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Opened July 1999, zOwie is the Internet's first and longest running discussion forum dedicated to Omega brand watches.

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Yellow?? Jo Momma wears yellow!!!

Steve: I forget, was my black teddy supposed to be leather or rubber?? (:{) Either way, the whole concept is revoltingly tacky, which brings us to your sticky isofrane straps.

Your straps are over the hill, and I am not sure if they can be restored or not. The base polymer has been exposed to air long enough that it is starting to break down into shorter and shorter polymer chains, and as a result the surface gets sticky. The only suggestion I would make is to try first wiping them down with isopropyl alcohol, and if that doesn't work try soaking them in it for about an hour. You can progress to xylene or trichloroethylene if you want to try a last ditch effort, but it's a 50:50 bet that the trichlor will dry out and crack the straps rather than restore them.

About the only other (and completely untested) idea I have is to soak a strap in boiled linseed oil for a day, and then take it out, wipe it down, and let it sit for a week or two. Boiled linseed oil has curing agents in it that allow the oil to crosslink when exposed to the air, so you might be able to make the surface cross-link back together by this method, and it shouldn't crack the rubber.

Good luck!!

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