Panerai Luminor 47mm Leather Strap 26/26 “Black Bess” Limited

Description

About the Leather:  This amazingly thick matte black Panerai strap is a limited edition.  The leather used in this strap is scarce, and I have only enough to create 2-3 more straps.  Production has stopped on this leather, so regrettably only a few pieces will be available.  This is thick steer hide leather, latigo tanned, normally used for saddle production.  The surface is matte black and the sides and rear are deep caramel in color.  The thickness of this leather lends itself well to larger cases, so I’ve chosen to use this leather exclusively for 26mm straps.  Uniquely, this strap features two rows of stitching with both dark and medium brown thread.  These two colors of thread perfectly blend with the top and rear color of this leather.

This matte black Panerai strap ships with an aged vintage style brushed stainless pin buckle which is sewn in place.  Above, you can view this strap paired with the legendary PAM00372 in all it’s glory.  The strap has a medium temper which adds to it’s sturdy and rugged feel. This is one of the thickest black leather Panerai straps that I have ever produced.

Measurements:  This strap is 26/26, with a thickness of ~6mm.

What We Include:  Watch strap (top, bottom), one vintage style pin buckle, one wooden gift box.

To view more 26mm straps, click here.

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Additional Information:  For each Panerai model, I have a different design philosophy regarding straps. For the 47mm Luminor series case, as well as the Radiomir 1940 and the Submersible, my concept revolves around thickness and symmetry. When I create unique straps for the 47mm series cases, I take into account the overall thickness and temper of the leather that I am working with; more so than with Radiomir or even 44mm Luminor cases.

The 47mm Panerai case ships with a 26mm width strap. There is no escaping the mass of such a case and strap combination. My designs for this case take into account several features of the 47mm cases including the arches, curves, angles, and degrees of slope of not just the case, but the buckle as well. Instead of step-in away from or trying to minimize the bulk of the case, my goal is to embrace it. To reflect this, I work with thick leathers and make the straps for this model a minimum of 5.0mm thick on average.

Additionally, I like the make the strap keepers nice and wide. I box stitch most 47mm Panerai straps for extra strength. On rare occasions, I may employ open ended stitching. 47mm Panerai custom straps tend to be 5.0mm thick or greater. I usually utilize vintage style stainless pin buckles that are sewn in place. These pin buckles work especially well for straps that are thicker. Vintage style Panerai pin buckles also allow for more narrow holes for the buckle. Whats more, for these 26mm wide straps I mostly employ thicker thread with a larger margin in the stitching. I adjust spacing between stitches to be slightly wider than on my 44mm or Radiomir straps.

The entire process is performed by hand without templates or machines of any sort. I use the absolute basic tools, the same tools that I used as a boot maker for nearly two decades. As a result of the hand made nature of these straps, no two are identical.