Aftermarket Panerai Review

Dangerous9 Straps Review

Dangerous9 Panerai Straps

Origin: USA
Construction: Hand-Stitched
Materials: New Leathers
Buckles & Tubes: Buckles And Tubes Included
Price Range: $130+
Website: Click Here
Date of Review: September 8th, 2010

I had never heard of Dangerous9 straps until I visited the Bell & Ross forum, BR-Avo.com and saw a mini-tour of the D9 Factory! The man behind Dangerous9 Straps is John Glance, who makes a lot of B&R straps, but also makes a lot of Panerai Straps - one of which is being reviewed here today. Above you can see the strap and courtesy letter that accompanies the strap with some instructions on care.

What makes Dangerous9 straps unique, at least to me, is that John hand-dyes the straps himself. He starts with natural vegetable tanned Italian leather like the piece used for that tag there, and turns it into the strap you see here. He even makes a personalized Slide Show of the entire process! Click to check out my slide show here.

Now that is dedication and going the extra mile. The more straps I try the more I am noticing that strap makers are going further and further to set themselves apart from the competition because lets face it: There is a lot of competition out there. John at Dangerous9 is definately creating a unique product and uniquely personal experience ordering one of his straps.

The color that John Achieves is so wonderful and unique from other stuff out there. One this strap he used an interesting stitch he calls a twisting running stitch. I've never seen this sort of stitch used on a strap before, but it looks very appealing. A small complaint I have with this stitch is that it is slightly uncomfortable on the wrist at the tightness that I like to wear this strap at. Perhaps if the backside was tooled a bit more to recess the stitch it would be more comfortable as less stitch would stick out and rub against the skin.

Having said that, I still think the twisting running stitch is a crazy cool looking stitch and I'm really glad I got it. The only other small complaint I have is that I wish the holes were closer together so there would be less chance of being between holes. These issues have nothing to do with the actual quality of the contruction or beauty of the strap, however. John nailed those two for sure!

The back is hand-signed with the D9 logo on the tail side, and serial numbered on the other side - yes, every one is serial numbered. I assume this means that its the 118th strap of 2010, but I'm not sure. That 7 layer waxed thread is very beefy and strong. That keeper is not falling apart either! The extra tooling on the keeper is appreciated as well, the little details.

He includes a D9 etched screw-in buckle, which is great. Just adds that extra touch to have a signed buckle, though. The strap was on the stiff side initially compared to most straps I have owned, but softened up very quickly in use.

Here you can see it strapped to my new PAM320! Its the first strap to be modeled on my new watch. The strap kind of reminds me of True Religion Jeans with Super T threading. I dig the strap on my new PAM320, and its going to be on there for a while, I can assure you! I am very impressed with Dangerous 9, with the standout features being the hand-dyed color, slideshow of production and incredible stitching.

Just an awesome shot of the stitching contrast on the beautiful hand-dyed brown strap, and being that each strap is individually hand-dyed and built, he can truly say that no two of his straps are the same. A top notch strap, at extremely reasonable prices. Highly Recommended.