Maison Alène was born from a belief: the object we look at a hundred times a day, the strap of our watch, deserves to be made with care. By the hands of our craftspeople for the Signature range, by precision manufacturing for the Essentials, and always checked by us before it leaves.
MAISON ALÈNELeather, stitch by stitch
The name of a tool
The awl, alène in French, is the humblest of the leatherworker’s tools: a steel point set in a wooden handle. Everything begins with it. It opens the leather, stitch after stitch, so the thread can pass through.
We named our house after it, because we believe in what goes unseen: patience, precision, a gesture repeated a thousand times.
Two crafts, one standard
Signature · made to order
The work of our craftspeople
Every Signature strap is made to order, to your watch’s width: the skin is chosen, each piece cut, then carefully stitched. As an option, the stitching can be done entirely by hand with a saddle stitch: two needles crossing in every hole. It is the slowest stitch, and the strongest: if one stitch breaks, the others hold.
Edges are sanded, dyed and burnished, coat after coat. Every Signature strap is unique, like the skin it is cut from.
Carefully cut and stitched
Stitching entirely by hand as an option (+€35)
Made to your order, to your width
Essentials · industrial precision
The consistency of controlled manufacturing
Essentials are made industrially, and that is a choice: for a NATO or a rubber strap, a machine gives a consistency the hand does not seek. We selected our manufacturers one by one, and their straps carry our engraved Maison Alène buckle.
What we refuse is the cheapest option: no basic rubber, only FKM; no thin webbing, a premium nylon 1.6 mm thick.
Selected, monitored manufacturers
Steel buckle engraved Maison Alène
Delivered ready to fit
Premium materials, nothing else
Exotic leathers
Alligator, ostrich, toad, shagreen, salmon: skins chosen for their grain and the way they age, from farms and accompanied by their regulatory documents (CITES).
FKM rubber
The rubber of high-end dive straps: dense, waterproof, it never sticks and never hardens. We use no silicone and no ordinary rubber.
Premium 1.6 mm nylon
A tight, thick weave that keeps its shape and never frays, where ordinary NATO straps rarely exceed 1 mm.
Stainless steel
Buckles, keepers and spring bars in stainless steel, engraved with our name.
Checked by us, before every shipment
No strap leaves without passing through our hands.
01
Material
We check the skin or material: shade, grain, no defects.
02
Dimensions
Lug and buckle width, lengths: measured with calipers, matching your order.
03
Finishing
Stitching, edges, holes, buckle engraving: everything is inspected.
04
Fitting
Spring bars, keepers and buckle are checked and adjusted.
05
Packing
The strap is packed in its Maison Alène box, then shipped tracked.
