[kzn]

Hi all,

Dropped by my AD today, most likely picking up a Pilot Chrono LPP (IW377714). It was between that and a JLC Polaris. Pilot was the clear winner.

One thing I noticed instantly was that the IWC strap did not have the orange underbelly or 'santoni' on the strap (the mark and the BP in the same showcase, and both LPP variants did have the orange and 'santoni').
The salesman said that the non-orange ones are newer, and that there was some issue reported with the earlier ones which had the orange underside.
I called IWC as well (number on their site), and chatted with a lady, and she too verified that the Pilot chrono LPP does in fact come with a Santoni strap. And the listing did show that there was no orange under the strap.

Does anyone know what exactly the issue is? Are the new non-orange straps actually santoni? And more importantly, are the new ones better?

Thanks!

 

[kzn]

bump

 

[koolpep]

I was at a IWC boutique today and from my understanding they use 3 strap manufacturers. Santons is one of them and is indicated by the orange underside. So, the ones without that are from my understanding not Santoni straps.

 

[wkw]

Staff from IWC boutique told me they stopped offering Santoni straps on pilot watches since mid-late 2019. Straps without orange padding are not made by Santoni.


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[ImprezaMan]

From the 3777 I've bought brand new in 2017. My Santoni strap color fade off and stretch marks are visible very very quickly (3 weeks of light wearing). Specially to 2 loop fading that touches the desk from keyboarding. I bought the watch back to the ad and talked to them, they've said that all Santoni straps are like that after worn. So I didn't bother pushing on....

 

[espresso&watches]

From the 3777 I've bought brand new in 2017. My Santoni strap color fade off and stretch marks are visible very very quickly (3 weeks of light wearing). Specially to 2 loop fading that touches the desk from keyboarding. I bought the watch back to the ad and talked to them, they've said that all Santoni straps are like that after worn. So I didn't bother pushing on....

I've had exactly the same experience. Perhaps the least durable straps I've ever owned...

 

[jagwap]

They are not exactly cheap to replace with OEM, that's bad.

I will stick to bracelets and rubber.