Aftermarket Panerai Review

V28 Customs Straps Review

V28 Customs Panerai Straps

Origin: Indonesia
Construction: Hand-Stitched
Materials: New, Vintage and Exotic Leathers and Hides
Buckles & Tubes: Buckles And Tubes Extra
Price Range: $60-90
Website: Click Here
Date of Review: August 29th, 2012

V28 Customs is a strapmaker based in Indonesia who custom makes watch straps, watch buckles and even watch dials under the moniker "Vong". V28 Customs definately strays outside the box when it comes to strap design and construction when compared with similarly priced as well as even higher priced Asian strapmakers. One look at his website and you know that there is a sense of passion for his work that one doesn't commonly see.

Vong uses premium quality vegetable tanned leather, which is treated in order to soften the leather and then hand-dyed to the desired color. His straps are especially soft and have a nice smell to them. The strap is also treated with a generous amount of mink oil, which Vong recommends using in order to maintain the strap as well.

All straps, including this one, are hand-stitched. The ivory colored stitching used on this strap matches the yellowish tan of the leather quite well. The color is almost a flesh color, and actually blends into my skin a bit!

The back of the strap is stamped "Vong", and is unlined. Construction is the tried-and-true fold over method using a single length of leather for each end. This is a non-nonsense strap with quality leather and construction, built for the purist.

The watch has two keepers, one fixed and one floating. The keepers are lightly tooled with some borders to give them a bit of style. The edges of the strap are treated with beeswax and mink oil and then burnished on wood. This helps give the strap the distinctive handmade look that Vong gravitates towards, and I think its a winner.

The tail of the strap has 5 holes, spaced fairly far apart. I would suggest that more holes would be better, spaced closer together so that the perfect size is easier to achieve. The way the holes are spaced now means that a lot of buyers will be in-between holes and forced to either punch their own holes or wear it too lose/tight.

The photos on the V28 Customs site reflect the true color of strap, so can be used to accurately gauge what you are getting. Vong also provides a satisfaction guarantee, just in case you are not happy with your purchase. Most of his basic hand-dyed straps are sold at $85, which is very reasonable and a good value given the quality of the workmanship and leather. I am very happy with this strap and the level of quality coming out of Indonesia from V28 Customs.

Strap As Shown:
Model: 26mm Handmade Leather Strap (26-lb02)
Size: 26 mm
Length: 85/130 mm
Thickness: approx. 4,5 mm
Weight: 24 g
Material: premium quality vegetable tanned leather, soft
Color: vintage light brown with ivory color thread stitching
Condition: brand new