Here's the article. Here's the relevant quote:

Leather has to be soaked in water before it can be turned into a saddle and, according to Green, knowing how long to soak it for is “a very subjective kind of dark art. You put one piece of leather in the water and it will soak it up much quicker than the next piece.

So it’s a case of the operators through their experience going back to the water tanks, feeling the ‘blanks’ and saying ‘OK this is ready now’, or ‘this needs another five minutes’ and putting it back into the water.”

How long does it take to learn how to read a piece of wet leather?
“The people who do that have been here for more than 15 years, going on 20 years,” says Green. “Some of the newer employees we’ve taken on have been here seven or eight years. They still need to consult the experts at times. So they’re still learning.”

I have no idea if it's marketing BS. What I do know is that there are frequently adamant and contradictory claims made about Brooks saddles, often made by people who have decades of experience with them. Just trying to figure out what to use to maintain them, how to break them in, how to restore them, and so on, leads to long, confusing, contemptuous arguments, with everyone claiming that they, and only they, are right, and that their methods works for decades. I don't know how long what I just did will work. I'm trying to make something usable out of something that had little value, and wasn't usable to me.



As for a shore line, this will be on new black leather, and the shore line will at the fold line. I've seen photos of this method, and am certain it will not be visible.

I got in a 30-mile ride this morning. Overall it was a success, in that I don't have any of the soreness on my inner thighs that I had when I used this saddle before it was butchered and reblocked. And I don't feel the usual soreness in my right sits bone area that I feel with most saddles. I did notice that my inner right thigh rubs slightly on the side of the saddle, and I had more perineal discomfort than I remember with this saddle before all the butchering. On my next ride I'm going to twist the seat post a tiny bit to the left, and tilt the nose up a couple of degrees. I thought I had it exactly horizontal, but rechecking now I find the nose is down a few degrees, which I didn't intend.



I love the way it looks! It feels very solid. I thought I might need to tighten the adjusting screw a bit, but so far it's still as loose as it can go.

Nicely done!

Here's a B-17 I cutback about 10 years ago. Much more comfortable that the original
long skirted B-17.

Nice! Is that a B17 Special? I love the chrome rails (assuming chrome). I'm curious what process you used on the flaps (if any) before folding them under?

It looks like we have the same, or a very similar, seat post. I love the way this treatment shows off the seatpost, which is one of my favorite parts of this bike.

The saddle is indeed a Special, gotten from Rivendell in 1994. I didn't treat the flaps in any way, just cut and chamfered the edges. I did cut a thin backside channel at the fold lines. The ends are joined by a small aluminum plate riveted in place.
It's held up extremely well. That bike is my commuter, ridden most everyday.

Seat post on that bike is a '91 Chorus.

Marketing BS
Have look at , and from 5 min 9sec you can see a batch of covers being cut then immersed, from a variety of hides.
5 min extra soaking time going to make any discernible difference with those presses....?
Perhaps the Marketing guy should watch the corporate video.