[DIY] *one week update* How to permantly dye your 360 stone/gray band black

[honkey haze]

I was not happy with the looks of my 360 thanks to the absolute ugliness of the stone band. tbh i think the gray band looks just as bad, but at least it is not purple. anyways... here is how to dye your band to black and class up your watch for a dirt cheap price. It takes about thirty minutes from start to finish.

Items Needed:
Black leather dye.. Found at hobby lobby, michaels, tandy leather, online.
80 - 220 grit sandpaper
micro flat head or watch pin remover
clean cotton cloth
latex gloves if you don't want to wash off the water soluble dye

The Process:
1. Remove the watch bands. best to go in at an forty-five degree angle. It is about an eighth of an inch in and kind of caddy conrnered away from the band. Use a digging motion and the pin will release easily.
2. Remove the clasp. It uses a pin just like the bands.
3. Grab the sandpaper and start taking off the finish. Do Not take off too much. It does not take a lot. Jus a little bit more than scuffing it. There is some sort of crap on the edges trying to hide the fact that it is a laminated or bonded strap. Which is something that Horween should be ashamed of.
4. Apply the dye to the bands. It is pretty thick stuff. You will notice that it will clog the holes that the buckle goes into. I just picked it up from the end and slapped the other end on the 2x4 i was using to get the dye out of the holes. By the time i was finished with putting on the fist coat... the stuff was dry enough for me to go ahead and put on a second one.
5. Let dry for fifteen or so minutes. I put mine back on my wrist for the pictures when it was still a bit tacky with no issues.
6. Put the strap back together and back on the watch. Note: The pin for the buckle is 1.8mm. The pins for the strap are 1.3mm.
7. Profit

The dye is available at hobby lobby for six bucks. tandy leather for nine bucks. amazon prime for eleven.

 

[Funkpod]

Re: [DIY] $6 fix for the stone/purple band

Nice! I was thinking about doing that, but with black shoe polish. This will probably work much better!

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

 

[Halofury]

Re: [DIY] $6 fix for the stone/purple band

Which I had seen this post before... I didn't buy it at best buy because it looks ugly... So I ordered mine from motorola.... In black

Posted via Android Central App

 

[honkey haze]

Re: [DIY] $6 fix for the stone/purple band

Nice! I was thinking about doing that, but with black shoe polish. This will probably work much better!

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

shoe polish will bleed off onto clothing and such i think. but it might work. it is too late for me... but if you gave it a try and it worked... people would be able to get their hands on that much easier.

 

[Floridadomer]

Re: [DIY] $6 fix for the stone/purple band

How about a picture of the finished product!!!

 

[mr_nobody]

Re: [DIY] $6 fix for the stone/purple band

How about a picture of the finished product!!!

Think you need to look more closely at the original post...

 

[Floridadomer]

Re: [DIY] $6 fix for the stone/purple band

Think you need to look more closely at the original post...

Well thats strange. I see no pictures at all. I am at work and it will block some things but normally there would be a red X where the picture is located.
Just looked at the post from my phone and looky there, pictures.

 

[jasoraso]

Re: [DIY] $6 fix for the stone/purple band

How about a picture of your wrist AFTER wearing it?

 

[mr_nobody]

Re: [DIY] $6 fix for the stone/purple band

Well thats strange. I see no pictures at all. I am at work and it will block some things but normally there would be a red X where the picture is located.
Just looked at the post from my phone and looky there, pictures.

Yeah, this forum can be a little weird, I've certainly had trouble viewing images on some posts on some devices also...

 

[kaaxi]

Re: [DIY] $6 fix for the stone/purple band

What are the chances that the black dye bleeds later on? Would hate to ruin a dress shirt lol

 

[anon(5002059)]

Re: [DIY] How to permantly dye your 360 stone/gray band black

I had my mind set on the black 360 but when I saw them both in person the stone/silver won me over.
But to each his own.

posted via my Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5

 

[budgitApp]

Re: [DIY] How to permantly dye your 360 stone/gray band black

That's really intense! Did you sandpaper the sides as well? Won't you need to reapply the bonding chemical there?

 

[honkey haze]

Re: [DIY] How to permantly dye your 360 stone/gray band black

one day usage update:
after the entire day of wearing it, along with playing two rounds of disc golf i can see some of the black coming off of the sides (due to the plasticy colored crap that i did not sand). top and bottom are flawless. no dye on clothing and no dye on skin. going to look at the wear and tear tomorrow and go from there. will probably finish sanding off the sides and re-apply more dye.

the stuff on the sides are there for looks. most likely becuase the dye they used wasn't through and through... or they really thought they could hide the fact the a top nocth manufacturer like horween would bond leather together. either way... i now know that i need to get it off so the dye will 'set', and i know that i like this band, even if it is not perfect, way more than the purple.

i will post wear and tear pics tomorrow.

 

[jlczl]

Re: [DIY] How to permantly dye your 360 stone/gray band black

I was thinking of just putting some leather conditioner on there and see how it would affect the color or maybe some mink oil.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[honkey haze]

Re: [DIY] How to permantly dye your 360 stone/gray band black

one week update. the edges have the same wear and tear they had on day one. but it is not bad enough for me to care enough about. especially when the background of the watch pics was a huge piece of veg tanned leather. it still looks great from a foot away. and that is what matter most to me.
while i did not get anything on my clothes... there was dye that needed to be washed out of it because i put too much on. along with the stuff that did not adhere to the plastic sides. my suggestion is to go back with a completely dry cloth and get as much off of it as you can after it sits for an hour or so. then let it sit overnight and rinse out in the morning. i would also sand down the sides a bit better to make sure all of the plastic was gone.
all in all though i am exptremely happy with how things turned out. i have put a lot of wear and tare on the strap as it is always raking up against my disc golf bag strap and hydtration backback straps. i am off in the woods quite often walking through brush and such, pecking at a keyboard for hours a day, along with constantly washing my hands when i make my e-liquids. so far so good. i can easily recommend this diy to anyone.

then i went and washed it off to show it wet.