While there is not much known about the history of the original watch straps initially created for Panerai watches, there is a new batch of extremely talented watch strap makers who specialize in vintage Panerai straps. This up and coming generation is fueled by the history and passion of the Panerai brand. This history has led to many unique ideas for the future of vintage watchstrap making. The materials used for current day vintage and non-vintage watch straps can range from shark to crocodile to ostrich to Kodiak bear to different cloth materials glued onto leather and too many to name. The possibilities are truly endless, that is why I felt there needed to be a small article written about some of the different vintage watch straps available.
First I wanted to start with a vintage ammo pouch watch strap which was created from a Swiss ammo pouch dating back to 1926. While it has over 80 years of history, it still has many years to give as a newly made watch strap. The buckle is a gorgeous, polished buckle that is signed by its creator, DaLuca Straps. The size is 140mm long / 80mm long and 26mm wide. This vintage Panerai strap fits the 47mm Panerai watches perfectly and there are many more vintage Panerai straps like this for purchase.
A great example of a more “out there” design would be this brown Swiss one, as it has a physical stamping of the original ammo pouch leather on the top of the long piece of the vintage watch strap. This Panerai strap was created from a Swiss ammo pouch from the 1960s and is incredibly durable. It has an amazing outside smooth texture which will get better the more you wear it and also will last for a long time. The length is a nice 130mm/80mm and it has a 24mm width which will work great on any of the 44mm Panerai models. The buckle is also a signed DaLuca Pre V Sewn-In model, like above. More of these style watch straps can be found here.