Aftermarket Panerai Strap Review

PVR Punavuoren Ranneke Straps Review

PVR Punavuoren Ranneke Leather Panerai Straps

Origin: Finland
Construction: Machine Stiched Hand Made
Materials: New and Exotic Leathers
Buckles & Tubes: No Tubes, Buckles Extra
Price Range: €49+
Website: Click Here
Date of Review: August 1st, 2015

PVR Punavuoren Ranneke is a Finnish strap company which has an interesting circumstance on how their straps are made. Their main line of watch straps are called "Jailbreak", and for good reason: They are all made by the female prisoners in Vanajan vankila, Prison of Vanaja in Finland.

Each strap is completely handmade by a female prisoner from start to finish from the cutting to the sewing and then inspected by PVR before being shipped out to customers. They also make strap travel pouches like the one shown above that holds 3 straps and 1 strap-changing tool.

The watch rolls are also made by prisoners and appear to be machine sewn and are quite well made. This model features very soft pliable leather, not thick like vegetable tanned leather, but more similar to a garment leather and folds up easily.

All the jailbreak straps are NATO style leather straps, I assume because they are simpler to assemble. They're very soft and pliable leathers in general and come in single piece as well as two-piece NATO style straps.

The first one I'm going to take a look at is called the "Black and brown leather with nice patina". Its pretty descriptive as it is indeed black and brown with a nice patina to it, and is pretty much what we often call a pull-up leather, which means it changes colors when bent or stretched.

As you can see it is a two-piece NATO, with extremely soft leather, and features brushed stainless steel rings. If you look closely at the back you can see the lines that the strapmaker made in the leather and used to cut the strap. This is the first time I have seen this, though most straps are lined so its not visible. When I spoke with the owner of PVR straps, he did mention that these straps are a bit rough on the finish, and I would tend to agree. The curves at the tip of the straps are also not punched with an end punch but rather cut by hand and you can see the roughness of the curve.

The finish of the leather is pretty good, though I would have prefered a slightly stiffer leather for a NATO personally. The price of these straps is pretty affordable though, so we can't expect the higest quality here. I think some of the novelty of this strap is the fact that its handcrafted by female prisoners.. that's the real story here. Let's check out the next one.

This one here is the "Brown leather with red stitching", which is a single piece NATO leather strap with red stitching. One thing to note about these straps is the stitching isn't all the way across, but only double threaded around the edge and glued. I wonder if this is because it is easier to teach the prisoners to do.

The stiffness of this strap is perfect for me. I really like this one, but kind of wish it was a two-piece nato because I generally prefer the look of the two-piece NATOs over the one-piece. This one also differs from standard NATO straps in that it has a regular buckle and flat keepers rather than the rounded ring-style keepers most NATOs have.

I like the red highlighting that the stitching gives the strap, as it adds a sportiness to the look. This may make it harder to match, however. Generally I think I prefer the rings over these more standard looking buckles, but its a nice change that add some variety to their offerings and since it is a removable buckle, it might . This strap also appears to be made from a pull-up leather as it also lightens a bit when it is bent, though not as obviously as the first strap. This feels almost like a vegetable tanned leather, though I am not sure if it is.

The third and final strap is the "Milk chocolate coloured leather nato strap", which is also a two-piece NATO but features a slightly stiffer leather than the first strap reviewed. This one has a pattern on the leather and looks pretty cool, though I still think I would prefer a slightly stiffer strap for a NATO, especially for heavier watches.

This one has black stitching and the standard brushed stainless steel style ring keepers, and is quite soft and comfortable on the wrist. The cutting of the straps could be a little bit smoother around the tips, and is the main complaint I would have with these straps. Otherwise they're pretty good.

Just a final shot here of what the back looks like and how the tip curve could be a bit smoother.

Overall, these straps are pretty neat. They're a fairly standard leather NATO strap, with the interesting novelty of having been assembled by female prisoners in Finland. I tried to Google the prison to see what kind of prisoners were housed there, but couldn't find too much information online. Anyway, if the idea of owning a strap completely hand assembled by female prisoners in Finland appeals to you, I highly recommend these straps. They're not perfect, but there is definitely an interesting story to them and that makes them a cool strap to me.

Model: Black and brown leather with nice patina
Thickness: 1.5mm
Width: 20mm
Length: 265mm
Keeper Type: 2 Rings
Stitch Color: Dark Brown
Edge Finish: Raw Cut
Price: €69.00

Model: Brown leather with red stitching
Thickness: 1.5mm
Width: 24mm
Length: 245mm
Keeper Type: 2 Rings
Stitch Color: Dark Brown
Edge Finish: Raw Cut
Price: €69.00

Model: Milk chocolate coloured leather nato strap
Thickness: 1.5mm
Width: 22mm
Length: 277mm
Keeper Type: 2 Rings
Stitch Color: Dark Brown
Edge Finish: Raw Cut
Price: €69.00