Z16 - BRELLI NOS
A strap received, didn't fit my watches
Cengi sent me a strap end of 2020 and I was super excited, the excitement changed when I looked at the strap and found out it was a 24mm and not a 26mm. For a lot of Paneristi maybe not an issue when you have a big collection, at the time I only had 47mm Luminors and a 45mm Radiomir. When sharing this with Cengi, he told me to keep the strap and comforted me with the words "no issue, you will have a 44mm Luminor for sure anytime soon", this soon just came around the corner, a super-nice PAM112 Q-series in mint condition!
Z16 - Ernesto Forza - Brelli NOS
The strap name is a mouth full, but still makes a lot of sense.
The strap is named after Ernesto Forza, who was an Italian admiral. During World War II. He commanded the Decima Flottiglia MAS, the special operations unit of the Royal Italian Navy, from July 1940 to May 1943, and then its equivalent within the Italian Co-belligerent Navy, Mariassalto, after the armistice of Cassibile. He continued his career in the postwar Marina Militare, so all very much connected to Panerai.
This strap is produced in Brelli style, as in the 1950s by Bruno Bartalucci (Cuoierie Meccaniche Brelli) from Castelnuovo d'Elsa, Tuscany. Italy. Orginially they were sewn with a Nechi 902-156 industrial sewing machine. The distance from the seam line to the edge of the strap is very wide at 4.5mm due to the edge ruler from Nechi. Corrigia has taken all these characteristics in consideration and re-created this completely hand-made!
Next the leather he used for this strap is an old stock of leather hides from the 1950's.
This all combined makes it really look like New Old Stock.
Presented in a wooden box
Corrigia has been creating wooden boxes for individual strap series. The box this strap came with is stamped with the Siluro a Lenta Corsa (low speed torpedo) - AKA PIG. Next as this is a limited edition strap, there is a card included with the name of the strap and the serial number 01 of 77. To keep the strap smell nice, you will find coffee beans added.
The strap finish
The finish of the strap is different from other Corrigia straps, the stitching has a wider seamline, the leather has a like a painted layer on top. The leather is on the other hand extremely soft and got the salt water & leather balsam treatment, the burnishing is absent and the sides are rough.
The strap thickness varies, at the lug side it is thicker than on the buckle side, because of the "true vintage technique" where the short side has triple folding. The lugs are still thicker than most other straps in the market. The stitching is sharp and straight and resembles the machine sewn effect the original straps were used to be made, keeping in mind that this is replicated by hand-sewing!
The keeper is in a double sewn loop that has a bit flatter effect at the buckle side when wearing and looks in my opinion better on especially a smaller Panerai like the PAM00112 I am wearing.
The buckle
The buckle the strap came with is a Pre-V style sewn-in buckle that looks real nice with the watch. In my opinion a Pre-V looks better than the flat GPF type buckle
On the watch
The PAM00112 has screw-in pins like in the PAM00372 that makes it easy to change straps. As this is an after-market strap from Corrigia, he normally makes it just a tiny bit wider, around 1mm, than the lug width.
When you put on a strap that is 1 mm wider than your lug size of the watch and the leather is as thick and rough burnished you will need to put a bit of more effort to get it on the watch, just be patient and it will work. The strap is very soft, so are the keepers that gave a little struggle to put the tail in the last keeper. That will for sure be easier after wearing it a few times.
Nice fit!
On the wrist
The strap feels very soft, is thicker than most other straps and gives the watch another unique look and feel. The leather on the strap has a nice aging look and turns my PAM00112 in a true classis Panerai. The strap does not have too much tail which makes this combination also perfect when wearing a suit during the day and rough enough to look cool with a T-shirt and jeans in the evening
My conclusion
This strap although almost 4 years in my posession, looks different than any other Corrigia strap I have. It shows the diversity & creativity of this strapmaker that keeps him sticking out against most other strapmakers who keep on creating very similar strap designs year after yaer, even when the quality is very good, as a customer you do look for new things over time...
I am impressed the way this strap has been created, the leather looks very vintage and the shiny effect resembles the way the leather motor jacket from the 1950's of my grandfather looked like and still super soft and comfortable from the first day wearing.
The strap specifications:
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.
Leather type: NOS leather
Color: dark red
Stitching color: dark red
Width: 24 mm
Length: 135/80 mm
Thickness strap: 4mm, 5mm on the lug side
Type of buckle: 24mm Sewn-in Pre-V style buckle
Type of stitching: hand-sewn
Price range: 250 Euro / 273 USD, 270 EURO / 295 USD with buckle