Leather Link Apple Watch band transformation for 10$

[brecode]

Hey y'all,

Posted this on reddit but thought I should have it here as well

Recently, I purchased the California poppy Apple leather link from FB marketplace and although I was very happy with how the band looked and the sturdiness of the magnets (got burned with some cheap aliexpress bands that kept peeling off and magnets were meh), I was utterly disappointed with the quality of the paint and the awful discoloration that looked like someone had taken a beating at it.

So I started looking online to find potential remedies. Went from "how to get leather patina" down the rabbit hole to "how to customize Dr. Martens boots" and the solution was clear. I had to ("had" because OCD had already kicked in) paint my not so new band.

After some pretty basic research I decided to use Angelus acrylic paint for leather -> amazon link with something called acrylic paint duller -> amazon link. Sidenote, before this project I had zero experience in arts and crafts (last time I used scissors and glue was back in elementary school) apart from painting walls on my house and some DIY projects repainting some furniture during COVID, but in general I'm good with my hands. Matching the previous paint would be an impossible task if I just wanted to do touch ups, so I decided to paint it all brown knowing that in case of failure, I could still have another take at painting it black.

Steps I took:

1. Cleaned both bands with a leather conditioner I had for the leather seats of my car and let it dry
2. Used a mixture of acetone nail polish and rubbing alcohol to take off as much color as I could from the California poppy paint. That's actually the most scary part as I kinda felt there was no turning back. Again I let it dry completely for at least a couple hours (you can also use hair dryer to speed up the process, cold air and make sure there is no dust around)
3. I mixed 5g of the brown acrylic paint and 0.5g of the duller (that's 10% of the paint and used to remove take off some of the shininess of the acrylic paint as I wanted to give a more matte finish)
4. Started with a very light coat and waited 20-30 minutes to dry. Again you can use hair dryer to speed up the drying but it's advised not to add another coat in less than twenty minutes
5. In total I did 3 coats and for the last one I waited a full day before using it with the watch.

So far I am very pleased with the result but I'm really curious to see how well it's going to hold up as I didn't add any finisher/sealer since I like the end result, and I'm afraid that it might change the feel/finish by adding glossy effects. Plus, the angelus website claims that:

The paint is of such high quality that it's not absolutely necessary to use a finisher. However, the paint will be better protected through applying a finisher. We also recommend using finishers if only part of the surface has been painted, as they enable a more even gloss to be achieved.

so I might as well wait and see.

Attached you can see the before and after.

* Color looks closer to the one I'm wearing the band, not the most photo-friendly lighting I have on my desk

 

[Nimbus134]

Wow it looks great! Hope it holds up over time. Dang! Was hoping for a pic of the poppy stripped step but I’ll live.

 

[brecode]

Wow it looks great! Hope it holds up over time. Dang! Was hoping for a pic of the poppy stripped step but I’ll live.

Thanks! Hope so too.

The poppy stripped had every magnet bump pretty much "greyed" out but surprisingly enough the in-between paint part was more persistent and I didn't manage to remove a lot of it.

I am actually still debating whether I should use a sealer to protect the work or not, but I really don't like a glossy band that would look like 3rd party. Right now it feels/looks like a saddle brown band. Plus I don't intend wearing it while working (typing on a keyboard most of the day) but definitely random scratches/scruffs will take a toll if not sealed.

Hopefully this post will inspire more brave? people to fix what I would call "apple-leather gate"

 

[PaladinGuy]

That’s awesome. You’re brave to try that! I’d be terrified to do that on a $100 band.

 

[brecode]

That’s awesome. You’re brave to try that! I’d be terrified to do that on a $100 band.

Thanks! It's actually holding up better than expected, been wearing it 3-4 times a week even when sleeping. I was a little bit scared as well before I started, but given that I spent 45$ for it I thought I could give it a try.

 

[seamad]

hello it looks very nice. What exactly are the materials you use? what about the situation right now? thank you, have a good day