Brass, not plated steel

A plated steel buckle costs about a sixth of a solid brass one. It looks the same on the day it is sold. After two wet seasons the plating lifts at the tongue, the steel underneath rusts, and the rust stains the leather it is stitched into.

By then the buckle cannot be replaced without cutting the leather around it, so a failed buckle is a failed belt. Solid brass darkens and never rusts, and in ten years we have replaced four.

That is the whole argument, and it is why every buckle, ring and rivet here is brass.