VINTAGE STRAP

At a certain point in time Eng Tay was looking for a handmade strap for one of his vintage Panerai watches and Kok Peng Lim offered him to try to make one for him. With limited tools he created his first strap that looked acceptable. A few months later Eng Tay brought leather ammunition pouches from New York for him to create more straps. This was a turning point for Kok Peng Lim as he fell in love with the straps he created and needed his own watch to fit a strap like that.

He looked for a watch that would suit an ammo strap best in watch magazines and came to the conclusion that Panerai watches are the best match for these kind of straps.

When he asked Eng Tay to help him find the right Panerai model, he got a shocking reply that a Seiko watch would do and is practical enough. But he insisted on getting his own first Panerai and it had to be a special one, a limited edition.

His first Panerai is a PAM00232 Radiomir. This is in the meantime added with a PAM00249, PAM00382, PAM00360 and a PAM00634. All these models are Panerai Limited Editions and the reason for the start of his journey into strap making.

Until now, he is continuously making straps for himself and some of his friends. All these years he got his satisfaction from making a strap that will impress himself, and not for making money.

As an true artist he keeps improving himself , just like the way he is practicing on his painting art works, that also means that any work that does not make him happy or he is not satisfied with, he will not hesitate to destroy it.

As a passionate Panerista he has been meeting a lot of fellow Paneristi around the world making new friends.

My wife and I were invited by fellow Panerista Calven Tan to participate in a mini-GTG (GTG= get-together) after I posted on Facebook that we were coming to Malaysia on a holiday. This was taking place on 4th January 2017 in Kuala Lumpur.

When we reached at the meeting point, Madam Kwan's Restaurant in the Suria Mall in KLCC most participants were already there. The evening was extremely nice and both my wife and I were given a T-shirt and a mug that was created for their last big GTG in August 2016. The T-shirt was designed together with Eng Tay, this makes it an extra special T-shirt!

Calven asked me before about my strap sizes because there was a strap maker coming as well to the GTG, I gave the details of our straps sizes and expected that the strap maker would just take straps along that we could have a look at and possibly buy. Instead of that a canvas pouch was presented by Calven as he requested the strap maker Kok Peng Lim to create a strap for both my wife and me, a complete and unexpected surprise.

Once I opened the canvas pouch and had the straps in my hands for the first time I was immediately impressed with the finish and shadows effect of both the straps. Calven whispered in my ear that he takes normally at least 1 to 2 weeks to complete one strap till it is giving him the result he is looking for. This review will be for the time being limited to the 26mm strap I received that was made for my Panerai PAM00372.

The finish of the strap is very accurate, it is a hand-made strap and the very well done stitching. The leather is thick and feels very firm similar to a new ammo strap, the leather is polished and aged toward the lug side that gives the strap a very interesting look. This strap definitely needs to break in and now after 4 days of wearing the strap it feels very comfortable on the wrist. The keepers are thick and not too wide, the holes punched are small and round, that gives it a more vintage look, but give you kind of a struggle to get the buckle pin in the hole the first time.The strap is 150/85 length, for me a perfect size that shows some tail, again something vintage. The color change from light to dark is completely the same on both parts of the strap

The thickness of the strap is 5mm tick at the lug side and has small holes that just can be fitted with the Panerai tubes like it is one with the strap. The burnishing done is a rough natural one and subtle and colored in the same color as the dark part of the strap.

The finish of the strap is very accurate, it is a hand-made strap and the very well done stitching. The leather is thick and feels very firm similar to a new ammo strap, the leather is polished and aged toward the lug side that gives the strap a very interesting look. This strap definitely needs to break in and now after 4 days of wearing the strap it feels very comfortable on the wrist. The keepers are thick and not too wide, the holes punched are small and round, that gives it a more vintage look, but give you kind of a struggle to get the buckle pin in the hole the first time.The strap is 150/85 length, for me a perfect size that shows some tail, again something vintage. The color change from light to dark is completely the same on both parts of the strap

Below you find summarized the specifications of the strap, the prices mentioned are only indicative just to give you an idea what you could expect if you order one.