Aftermarket Panerai Strap Review
Visconti Milano Leather Straps Review
Visconti Milano Leather Straps Panerai Straps
Origin: Italy
Construction: Hand Stiched Hand Made
Materials: New Leathers, Alcantara, Exotics
Buckles & Tubes: No Tubes or Buckle Included
Price Range: &euro130-300
Website: Click Here
Date of Review: September 23th, 2016
Visconti is a premium Strap company based in Milan, Italy. They make many different styles of strap including Rolex, Patek and of course Panerai. I reviewed one of their Alcantara Patek-style straps a while ago, and thought it was a very well made strap. This one here is an ultra-premium Alligator strap, made with some very high quality hide and made in Italy.
The strap features a beautiful matte brown chocolate colored Alligator hide, with qhite stitching and a tapered profile to match the OEM Panerai straps. Right away it feels like a higher quality strap than the OEM Panerai straps and feels like it is quite a bit more robust. At €295 it better be a pretty nice strap, though right?
Nice patterning on the Alligator here, larger scale, clean and free of major blemishes. The oval tang buckle holes look similar to OEM straps, which may be important to some people. The hide is quite smooth to the touch and is "harder" feeling than the OEM Panerai Alligator. I feel like this will retain its color and feel quite well. The machine stitching is white and with a thinner thread that matches the style of the strap well.
The edges are lightly painted, which is perfect. I don't usually like it when there are gobs of thick edge paint on the side of a strap. This strap has it just right, with just enough to even it out. The strap is also lightly padded, with the padding being even throughout the length. Double keepers, with one floating and one fixed - which is pretty standard.
The back of the strap is pretty neat, and different from most on the market. It is lined with alcantara rather than leather which is an interesting choice. The alcantara is softer to the touch, but has a bit less cushioning, so I'm not sure which I like better yet! Only time will tell I suppose. Give the strap a different feel on the wrist though.
And look what it comes with! Its incredibly well-packaged, and comes with a really nice storage case, along with two adjustment tools: One is a pin removal tool, and the other is a jeweler's screwdriver that can be used to remove Panerai straps. It also comes with a little Moleskine-style notebook for you to write whatever you like. A bunch of added value items that are pretty high quality is a nice touch.
Overall the Visconti is a beautifully crafted, first-rate premium alligator strap that makes a fantastic OEM alternative. They are compatible with all 24-22mm tapered Panerai tang buckle straps, and I think offer a better value than OEM straps, while offering opportunites for you to customize your strap so its exactly the way you want it.
Model: Chocolate Matte Alligator
Thickness: 3.5mm
Length: 75/115
Keeper Type: 1 Fixed, 1 Floating
Stitch Color: White
Edge Finish: Painted
Price: €295.00