python
Python reticulatus, the reticulated python · CITES Appendix II
No photograph here yet. What belongs in this slot: the strap flat and then bent, because the way the large scales open at a bend is what people want to see.
The large, flat, overlapping scales down a python's back are the most decorative thing on this page. Every strap is a different piece of pattern, because the pattern is on the animal and no two run the same way.
And it asks more of you than the others do. Python is the most fragile skin we sell. Trade sources agree it will dry and crack without conditioning, and the same overlapping scales that make it beautiful are edges that can lift. We would rather write that here than sell you one and hear about it in four months. If you want a strap you can forget about, buy the ostrich.
which python, and where it comes from.
Two pythons turn up in this trade: the reticulated python and the blood python. Indonesia produces both legitimately, under quota, and both are CITES Appendix II. They do not look the same — reticulated carries the large net-like pattern people picture; blood python is smaller-scaled and darker.
Ours is reticulated. You will sometimes see the species written as Malayopython reticulatus in newer scientific work; the CITES listing, and therefore the export permit, still says Python reticulatus. We use the name on the permit, because the permit is the thing that can be checked.
the cut.
Back. The dorsal cut, where the pattern is. It is the only cut anyone asks for in python, and it is also the reason for the care instructions below — the large scales that carry the pattern are the parts that lift.
Python straps are often sold with the scale edges glued down or with a heavy surface coat. That makes them more durable and it also flattens exactly the thing you bought them for. Whether ours are finished that way is to confirm, and we will say plainly which it is once we know.
the details.
| species | Reticulated python, Python reticulatus
Species confirmation from the factory: to confirm |
|---|---|
| CITES | Appendix II. Indonesia produces it under quota |
| cut | Back |
| origin | Indonesia. 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 |
| finish | Aniline or surface-coated: 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. read this one.
Condition it. Python dries out faster than the other skins here and a dry python cracks. A small amount of a light leather conditioner, worked in with a fingertip two or three times a year, is what keeps it alive. Do not soak it in anything.
Take it off in water, always. Rotate it — python is the worst choice for a watch you wear every day and a very good choice for one you wear on Saturdays. And run a finger along the scales the way they lie, never against them.