Hermes Tube H Belt Buckle & Reversible Leather Strap 38 mm Box 135 and Togo Calfskin Brushed Permabrass Buckle Yellow Gold Noir Gris Étain

Etain is the French word for pewter, and the colour lives up to it: a mid-grey with a faint green cast, softer than gunmetal and more interesting than plain silver-grey. It sits on one face of this 38 mm Tube H strap, with black on the reverse and a brushed permabrass buckle completing the picture.

Box 135 and Togo calfskin make up the two faces. The smooth, glossy leather takes the shine and shows its grainlessness in bright light; the pebbled surface is matte and absorbs knocks without record. Because the Tube H buckle is formed from rounded metal rather than a flat plate, it has a slightly softer silhouette at the waist, which I find suits rounder fabrics like flannel and brushed cotton.

The pewter tone is easy to style. It goes with charcoal, navy, olive and black, and it does that rare trick of making an all-grey outfit look composed rather than flat. Permabrass warms the palette slightly, so the belt never turns cold against the skin or the cloth.

Trade-offs, as usual at this width: 38 mm is a casual strap rather than a suit strap, and the glossy Box 135 face will show scuffs where the buckle presses. Both are part of the deal, and the pebbled reverse sidesteps the second one entirely. Sizes go from 80 to 115 cm at the waist, so a tape measure settles the question in a minute; go up if the belt will sit over a shirt.