I have a interior design background and worked for the largest leather tannery in the world Arlei they are based in Argentina. Arlei provides leather to almost all auto manufactures. BMW, Mercedes Benz, GM, Ford buy their leather from Arlei. They also supply furniture manufactures as well. I have a lot leather furniture with different grades and types of leather. All car leather has coatings it has to because of UV protection. Even though it is coated it still needs conditioner and will absorb it in most cases. The cheapest grades are painted and grain is embossed as opposed to coated. The type of conditioner depends on the type of leather. Conditioners designed for car leather are much thinner and are formulated to put a more UV protection than furniture leather conditioners. Not all coatings block the pores of the hide. If so you would sweat as much on leather as you would vinyl. Even the finest full grain aniline leathers have a coating it's much lighter and conditioners will absorb. It depends basically on the type of finish you have. Some watchbands are finished with a waxed finish. This type of leather is very easy to figure out as you fingernail or a bump on something will look like a scratch. It also feels waxy. The leather is not scratched its just the moisture in the hide combined with the wax that makes the mark. A light conditioner will rub it out. The two biggest enemies of leather are sun and oils. Cleaning the leather is the most important step as oil build up attracts more dirt and stains as it sticks. LeatherMaster make a awesome cleaner. It can be used on any type of leather except sueded. It is quite thin and has just enough soap to cut oils. When cleaning it is always better to do it without any hard rubbing. Doing this multiple times taking off a little at a time is the best way to do it. If you want to make you own cleaner it is very easy as you use warm water with a drop of Dawn dish liquid. It should not be sudsy at all. So be very sparingly with it. The Dawn is formulated to cut oil and grease. When you clean let it dry for some time. Rinse again with plain water then let it dry. Sueded or brushed leather can be cleaned with corn starch and a tooth brush lightly brushed the cornstarch absorbs the oils and dirt. Allow it to sit for 10 minutes or so to absorb all it can. Then dry brush with a clean toothbrush. Repeat if necessary. Use no conditioner on sueded or brushed leather. Conditioners at least good ones will protect from staining and UV. UV is not really and issue with a watch band. They key to any conditioner is apply very thin and not rub hard. Highly finished leathers like car leather and most purses, belts, watch bands you should use a car leather conditioner. It works like a scotchguard and repell oil and stains. It is also water based and the conditioner holds the water to the surface of the leather to absorb. Most coatings do not make leather waterproof, they are designed to slow the absorption to give you time to clean them. In some cases conditioners will slightly darken the color. If you have a higher end leather on your watch band you would use a furniture grade conditioner. It is designed for lighter finishes and has lanolin that will absorb and soften the leather. No conditioner makes leather stronger. It's purpose is to put moisture back in the hide and resist stain. In some cases it will be softer in others it will just be more stain resistant. Since people keep bringing up BMW, and I also own a BMW. BMW leather is not anywhere near the highest quality of even car leather. Dakota which is their base is one of the lower tier car leathers. Their Nappa is just mid range. In convertibles though the leather is tanned with special process that uses a metallic in the dye and coating that reflects sunlight and is extremely good for UV that a convertible is exposed to. I don't have a Apple leather band, but I do have a few of their leather iPhone cases. I use the LeatherMaster cleaner and their furniture grade conditioner as the leather is aniline dyed and the conditioner absorbs. They look like new each time. I do own 3rd party leather bands, I clean and condition all of them depending on the type except conditioning on one sueded band.
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