Best Panerai Strap Review

[Benjamin7]

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I have had many Panerai watches passing through my collection over the years, and never really was interested in aftermarket rubber straps for Panerai. The OEM rubber strap already came with the watch and I wasn’t really keen about it and rarely used it. Then along comes this new Rubber B strap that fits the case and has a motionless “blocked integration” fit which intrigued me…

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As someone who likes cool and innovative products that seem to have a lot of passion or thought put into them, I decided to take a plunge and try one on my PAM233. These things are not cheap, but they seem worthy of attention and they are made in Switzerland. Rubber B has a great reputation across the various watch forums for their quality stuff for Rolex and experience has been positive, so I felt like it was a safe bet to go with their new Panerai strap. I chose the dual colored black and green strap for my PAM. They also offer solid black, and another dual color option with tan.

My first impression of the Rubber B strap when I removed it from the packaging, was that it felt exactly like the Omega rubber straps I’ve had in the past. It’s soft and flexible, but retains its form nicely. It feels very high quality and has a solid head where it will eventually mount the watch.

Here is a shot of my PAM233 on the Rubber B. You can see the nice integration and how it actually looks sporty and elegant at the same time.


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Below you can see the dual color as I squeeze it firmly. This new color technology called vulchromatic is trademarked by Rubber B (according to their website) and seems to be a very cool thing because the 2 colors act as one no matter how much I twist or turn the rubber into contorted positions, it just slowly twists back to its original form and color as soon as I release it. This is the feature that impressed me the most. (sorry for the grainy image here, bad camera flash)

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Putting the Rubber B strap onto my Panerai was no different than putting on the original leather strap that came with my PAM- it just effortlessly slid into place. The differences began to show once it had been mounted. It is undeniably surprising and quite amazing to hold the Panerai in my hand, and for the first time, to have a rubber strap on it that does not move one bit. It is locked on to the head as tight as a viper bite, and trying to rotate the strap around the pin results in zero movement whatsoever. This is because the solid insert in the strap houses the pin bar, and has a shaft that fits the pin bar just right, so there is no room for rackety motion. So, when I put it on my wrist for the first time, mounted on the rubber b strap, the watch felt lighter and more stable than I’m used to. The strap was doing a fine job of securing the watch centered on my wrist and relieving the head weight, which always seemed to pull away or downward on the OEM rubber or leather straps for Panerai. The Rubber B on my PAM felt like a match made in heaven, and the comfort is very unusual and surprising.



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Rubber B comes with a nice 316L steel buckle, I opted to use the Panerai buckle on mine.

After wearing this strap for the past week, I really have nothing but great things to say about it. It is comfortable, does not grab the skin, pull the hair, or collect dust.

Pros:
Superb quality and comfort.
Blocked integration stability.
Unique look on the case.
Can be used with the Pam buckle.

Cons:
The price is not cheap.
Not a lot of color options (Solid black is the least expensive)


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