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Di Stefano Straps




Strapmaker introduction


Simona Di Stefano

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The saddest news possible hit me recently, Simona passed away on Sunday 23 October 2022. May she rest in peace.

Strapmaker brand name: Di Stefano Di Firenze
Started strap making since: 2005
Location: Florence, Italy
Types of straps made: Vintage, historical & classic straps

Chris and I are the husband and wife team behind Di Stefano Straps Firenze. I was born into the leather business that was started by my Grandfather Bruno Allegrini, at a time when it was the largest Tannery in Europe.

Chris, originally from the UK, has a commercial background first in Marketing for a large UK Company and then later went on to become a commodities trader. After several years travelling with his backpack around the Globe Chris decided to concentrate on his newly discovered passion for Photography.Combining his long standing love of Panerai watches Chris joined me full time in Florence to continue to develop DS Firenze.

Under the guidance of my father, Mario Di Stefano, President of the Italian Leather Stylists Federation for almost two decades, Chris soon learned much about the family business and developed a true appreciation and understanding of the traditions and practices of fine Artisan-produced Italian Leather. Or as Chris puts it “Mario Di Stefano has probably more experience and knowledge about the tradition of Quality Italian Leather than any man alive today – everything we know about leather was passed on to us by Mario Di Stefano” We still use only the finest Tanneries including of course the Di Stefano Family Leather Tannery which is run today, in the family tradition, by my brother Gianluca Di Stefano.

My knowledge and experience of Italian Leather and all the characteristics that make it so special was not so much learned playing around the tannery as a child but was already in her blood.

I had one other early passion that followed me through my life – Panerai watches.

After gaining a First Class Post Graduate Degree in Economics I followed my passion and went straight to work in the Panerai Boutique in Firenze as the first Manager of the new Flagship Panerai Boutique – and went on to manage the original store for 2 years before being asked to open the very first of the new Panerai exclusive Boutiques in Portofino where I enjoyed a further 2 successful years..

I loves to create the high quality, beautiful watch straps for both Panerai watches and many other Luxury watch brands like IWC, Cartier and Jaeger LeCoultre – I am always happy to offer advice, so please feel free to contact me and I will be happy to recommend one of my designs for any specific watch you have in mind.

I want also to add that some of my straps have some chemical treatment on the upper part, like the alligator straps, however the lining is always vegetable tanned.. so what goes on the skin is vegetable tanned.
Gators and especially bright stable colors can only be done with chemicals. For instance a bright red, bright orange that remain stable need chemicals.

For the new line of hand-stitched straps we keep the price at the same level as the machine-stitched because they are both done with the maximum care, one by one.
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First strap made


The first strap Di Stefano made in 2006 was a vintage strap available in four colors, black, blue brown & tan, available with Pre-V and GPF Mode Dep style flat buckle. That same year the Vintage Gator was introduced in two variants with a GPF Mod Style flat buckle. These straps has one thing in common, they were thick and had untreated edges.
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Known for this strap


Di Stefano straps is known for their Diver Straps, one of them is the Bruno Allegrini Gamma Diver strap LE. The initial version was intensely treated and has a worn-out look. This was changed into a less treated version over time so users can create their own worn look of the strap!

Another iconic strap that was introduced as one of the first straps for the popular Panerai "Bronzo" was the Michael Angelo, an intense dark brown strap with a bronze buckle.

Strapmaker details

website strap maker: www.distefanostraps.com
Price-range machine-sewn: Euro 50-160
Price range hand-sewn: Euro 110-160
Straps in materials: All leather hides only sourced from tanneries in Italy. Calf leather, cow leather, buffalo leather, goat leather shark leather, alligator, crocodile
Vegetable tan leather used: yes
Chromium leather used: yes, the lining in this case is always of vegetable tanned leather
Leather treatments: vintage treatment on some strap versions
minimum width: 14mm on the lug side
maximum width: 28mm on the lug side
minimum length: 95/65
maximum length: 160/100
buckle included: depends on the strap chosen
Customization: yes
Delivery time: 10-14 days

Straps reviewed on Paneristi NL:

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Impressions of straps made by Simona Di Stefano