Review of Everest curved-end leather strap

[Soulspawn]

One of my pet peeves is looking at the gap between a strap and lugs/case of a watch and seeing dust there, and for some reason, the mixture of the endlinks with a leather strap which Everest released awhile back just didn't do it for me. (although for some reason, i really like the Everose Daytona with it's chocolate dial and leather strap with end link... hey, I'm a complicated person)

So when Everest released their new curved end leather bands with a tang buckle, i bit the bullet and snapped one up from their Ebay store. (As a side point, this strap wasn't available on their ebay store when i wanted to buy it, BUT it was available on their website with a 4th of July discount. I sent "everestbands" a message asking if i could just bid on a regular strap from their ebay store, but get sent a curved end leather one AND also if they could let me apply the 4th July discount to it as i had some Ebay credits i needed to use. Mike sent me back a response very quickly, despite it being the 4th of July weekend, that it was no problem at all and happily went out of his way to help me out. So two thumbs up for customer service so far!)

I received my strap in a very nice green envelop within 10 working days (and im all the way in Australia). It was well packaged and had a premium feel to it.

I ordered the brown Everest curved end leather strap, and it is quite a dark brown colour. The leather itself feels very soft and supple, whilst the curved ends seem to be reinforced to hold it's shape (which is a good thing). I found the quality of the leather to be on part with many other OEM straps which I've purchased before.

The only minor let down is the buckle, which is rather thick for the leather strap and had a few sharp edges (I also purchased the Everest rubber, and the buckle fits perfectly with the rubber strap, but it just seems out of place with the leather). I think a smaller more refined buckle would do make this product a 100% for me.

When you browse the Everest site, you have to shop by Rolex model: i.e the Submariner and the GMT ii have separate sections with separate straps. but when i asked Mike if the Submariner strap i was bidding on in Ebay would fit my GMT ii, he replied that it would fit (so i guess it's abit of clever "customisation" marketing on their part, but most of you would probably know the two cases are fairly similar) and boy... does it fit......

The curved ends fit the case and lugs of my GMT ii like the proverbal glove, and the curves of the strap end compliment the curves of the watch lugs so well. It looks like the lads at Everest have taken their experience with the rubber straps and applied it very successfully to this curved end leather range.

Yes, the Everest straps are not the cheapest product out there, but I justified my purchase by comparing the cost of the strap to the cost of my watch.... and i think the price is justified for something that fits and wears so well.

Lazy to read this rambling post but want to pull the trigger on an Everest strap? In summary:
Quality of leather: 9/10
Fit to watch: 10/10
Buckle: 7.5/10
Would i buy another Everest strap: Hell yes!