Replacing Mk XI straps

I was surprised--well, not particularly so, given the age of my watch and its rarity--to learn that a jeweller who carried in his shop or could order any watch in the IWC pallette was unable to replace my Mk XI's strap(s). The open, glued straps appeared alien to him. He was unable to suggest anything to help.
Short of sending the watch to SWS in New York--the watch was serviced at Schaffhausen, through SWS, only a couple of years ago and is running well--what are my possibilities here? Thanks in advance for any simple suggestions as to: (1) strap source (and lug width--18 mm?); (2) strap mounting techniques to be mastered if I dare undertake the job myself, and so on.

Is your jeweler an authorized IWC dealer? If so, he has a workbook with strap information and he should be able to order a strap for you.

Click on this link to the IWC website to review a complete list of IWC Authorized Dealers. Good luck.

Authorized IWC AD link

I've received these particular straps thru IWC before. One has to use a solvent, such as finger nail polish remover, on the treated ends of the strap, then hold them together to create a bond (once you've put them thru the lugs, of course).
They were the buffalo straps, and look great.
So contact IWC thru your dealer, or maybe even call one of the boutiques, and hopefully they are still available.
Good luck
Nelson

I can confirm that the IWC boutique in Schaffhausen has some in stock. I had one in my hands on Saturday morning.

Thanks for your response. The dealer is indeed an AD, which explains my surprise when he appeared to be at a loss as to how to go about replacing the strap. When the current strap is on its last legs, I'll return to that shop and suggest they consult their strap reference.

Nelson: Thanks for your response. Since the dealer in question is an AD, I will press them to pursue acquiring the proper strap when the strap now mounted has reached the end of its days. Thanks again.

Aside from straps that use acetone, there were leather straps that used a flat staple. Whether IWC used such a strap i do not know, the benefit is that it does not come unstuck unlike the version that uses acetone, where high temperatures and humidity loosen the effectiveness of the adhesive. Both types of straps are designed to be used for watches with a fixed strap bar. The alternative is the nylon military strap. Given the punishment that the military put their equipment through I would suspect that staple straps became the norm over adhesive straps especially for those in the tropics.

To my knowledge, Greg, IWC never used staple straps on its fixed bar watches.

The UK military used Bonklip steel bracelets originally on the Mark 11; there are images and info in the archives. NATO nylon straps came later.

MF, So are you saying that all leather straps on Mk XI are not as per military issue?

Yes, Greg --I believe so. But I can't tell what every military who issued Mark 11s did in every year.