D9 dresses up my 233 for a night out on the town

[Travelller]

Black and elegant yet robust enough for a 1950
Yet another "small" project I started with John of D9 (my D9 Swiss Ammo being the very first) with the seemingly simple goal of an alligator / caiman skin that would dress up my PAM 233 and still compliment the robustness of OP's 1950 case and crown-guard. You can find the beginning of my journey here.




Hornback it is!
Alligator, Caiman (croc), belly, hornback, baby hornback (and those are just the ones I know about) turned this into a not-so-simple affair after all... ! There are aesthetic and practical reasons to each specific skin type and "region" and you can't always get the best of both worlds. I wanted to go with hornback because I felt it would compliment the 1950 case best. However, hornback is certainly not the most flexible part of the animal's skin, making it rather stiff, particularly towards the tail-end of the strap. I also considered so-called baby-hornback, which is the upper-section of a Caiman croc, but got mixed feedback regarding it's quality and general comfort. At times the Hornback looks to be too extreme, so the smaller "horns" of the Caiman would have been a good alternative, middle of the road approach.




Best of both Worlds
Leave it to John and his knowhow and creativeness to save the day ...by splicing softer belly with the Hornback at the strap's tail-end, where you need more flexibility! So how the heck can he pull that off without the strap looking like Frankenstein... ? Well that's for him to know and us to find out, but this side-shot will give you the opportunity to get a head start...



Typical of John's work, the strap is meticulously crafted, the finish is first rate. John's screw-in buckles are above-average for aftermarket fare and this time I went with polished. We again went a little long on the tail-end adding another 5mm for a 130/75. I like my PAM straps generally with one fat keeper (~15mm) and once again John was cool enough to provide two keepers, both made from a different part of the skin, so that I can fine-tune the look at bit.

Lest I forget to mention the cool eel lining John used for this one! I have the problem that I sweat in the Summer and I really wanted to offset the black alligator with a another color. He only had black and light-grey eel as standard options but he went ahead and created a charcoal for me; luckily for everyone else, he's decided to add that to the standard options too! The eel lining also brings me to the first of a few caveats. For my Swiss Ammo strap, John burnt (or etched) the Dangerous9Straps logo into the lining, which I found pretty cool. This apparently doesn't work with eel and John uses permanent marker (or similar). While his penmanship is a heck of a lot better than mine, I don't think it looks particularly right on an exotic skin such as eel. I'd also hoped the strap would be a touch less glossy (he makes a great "vintage" grey alligator strap which is matte) but the skins are treated beforehand by the skins supplier.




Let's go to town
Well hell, John sure did on this strap and now it's my turn! This strap makes my $$$$ PAM look like a $$$$ watch (lol), so this is definitely the strap for a night out on the town with a nice shirt, dress jeans and shoes / belt to match! The best part is that I can enjoy the robust look of hornback while enjoying the comfort of belly too. John has once again managed to impress and now I hope I can return the favor with some more eye candy for you!











There's no mistaking a contemporary watch band with this beast!


John's packaging & contents are still among the best around!


The shoe collection

[Stack]

I love John's work. Some of the best out there!

[nauticajoe]

Nice pics.

[rulessapt]

Thanks for sharing those sharp and clear pics of the exotic strap.
I like the simple logo on the buckle too.

cheers,
richard

[Cru Jones]

Fantastic write up and pix. I really enjoy the participatory side of working with John to create a strap.

[Psmith]

Congrats - looks great

[Althaur]

That strap looks great, as do your photos. Congratulations.

[nick c]

Congrats

[masterserg]

Beautiful!!

[B. Doggy]

Love the pix

[p_mcgee]

Very nice, good choice. I picked up a black/black OEM gator for my 233 after your original post. I'm keeping it because it looks great, but it turns out I don't have the urge to dress my Panerai up very often.

[echau]

thanks for the review!

[One Ping Only]

Great story, pics and strap!

[CMT]

Killer PAM, killer strap, perfect photography. Very nice.

[wmh2]

Awesome strap! Looks great.

[kilyung]

Wrist shot?

[Travelller]

Thanks everyone

Originally Posted by kilyung

Wrist shot?

Mike, I haven't replied to this thread with my usual "break-in" report because I caught a pretty bad bug which cost me a few Kgs and so I'd like to get back up to my fighting weight before posting either said report or a wrist shot.

Hopefully soonest

[kilyung]

Originally Posted by Travelller

Thanks everyone


Mike, I haven't replied to this thread with my usual "break-in" report because I caught a pretty bad bug which cost me a few Kgs and so I'd like to get back up to my fighting weight before posting either said report or a wrist shot.

Hopefully soonest

Oh oh. If you lost weight, you'll need a new strap! Hope you get well soon.

[Travelller]

Originally Posted by kilyung

Wrist shot?

Better late then never, as they say

[stateniland]

I ordered 2 straps from John Glance of Dangerous9Straps..
I had to wait 4 months (when he told me it would take 5 weeks).
He then sent 2 straps that were WAY OFF (too small) in size.
He was told that I wanted the straps to fit loose with long tails.
He now will not accept the fact the he got his measurements all wrong and will not accept my return for properly fitting bands.
STAY CLEAR of his false promises.

[Travelller]

Originally Posted by stateniland

...

I've ordered three straps from John with ZERO issues. He's a great pleasure to deal with
He even helped me out with an OEM that needed some TLC.

Given my own experience and having a good felling for people, I find it extremely difficult to accept your account. Furthemore, I'd appreciate it if you took your ranting elsewhere, instead of hijacking my thread...

[dangerous9]

Joe,
I see your still trolling me. No ones is going to believe your outlandish stories, I've got a great reputation on the watch/strap maker community. Sad for you that this is how you've chosen to waste your life.