov 14, 2017
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dasman
387
Nov 20, 2017
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dasman@Da-Luca
Wow... posted 6 days ago, no response. So much for the " We believe less is more, except more when it comes to customer service, then more service is best. " touted in replies pre-sale.
I'm certainly glad MD accepted the return, so in the end I guess I'm not out anything other than my time.
Wow... posted 6 days ago, no response. So much for the " We believe less is more, except more when it comes to customer service, then more service is best. " touted in replies pre-sale.
I'm certainly glad MD accepted the return, so in the end I guess I'm not out anything other than my time.
Cloaca
1906
Dec 19, 2017
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dasmanAt least one of your complaints was clear in the original product photography. The assymetrical tails, with little corners where the line should be curved. can be seen in the photos. Normally you'd get a die made and use that to cut the leather, with a mallet or a press. You need two dies for each width, taper, and length combination, You can see Dangerous9 using a die in the video I linked to below. It looks like Da Luca is just eyeballing the cuts by hand.
Here's the price list for a die maker. It really doesn't seem like that expensive a cost for a business tool, maybe $50 per die and presses starting at $500, so maybe $1,000 plus eyelet hole and stitching dies to get started in watch strap making.
Here's the price list for a die maker. It really doesn't seem like that expensive a cost for a business tool, maybe $50 per die and presses starting at $500, so maybe $1,000 plus eyelet hole and stitching dies to get started in watch strap making.
DA-LUCA
331
Da Luca
Dec 19, 2017
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dasmanWe apologize but we have not had a chance to check this thread since around the time the drop ended. Since we never saw this thread nor received an email about any issues we never had a chance to help make this right. If we were notified then we would do everything in our power to correct these specific issues. In regards to the superficial cracking and shedding, those are just a part of the 60 year old ammo pouch leather. Some have the minor outside cracking but that is superficial and we try to minimize that as much as possible.
At this point we can only say that we would have helped you in anyway possible if we were notified of these issues. We are a smaller company and this is our busy time of the year so that would help explain why this post was missed by us this time. Moving forward we will be doing more to monitor all of our drops, before, during and after the drop, much more. As you can see we answered your in depth questions post and took the time to help explain things beforehand. We genuinely care about our products and customers and while not every company is perfect, we do everything we can to make any issues right after the sale. We hope this helps.
At this point we can only say that we would have helped you in anyway possible if we were notified of these issues. We are a smaller company and this is our busy time of the year so that would help explain why this post was missed by us this time. Moving forward we will be doing more to monitor all of our drops, before, during and after the drop, much more. As you can see we answered your in depth questions post and took the time to help explain things beforehand. We genuinely care about our products and customers and while not every company is perfect, we do everything we can to make any issues right after the sale. We hope this helps.
dasman
387
Dec 19, 2017
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DA-LUCAFWIW, I have 4 other vintage ammo pouch straps (oldest is mid 60's) and none show the cracking/shedding issues that were exhibited in the strap from massdrop.
Regarding the delayed response, I assumed that you would get notified by massdrop of the problem, since they took the return.
In any case, best of luck going forward.
Regarding the delayed response, I assumed that you would get notified by massdrop of the problem, since they took the return.
In any case, best of luck going forward.
DA-LUCA
331
Da Luca
Dec 20, 2017
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dasmanThat's a good point as our Swiss ammo pouches do not have the fuzzy back nor do they shed. The French ammo pouches seem to not shed as a whole, it might just be a few here or there that are more prone to shedding. We are glad you were taken care of by MD and we appreciate all feedback, positive or negative so we can use it to become a better company, so thank you for that.
SStas
95
Feb 2, 2018
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dasmanI just took mine out a few nights ago to set up on my Brightling Navitimer. Within minutes of being attached, it started to crack.. Over the next few days, I ended up having to massage at least half the bottle of Venetian Leather Balm (added onto the drop) into the strap. It's fairly soft and maluable now, but is still cracking all over the place. So basically, there was nothing done to this leather at all prior to manufacturing it into straps, if it is able to absorb 2+ oz of leather balm...lol. It was like one of those tiny alligators that you put into a glass and watch is suck up all the water... I'm pretty disappointed. Oh well, like you said, a $100 mistake.
Scott.
Scott.
Cloaca
1906
Feb 3, 2018
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SStasWhere do you get those tiny alligators? Maybe Massdrop could do a drop on those.
SStas
95
Feb 4, 2018
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CloacaYou must have been deprived as a child! 😀 i found a very expencive example on Amazon for your reference...
Growing Alligator https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0089J2584/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_c_api_CqRDAbBCJ0TH8
Growing Alligator https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0089J2584/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_c_api_CqRDAbBCJ0TH8
SStas
95
Feb 4, 2018
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DA-LUCAIn case anyone else cares, or reads this, I gave up on the Venetian Cream. Waste of time. The only thing that will satisfy the dry cracked leather is vasiline. Like a new baseball glove, this seems to work perfectly. I have applied it about five times, and other than the colour changing to a much darker shade, the cracking has stopped, and the strap might last a few years now. Time will tell. I will not be buying products from this company again. They have a responsibility to inform their customers of care and set-up instructions, and not expect us to guess and test until we figure it out. No instructions were provided. Shame on them...
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TLDR summary: - Did I expect these match the quality of bespoke ammo pouch straps like Ted Su or Dangerous 9? No, at less than 1/2 the price that would be an unreasonable expectation. - Did I expect these to be serviceable and appear half decent? Yes, but unfortunately what I received will never see a watch and will instead be a $99 lesson learned.
----11/20 update - MD reviewed my post here and I am able to return the the strap for a full refund.----
Full version: The stitching is fairly tight/even, but the strap I received is nowhere near the appearance of the straps shown in the description, nor in the product photos with the Rolex and Panarai watches in the Da-Luca's discussion post. What I rec'd...: - ... is dry and cracked. The leather was obviously never treated or conditioned prior to production. The leather is cracked at stitches, cracked at holes, and is badly cracked at the buckle fold-over. I would be afraid to lose a watch on this strap. - ...is much, much thicker. At 4.2mm thick, the tail barely fits through the keeper (with some effort) and is out of scale with the 20mm strap. It is obvious that the leather was never skived. - ...sheds like crazy. I took photos of the strap over a white piece of paper and the debris shown is purely from that limited handling. While I knew in advance that the back would be raw (ie., no liner), I did expect that they would do something to treat it. My Colareb straps are raw, but very wearable. If worn, I imagine this strap would thin over time from shedding, and would loosen the stitching. - ...has a skewed buckle. The buckle end of the strap is not square, meaning the buckle itself runs off at a slight screw to the strap. - ...has a non-symmetrical tail. The cut on the tail isn't even close to being symmetrical. I assume that a pattern would have eliminated this type of issue, but I guess not. - ...has lips at the lug end foldovers. I don't know if the foldover at the lug end is wider than the strap, or if it is slightly skewed to the strap, but the foldover creates a lip on one side of the strap. This is the least concerning of the bunch as I can just trim the lip with a knife, but I shouldn't have to.
In short, I would put this at roughly the same quality as something I could produce at home (never having made a strap before). My stitching probably wouldn't be quite as even as Da Luca's, but I would hope all other aspects of my homemade effort would be better. A $99 lesson learned...
For comparison purposes, the last photo is a similar color tone swiss ammo pouch strap (stock, not bespoke) that has a leather lining; quick change spring bars; a much nicer buckle and two keepers. Yes the strap is almost twice as much, but in hindsight, is a much better value.