Aftermarket Panerai Straps Review

DC Straps Review

DC Straps Panerai Straps

Origin: Slovakia
Construction: Hand-Stitched
Materials: Italian Leathers - Tuscany
Buckles & Tubes: Buckles Included
Price Range: €75-100
Website: Click Here
Date of Review: Jan 15th, 2020

Haven't posted a review in a little while, but I'm back with a little gem here with DC Straps from Slovakia. Reasonably priced leather Panerai straps crafted by hand from beautiful, flexible but soft Italian leather. Let's take a look at the selection of three straps from DC Straps here. Starting from left to right we have the Mustard Yellow, the Denim Blue and the Decima X. Let's look at the Mustard Yellow first.

The Mustard Yellow is a very popular color for straps, though I don't know if I would call this color exactly mustard yellow. Its more of a light yellowish brown, and is paired with a very interesting light blue thread which actually compliments it really well. DC Straps uses a vintage construction style on all their straps I believe, where the first keeper is sewn into the same loop as the buckle and the short tail has a triple foldover on the leather. This is probably my favourite construction style so I'm pretty happy with these ones.

Back side of the strap is similar to the front side due to the foldover construction. DC Straps handmade collection is stamped tastefully onto the back of the short tail. The strap features two keepers, one fixed and one floating. The Tuscan leather that DC Straps uses also smells fantastic, which is usually the case when the leather comes from a good tannery. Let's take a look at the Denim Blue strap now..

In terms of color, this is an outstanding strap. I love it. Its more of an indigo dyed, raw denim blue, as its quite dark. The photos are pretty accurate here I think as they appear to be lighter on the DC Straps website. I really like the dark blue. Its like a midnight inky blue, paired with a khaki thread. Featuring the same vintage construction and sewn-in buckle. One of the things I like about the construction on this strap is that it creates these little ripples on the surface of the leather. Additionally on this strap only there is a surface treatment - perhaps rubbing or sanding in the middle of the strap to give it a slightly worn look. It looks good.

The back of the strap reveals the same construction as the Mustard Yellow, nothing different here. The leather feels and smells to be very similar to the yellow strap, both are very flexible and extremely comfortable. These are great all-purpose every day straps. It's also worth nothing that DC straps stiches and glues the keepers very nicely, and probably with a bit more care than many other strapmakers in this price range. Finally let's look at the Decima X.

The Decima X is a special strap from DC Straps, and probably the nicest one of the bunch I'm reviewing. I believe this is DC Straps tribute to the vintage Decima Flottiglia MAS watch strap. It certainly has a vintage look and feel to it, and while it uses a similar feel of leather as the first two straps, it stays truer to the original vintage Panerai straps by being only available in a longer 160/110 length and also wider spaced sizing holes. It also adds a third keeper that I don't see very often. I suppose its easy enough to remove one if you don't want three keepers - two are floating. These are just great, well-made straps that have such a great feel and smell to them I have nothing really to criticize at this price point. I would love to see them made with a premium buckle like an Elias though it would add quite a bit to the price.

Back of the Decima X strap is same as the others, triple foldover on the short tail and double foldover on the long tail. The brown is such a beautiful chocolate brown with matching thread, it looks amazing in person. Just the right amount of burnishing on the edges and tons of care put into the finish. These are spectacular watch straps and would look great on your Panerai. Hope you enjoyed the review and head on over to DC Straps to check out their full line.

As reviewed:

Mustard Yellow
Price: $80USD
Length: 145/85mm
Width: 24mm
Buckle Finish: Brushed
Leather: Yellow Italian Leather

Denim Blue
Price: $80USD
Length: 145/80mm
Width: 24mm
Buckle Finish: Brushed
Leather: Blue Italian Leather

Decima X
Price: $99USD
Length: 160/110mm
Width: 24mm
Buckle Finish: Brushed
Leather: Brown Italian Leather