The Burano Changes Clothes…

A little while ago I backed a Kick Starter by STRAPHOLIC for a nice big 20mm blue leather strap.  Generally speaking I enjoy blue leathers and accessories, wallets, shoes, watch straps, etc… and the price was low so I thought why not.  So it arrived and with life being what it is it ended up sitting with a pile of other straps awaiting mounting.

And this brings us today, a rainy, flood warning filled day predoninantly categorized by the weather and the comfortable sweats I decided to dawn.

I strongly agree with Panerai in that Italian watches should be strong, classic and FUN and you should be able to wear one in the board room or at the beach interchageably. Like a mullet – all business in the front and party in the back!  It’s with this in mind that I view the MV line-up, polished on top, brushed around the sides, classic dial but with red blue and gold accents, wrapped up with the light leather strap.

My big issue with the strap was that it tappered so quickly and the color really just doesn’t work.  So fast forward to this morning and me eyeballing the aformentioned blue leather on my Rolex Yacht-Master 116622 (which didn’t work).  With that failiure in hand I proceeded to eye the Burano and low and behold the PERFECT match!

Now the Strapholic strap is not really comparible to a $200.00 strap, but it is appropriate for the price point and for the $60 CAD / $45 USD I paid shipped I think its a swing and a hit.

Pros: Thickness, strap coloring, stitching, the “true” leather color seen in the strap holes actually matches the original strap color which I think is cool and it works.  It’s also light weight considering the size and has a sort of quark-like feel to it.  It also is leather through and through with no filler.

Cons: Coloring is surface deep, only moderately comfortable, overall feel is just a little on the cheap side because of the light weight nature and high sheen color.

The biggest reason I think the Burano and the Strapholic work so well together is that their is no taper to the strap, it’s a straight 20mm from tip to tip.  This allows the end of the strap to feature a nice big pre-V buckle that features a softly polished brushed finish and the pairing with the Burano finish is PERFECT.

The rich deep blue of the strap matches the blue of the hour and minute hand and the whole combination POPS!  This combination really inspires me to rock the Meccaniche Veneziane Redentore Burano a lot more than I otherwise would.  I can’t overstate how well the Strapholic strap works with the Burano!

Finally, I have to update you with some further observations having worn the Burano more.  The whole hour hand out of place issue (see origianl review) drives me nuts, like right now it’s 3:59 and the hour hand is only half way between 3 and 4.  Also, I would really like to see the Redentore line-up feature a screw down crown; if you want to offer a fun dress up and dress down watch you should follow Rolex’s lead and just feature a screw down crown on all of your watches.

I like this watch WAY more with this strap and am super happy with it now and armed with this information I will be preparing a line-up of replacments straps for the upcoming Nereide 3.0 and GMT watches which I am waiting on.