Alligator and Crocodile Straps

The shipment of genuine Louisiana Alligator and genuine Crocodile straps arrived today.

I have alligator straps in Black, Blue and Cognac. The crocodile straps are black. All have a matte finish and white/cream contrast stitching. These straps are all hand made in Italy.

The crocodile straps have "high padding" in the so called "Brietling" style. The alligator straps have a more modest padding.

I wondered about the blue alligator strap, but I really like the blue alligator on the stainless steel cased prototype Ka La watch with its blue hands and hour  markers. I will have to order some more of them!

The cognac looks good with both the stainless steel and the PVD rose gold cases. I will have to try a cognac strap and rose gold case with a silver dial and see how that looks.

The black alligator and crocodile straps, as expected, look good with everything. Crocodile is basically as nice as alligator but it lacks the distinctive "grain" of real Louisiana 'Gator.

Genuine Alligator Straps

I  have ordered a total of 30 alligator straps which should arrive by the middle of next week. These will be center cut, Louisana alligator straps in a matte finish with white stitching.

Most will be black, but I also ordered a few in a couple of other colors for evaluation. These will go on the first customer delivery watches as a free upgrade (over the usual lizard and crocodile straps).

Anyone interested in pre-ordering a Ka La watch with this free upgrade can contact me via Sales@IndividualDesign.com. As usual, you make no payment until your watch is ready to ship (which should be in early August). Refer to the (in development) website for available models: IndividualDesign.com

Please do not attempt to order online via the website yet.

Close but no cigar

The "production sample" cases (one in each finish) arrived yesterday. But there were some small issues that will have to be resolved in the production cases. Additional samples (6 in each of the 3 finishes) will be on their way before the end of the month (July). Assuming these pass my inspection, the full production order will then be authorized. The samples (18 total) will have production serial numbers on them. So, if they pass my Q.C. these cases will be used for the pre-order customer watches as well as my stock samples (which I also get to wear - tough duty, having a dozen new watches to choose from on any given day).

NATO style strap - Update

I've been wearing the "NATO" style nylon webbing strap on the black cased Ka La prototype the last couple of weekends and I find it to be very comfortable. It makes a nice casual/sporty combination for outdoor summer wear.

A few posts back, I have some photos of the watch and strap (just scroll down a bit).

Dials and hands have arrived

The initial production order (600 sets) of dials and hands for the Ka La watches arrived Friday. I will post photos in a day or two.

In related news, production samples of the watch cases (all 3 finishes) are due to ship today so I should have them before the end of the week. After inspecting the samples, I will be authorizing shipment of the full order (which should arrive within 2 weeks after that). So I'm still on track to have all parts in hand by the end of July and initial customer deliveries starting in early to mid-August.

Compter Desktop Background

Here is the image I'm currently using as my PC's desktop background:

It is 1920 x 1200 pixels, so it may take a few seconds to download.

Whatever floats your boat

I was showing a couple of the prototype watches to friends this weekend. And while they admired the watches and their design, they were most intrigued by the butterfly deployment buckles. Obviously they had never come across them before. While they fumbled a bit with them, they really thought they were 'trick'.

Great people, but not WIS types for sure.

BTW - WIS is defined a number of places (many with a self deprecating sense of humor):

http://people.timezone.com/library/archives/archives0058
http://watchidiotsavants.com/
http://chronomaddox.com/wis.html
http://xtrememeantime.forumotion.com/t375-you-might-be-a-wis-watch-idiot-savant
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=watch%20idiot%20savant
http://watchfreeks.com/view_topic.php?id=25461&forum_id=37
http://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=46477

Schedule Update

The production run of dials and hands is scheduled to ship this weekend (July 14 - 15) to Hawaii. So I should have all of them (600 dials and 600 hand sets) before the end of next week.

And the production run of cases is scheduled to be done around July 20th. So I'm expecting them in Hawaii before the end of the month.

This keeps the first customer deliveries on track for early August.

Warranty and Manual Completed

I have created a user's manual for the Ka La watches (which feature the Swiss ETA 2824-2 movement) as well as my warranty and return polices.

They can be seen here: http://individualdesign.com/ID/warranty.php

(and the "News" page on the evolving website has a nice background photo of Hawaii's famous Diamond Head which I recently took).

NATO style strap

Just for fun, I got a couple of "NATO" style straps. Actually NATO has nothing to do with the strap specs. It really is the "G10" spec issued by the UK's MoD. But I digress...

While not designed for these straps, with the normal spring bars removed, the lug "rings" actually made very robust attachment points for the nylon strap.

Production Dials Shipping

The initial production run of dials for the Ka La watches will be shipping early next week (the week of July 9th). So the full complement (600) of dials should be in Hawaii around July 13th, 2012.

Black Mesh Bracelet

I received a "shark mesh" stainless steel bracelet which is plated PVD black. It comes with extension links which are how it is length adjusted. Up to all 4 links can be removed by unscrewing the "screw pins" with one or two screwdrivers. (Does that sound "screwy" enough?)

The band/bracelet is comfortable on the wrist and I like the look on the Ka La watch. If I offer this band, it will be an extra cost option as this is not one of the "$20 cheapie" mesh bands which break and fall off your wrist in a few days (yes, I've seen that happen too).

I'll wear test this one for a week or two and see how it holds up.

Tags have arrived

The shipment of Individual Design "hang tags" has arrived (all 5,000 of them).