alligator

Alligator mississippiensis · CITES Appendix II

No photograph here yet. What belongs in this slot: the actual strap, shot in daylight, with a macro close enough to show that there is no sensory pore.

Smooth, calm and very uniform. Alligator does not carry the small sensory pits that crocodiles have on their body scales, so the surface of a belly tile is clean. Some people prefer that; some people buy crocodile precisely for the pore. Both are reasonable and neither is a mistake — which is exactly why the label ought to say which one you are getting.

Read this before you order. A great deal of leather is sold in this region as “alligator” when it is crocodile. In Hong Kong, calling one species by the name of another is a false trade description, so we will not print a species we cannot show on a permit. Confirmation that this line is Alligator mississippiensis and not a crocodilian is to confirm with the factory. Ask us before ordering and we will tell you exactly where that stands.

ordering needs JavaScript Message @strapsandstories.co with the cut you want, your lug width and the watch it is going on.

alligator or crocodile?

This is the one thing worth learning and it takes about ten seconds.

Crocodile has a pore. Alligator does not. A crocodile carries a small sensory pit on nearly every body scale, which comes through tanning as a tiny dark dot near the edge of each tile. An alligator has them only around the jaw, so a belly tile is plain.

The paperwork is different too. The American alligator is a United States species listed in CITES Appendix II. If it reaches you through an Indonesian factory, that is a re-export chain with its own documents, and those documents are the answer to the question rather than anyone's word for it.

Alligator is a genuinely fine skin with its own market and its own price. It is not a second-rate crocodile and we would not sell it as one. It also is not crocodile, and that is the point.

two cuts.

Belly, centre cut. The square tiles down the middle of the hide. This is the dress-watch cut and it is what almost everyone means when they say alligator strap.

Hornback. The dorsal cut with the ridge scutes left on, for a large case. Same price as belly, because no seller we checked charges a premium for hornback and we are not going to invent one.

the details.

species	American alligator, Alligator mississippiensis Species confirmation from the factory: to confirm
CITES	Appendix II
cuts	Belly (centre cut), hornback
origin	Supplied through Indonesia. Re-export chain and tannery to confirm
lug widths	16 to 24 mm, including 17, 19, 21 and 23
taper	4 mm as standard — a 20 mm strap finishes at 16 mm
length	115 / 75 mm standard. Short and long available
lining and stitch	to confirm
delivery	Hong Kong. Sending an Appendix II specimen out of Hong Kong needs an AFCD export licence issued in advance

looking after it.

Keep it dry, let it dry slowly if it does get wet, and rotate it with another strap. Alligator is a tanned skin and it dislikes the same three things every tanned skin dislikes: standing water, direct heat and being worn every single day for a year.