V

Thanks guys... Yes we had a lot of fun with my wife and our friends... I have many more photos but our 'not so legal' hobby don;t allow us to be more personal. @maciek: I really wanted to take a photo like yours but unfortunately to all the beaches I went with my camera, they were all with rocks and no sand.

Well back to rain and cloudy moody weather but in a happy note, back to my friends at RWG.. Here are some of the photos I took.. Now I have to go and read a couple of pages with topics to catch up A bit of diving: To a football game: One of my cats loved my Pam: At the beach:

Just a quick reply to say that you have some WONDERFUL straps Aaron...

Don't worry Aaron.. Don't listen to them The Ferrari/Pam will be my next rep purchse

Just a quick notice to tell you I am on holidays till the end of August Photos when I come back of course..

Then the 65$ with a new GPF buckle I got it from MAC is really a gift

Don't know about Kobold but many manufacturers say their strap are 100% waterproof and either they are lying, or they are made of plastic leather

Of course I guess now Theo the paypal payment is long gone more than 45 days... At the moment my friend you can ONLY wait

I know

Got this strap today from MAC and took some photos with my 112... Very nice smell exactlly like the MF1942 smell that I missed so much

Well... maybe some of you who don't care that much about straps won;t even care to open this topic. Although now that you have opened it means you want to learn something.. Waterproof leather. Is it possible? YES and NO in their pure form.. We all know that Panerai offers their watches with a replacement rubber strap. Why? Because everytime someone has swan more than a handfull of times the strap has shrunk. This will happen to the majority of the straps out there.. If by any chance you have seen vintage historic watches ALL of them have shrunk leather at the lugs. Although there are straps that they say they are water-proof salt-waterproof etc etc for some hours. Those straps divide in two categories: 1. The straps which are a mixture of leather and plastic with most of percentage on the plastic. They don't smell at all leather and even if they are waterproof they don't look good. 2. The straps which are genuine leather and they have treated with a coating which makes them waterproof. They are called rubberised straps and Panerai itself has made one in the A series and it is very highly sought after. They wrinkle VERY EASILY but they keep the water from soaking the leather and if you put a leather balsam cream occasionaly they will be ok BUT personaly I don't know if I would risk to put them in the sea. They will be ok for shower and rain and pool. They dry easier than normal un-treated leather but still not completely. Myth: The Metta Catharina strap is not waterproof. Servived in the water because it was in tar. Now when they treated the leather for use they dried it out and you must use balsam cream to prevent the leather from cracking. Here is a strap fitted in No2 category.. A gift (for the price I paid I consider it a gift) from MAC. A rubberised MP6 on my 112. More photos in the Photo Gallery...

Thanks Mark.. this is a David's discovery.. I just followed @dluddy: Yes it is real leather.. Do a search for Saffiano leather... This is the leather hide Prada uses for their stuff... @Gil: Yes.. it is very nice.. EddieLee special which costed me 2150£

Ok Chris.. After I come back I will try to do it in larger scale for many members or RWG only. We will get buckles from my friend MAC and BOB and then personalise them with nicknames or whatever you want. Clive do you fancy a Whoreologist buckle?

Chris the engraving will be hand made.. We can give him a vague direction but nothing specific like a font. I have done to him one lighter and a silver pendant both presents to our best-women at the wedding and I was very pleased with the engraving even if it was hand made.

Well.. in two days I'm off for holidays and it is time to start working my new project which of course it will be stolen by someone else as David says to make profit I will send to an engraver 2-3 buckles to personalise them with my RWG (and in general) nickname 'Veni'. It is much cheaper in GR than in UK and I know this engraver does a good job. Of course the idea has been done before in VP but thanfully there are no trademarks for ideas (or there are?) Anyway.. I will do my 3 buckles and I have one or maybe 2 extra if you like the idea... Only old members of course and 'friends' have a priority. Here you get the general idea about what I am talking about:

There are so many manufacturers and price ranges out there (especially for Panerai) that you must be nuts like me to have almost every strap and style from every manufacturer to be able to find out the best with just a look. Price can be according to the leather, handmade, custom order, buckle or not, rarity (limited editions) etc etc.. As david said in another topic someone's leather 'stinch' is anothers reason of buying a strap and sniffing it all day long Saying that some straps are poor quality is like saying that in this world there are bad people. How much they cost? What leather they use? Are they hand made? Where are they made? ...and of course many many more questions... EDITED TO ADD: Plus .. it depends on the leather if the stitching if straight or not.. For example you do not expect on aligator straps to have straight stitching when the leather is not flush but has grain to it.. My 249$ genuine Panerai aligator strap has not completely straight stitching (and this happens to all the gen aligator straps i have seen)

Very nice Randy.. Not my type of style but looks very nice

Thanks a lot I know.. the 112 is a beauty

Glad you liked it John..

ONLY..... RWG.CC The best

I was trying to find a photo I had of a genuine 300$ Panerai strap of the Pre-V area to show you the stitching.. Unfortunately I lost the photo but it was like a blind midget trying to sew it inside a blender.

Hahahah.. same here... My good part is ashamed of my bad part and my bad part is saying how stupid is my good part.. DO I make any sense ? No.. and neither what they wrote

And the last one:

This is my new Prada Saffiano leather strap.. Well this is a perfect formal strap for me (Not that it is not appropriate for casual everyday use, but I will wear it mostly on formal occasions) It is OEM style (not so thick) and with a lovely pattern. Enjoy:

Aaron I don't like it my friend... Looks like the gladiator is back in town Those straps are ok for Diesel watches