Panerai Strap Review – Rubber B SwimSkin® Gator Strap

What’s going on everyone? It’s been a while since we sat down and talked straps. So what better way to get things started again than with a strap that is just perfect on so many levels for the Panerai owner.  We all can agree that for the most part a gator strap gives our timepieces a very luxurious look but there is of course a major downfall. Most of these straps are not waterproof so anytime you want to into the pool or the ocean where these watches belong you are going to have to switch out the strap to a rubber one that is normally provided by Panerai.  But what if you are traveling and don’t want to take extra straps or would like to easily keep the luxurious look of gator and be able to swim in a blink of an eye. Because lets face it, not everyone is a strap junkie like me and changes their straps almost every day or travels with a special bag of straps and my tools on every trip.

Well that is where this revolutionary new strap by Rubber B comes into play quite nicely. If you recall a while back I did a review on their original Rubber B Vulchromatic strap for my Panerai which was absolutely amazing and fit the contours of the case perfectly making the watch look like one complete piece. I was blow away by the Rubber B quality and was even more excited when I saw a picture of this gator style strap that was actually waterproof.

So for the past 5 years Rubber B has been working behind the scenes at their Swiss Factory to give us this strap which uses a revolutionary new material. They decided to name this new Material “Swim Skin”, which is a rubber material that looks and feels absolutely identical to moisture sensitive Alligator hide or Kevlar depending on which model you choose. However, these straps unlike the real materials are 100% waterproof and durable for any activities involving water.

After doing some research on this type of strap, I noticed that Rubber B wasn’t the first one to try this but all of the other companies could not duplicate the actual luster, design, feel, and other elements of the luxurious gator material.  I guess at the end of the day that is why it took them 5 years to develop this masterpiece of a strap.

So without any further delay I will give you a run down on how I feel about the strap and if it really does feel as good as they say. Instead of just using pictures and words to give you a feel for this strap, I decided to do a video instead so you can get a bit more up close and personal idea of the quality and design of the Rubber B Swim Skin Gator Strap.

Both the Gator version and Kevlar version are currently only made for the 42mm Panerai models with other sizes coming down the pipeline for sure. They each run $280 USD. The Gator version currently is available in Black and Espresso Brown with more colors coming down the pipeline. The Kevlar look version comes currently in 4 colors; Black, Tan, Camo Green, and light blue.