New, Unworn and Pre-Owned Hermès Belts · London

The Hermès belt is two objects sold separately, and understanding that is most of what a first-time buyer needs to know. You buy a buckle, and you buy a strap, and they are independent purchases. Nothing about the display in a boutique makes this obvious, and a great many people arrive assuming they are choosing one thing.

The system exists because the strap is reversible. Almost every Hermès belt strap is made in two leathers and two colours — typically black on one face and a brown or gold on the other — and the buckle unclips so the strap can be flipped. One purchase, two belts. That is also why buckles and straps have their own sizing conventions, and why a mismatched pair is the most common mistake we correct for clients.

Buckle width is the first decision. The H buckle comes in 32mm for the classic men's belt, 24mm for a slimmer cut, 13mm for the fine women's belts and 42mm on some statement pieces. A 32mm buckle will not fit a 24mm strap. The buckle finish — palladium, gold, brushed — then does the same work it does on a bag: cool and recessive, or warm and evident.

Strap length is measured to the middle hole, not end to end, and Hermès marks it in centimetres: 65, 70, 75, 80, 85 and upward. The reliable method is to measure a belt you already wear from the buckle pin to the hole you use, then match that number. Guessing from trouser size is how people end up with a belt that only just closes.

Beyond the H there is a quieter family worth knowing: the Constance buckle, which is the same H rendered differently; the Médor, with its pyramid stud; the Kelly buckle, which puts the bag's turn-lock on a waist; and the plain Hermès buckles that carry no letter at all and are, for a certain buyer, the best of the lot.

Condition on a pre-owned belt is straightforward to read and often misrepresented. The strap shows wear at the holes and at the fold where it passes through the keeper; the buckle shows plating loss on the edges and on the back where it meets fabric. Neither is a problem in itself, but a strap with elongated holes has been worn hard and will not tighten cleanly. We photograph both faces of every strap and the reverse of every buckle.

This is the category where a boutique purchase is genuinely easy and the secondary market is calm as a result. What moves is the unusual: discontinued strap colours, brushed and exotic buckles, the smaller widths in good condition. A classic 32mm H in palladium with a black-and-gold strap can be found readily — which is exactly why it is the belt most men own.

Every belt at JULL is inspected by hand in our London workroom — buckle plating and engraving, the pin and its action, both faces of the strap, hole condition and the size and width markings — and buckle and strap are listed with their exact measurements so nothing is guessed. Shown by appointment in London, sent insured across the UK.