lizard
Varanus salvator, the water monitor · CITES Appendix II
No photograph here yet. What belongs in this slot: the strap on a 34 to 36 mm dress watch, because the scale of the scales is the whole argument.
Very small scales, very evenly spaced, with a slight bead to them. This is the skin that has been going on slim dress watches for as long as there have been slim dress watches, and it is on this page for a reason that has nothing to do with price.
Lizard is not a cheaper crocodile. It is a different job. On a 36 mm watch a large crocodile tile has nowhere to go — you get two and a half tiles between the lug and the first hole, and the strap fights the case. A lizard scale is small enough that the pattern reads as texture rather than as a repeating shape. It is the correct skin for a small watch, and that is a better reason to buy it than saving money.
which lizard.
“Lizard” on a label can mean several animals, and the two you meet most often in watch straps are the water monitor and the ring lizard. They look different, they are cut differently and they are not the same price.
Ours is the water monitor, Varanus salvator — an Appendix II species that Indonesia produces under quota. It carries small, close, slightly domed scales that run in even rows down the belly. Ring lizard, by contrast, shows the ring pattern people usually picture. If a seller will only say “lizard”, they have told you nothing.
the cut.
Belly. The fine, even scales down the centre of the hide, which is the only part of a lizard wide enough and regular enough to give a clean strap. Lizard is a small animal, so one skin produces very few straps — a real constraint, not a marketing one, and the reason a lizard strap is never made in ten colours at once.
the details.
| species | Water monitor, Varanus salvator
Species confirmation from the factory: to confirm |
|---|---|
| CITES | Appendix II. Indonesia produces it under quota |
| cut | Belly |
| origin | Indonesia. Tannery to confirm |
| lug widths | 16 to 24 mm, including 17, 19, 21 and 23. Lizard suits the narrow end — 16 to 20 mm |
| 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.
Lizard is thin, which is the point of it, and thin leather does not enjoy being soaked. Keep it dry and dry it slowly. The scale edges can lift a little with age — a light conditioner worked in with a fingertip, once or twice a year, keeps them lying flat.