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I can hear the groans and see the eyes rolling. The US Postal Service. Not the best reputation when it comes to package delivery or customer service. Despite their flaws, there are simply no other options as cost-effective for shipping small, lightweight packages. As such, USPS has been the most used carrier by our customers for the 9 years we've been selling watch straps.

Due to a long list of political, economic, and pandemic-related reasons, USPS has recently been running behind on domestic deliveries, something we began to notice in early July. While not yet a wide-spread news topic, we came across a great article that covers the ailing US Postal Service in depth. We encourage you to give it a read.

Link to article on VICE: The Post Office’s Great Mail Slowdown Is Hurting Small Businesses

Thankfully the majority of shipments are still arriving in a normal time frame. However, we have experienced 10-20% of USPS shipments delayed at random [sometimes significantly]. In light of these delays, we have updated the estimated delivery times for the two USPS services we offer:

• Economy (First Class): 4-10 business days
• Priority Mail: 3-5 business days

To end on a positive note, we began offering FedEx shipments last year, and they have proven to be very fast and reliable for both domestic and international shipments. To best serve our customers, we offer multiple shipping options, allowing them to make a decision based on their needs and comfort level. FedEx 2 Day Air is just $4.99, and in our opinion offers the best value on the market.

Thanks for reading! Please feel free to reach out to us if you have a time-sensitive shipment and would like to discuss your options first. As always, we wish you the best health and safety during this crazy time.

This is a revision of a post we first published back in March. It's hard to believe we are now in August, almost a full 5 months since our area enacted significant changes and procedures due to the coronavirus pandemic. With diverse situations across the United States and indeed worldwide, we hope this short summary of our operations is helpful.

Status of customer-facing operations (as of August 6th):

• Shipping & Fulfillment  Status: Normal  We are fulfilling orders with little to no delay. Our daily pick-ups from USPS and FedEx are still occurring. Please anticipate in-transit times being longer, most notably for "economy" shipments. Heavily affected areas may have more significant transit delays.
  Carrier Links: USPS Service Alerts // FedEx Service Alerts
• Customer Service  Status: Normal  Our support response times are normal (read: fast!) within business hours, which are Monday - Friday 9:30AM - 4:30PM EDT. We're here for you, and still providing the excellent service that we are known for.
• Returns & Exchanges  Status: Minor Delays  To observe social distancing protocols, we are taking less trips to our mailbox (which is located inside a staffed UPS Store). Please bear with us on any returns, which will be delayed approx. 3-4 days.

Unprecedented effects from this pandemic have been felt in every nation. Our hope and prayer is that we as a global community are able to mitigate and recover from this quickly. C&B owes all of our supporters a debt of gratitude. We are wishing you the best of health and safety through this crazy time.

Sincerely,

Thomas and the C&B Team

Romans 8:38-39

Black Label Season 4 has been our most popular collection thus far. Is it the deep blue leather? The brown distressed options? The breadth of stitching options? We're not sure, but we love that you love them.

We are starting to run low on some models, and like all Black Label collections, once they're gone, they're gone! We do not re-make or re-stock Black Label straps; they are all made in one batch only.

All of our Chromexcel and Kangaroo straps are back and fully stocked in 18mm, 20mm and 22mm. We restocked them in our brushed and PVD hardware, so get ‘em while they're hot! Find a couple of our favorites linked below.

We are happy to announce that our wonderful new 'Harris' Chevron™ colorway is now also available in 19mm! All 3 sizes are also available in 3 hardware finishes: Brushed, Polished, and Black PVD. Check them out using the link below!

We are starting 2020 looking our best, from head to toe to wrist. To quickly refresh your watches for the New Year, our FedEx shipping option is on sale! For the rest of January, all U.S. orders can enjoy fast 2-day shipping (with insurance!) for only $4.99.

We've been hard at work releasing a ton of new products this summer. Usually we release a bunch, and then get right back to working on the next batch. Thus, we often fail to make known what's new on the site! So here we go with a quick run down of what we released over the last few weeks.

Chevron™ Adjustable: There are a bunch of new colors, including a much-requested "all black" version called the Obsidian! New colors include Royale + Night (seen in the photo above), Obsidian (all black), James (black w/ grey stripes), and Stone (medium-dark grey). PLUS Chevron most Chevron straps are now available in 19mm widths! PLUS we also have 4 colors of all-new Leather Chevron adjustable straps as well!

Supreme NATO: There are a bunch of exciting new colors here. Two new shades of blue (Frost, Aqua), Burgundy (the perfect dark red), and Auburn (a really cool copper-y brown). Select colors are available in 19mm and 21mm widths, with more on the way.

Perlon Straps: There are 3 new colors. Two are melange colors: Violet and Checker. Checker riffs on our popular Linen color, but instead of being sand/brown, it now uses black/white threads for a more silver and monochromatic look. The other new color is Azure Speckled. This is a new two-thread weave pattern, similar to melange, but with a more random pattern.

Black Label: Black Label Season 4 is here and it includes 13 all-new models! This may be our strongest collection yet. There are some incredible leather strap models available in there, including my two personal favorites: Lani (navy leather), and Berthold (an ashy-brown leather).

American Made: We finally have Horween Shell Cordovan straps available as part of our collection! The fully-stitched models are the absolute nicest leather straps that we have ever produced. We're super proud of these. The suede camouflage straps are also a great choice as we headed into the cooler months. These are available in traditional woodland (green)  as well as arctic (grey) camo patterns.

As we celebrate Labor Day weekend here in the U.S., we plan to be closed on Monday, September 1st. Unfortunately there is large Category 4 hurricane threatening our area late Monday night into Tuesday. We're praying the storm stays away, but we'll be monitoring it closely, and updating our site as necessary if we have severe effects from the storm. There is always a high probability of losing power at the very least, but we will do our best to keep our customers informed. Please keep the eastern seaboard in your thoughts and prayers, and consider any order placed over the next few days may be delayed if the storm stays on it's current trajectory. We made it through the storm okay! Thanks for all the well-wishes.

One of our most common requests has become a reality! CHEVRON™ adjustable straps are now available in 19mm widths! To start out we have four of our most popular colorways available: Night, Stone, Night + Crimson, and Night + Harvest.

Shop 19mm Straps

Black Label Season 3 straps are discounted 15% off while supplies last. All Black Label straps are only made in one run, so once they sell out, they are gone for good. No code is needed; the prices are marked down on our site.

We are making way for Season 4, which is going to be the strongest collection yet. Coming soon-ish.

Shop Black Label