Hello everyone! I’m very excited today, as I’ve finally received my first Colareb straps. I got a 20mm brown Venezia for my Alpinist, and a 22mm dark grey Firenze for the Glycine Airman DC-4 I should receive any day. In the meantime and without wait, here is my review of the wonderful brown 20mm “Venezia” strap by Colareb, and of how it looks on the SARB017.
Build quality
Out of the box, there is only one way to describe the Colareb strap compared to the other cheap or regular straps I’ve previously owned: wow! Everything about it screams quality.
Starting from its thikness: the Colareb is at least twice as thick as the strap the watch originally came with, on all its lenght. The original strap was made of a thin “slice” or layer of leather, with some material inserted in it on its top ends to give it some thickness at that level. The Colareb approach to thickness is much more basic and healthy: the whole strap is cut in thick leather, from top to bottom.
When I first saw the strap and how thick it was, I worried it would be stiff, and would take some time to soften up. I guess I’m too used to cheap quality straps, as this one is amazingly soft and flexible out of the box. It’s actually softer than the previous leather strap I had been using for 2 months! There is no way to describe how different holding this Colareb feels. Lovely, in every possible way!
The last thing I want to mention about this strap and its quality is its smell: one can really smell it’s made from real leather! Putting it close to my nose brings back childhood memories, of when I cleaned my horse saddle. Again, something I didn’t experience with my previous straps the smelled neutral out of the box.
Looks and wear
The Colareb Venezia looks dramatically different from the original Seiko strap, which was a dark brown croc-like classy looking leather, that made the Alpinist look very dressy. It was also relatively thin, starting at 20mm and shrinking rapidly down to 18 or even 16, I’m not sure, at the buckle.
The Venezia looks different in every way: it’s of a lighter brown, much thicker and is made of brute leather that looks practically untreated. It has less (only 4 at the top of each end, and some at the bottom) but much more visible stitches. As such, the strap is much sportier, “root” looking than the original, and gives the watch a more versatile look. I love it!
Wear is incredibly confortable. As the leather is soft and flexible, it embraces the wrist perfectly all around. This is not only confortable but visually pleasing, as the watch sits better on the wrist, well on mine at least. To resume its wear comfort in one sentence: my wrist now misses the Alpinist when not wearing it, while before it was relieved of taking it off!
Last positive thing to mention is that given the thickness of the strap, it actually sits on leather –versus on the buckle- when I have my wrists on a table or an object, in example when typing on my computer. This is great, as it will preserve the buckle from getting scratched too fast.
I think this is all I can say on this strap. I won’t comment much on its hardware other than to say the buckle is very pretty, signed with a nice “r”, and seems to be of quality, which is required as it takes some effort and strenght to buckle and unbuckle such a large piece of leather.
I won’t be doing pros and cons for this review, as I’d fail to find any cons to the Venezia! Even its price (33.5 Euros) can’t be considered a con, despite being steep compared to 10 USD worth leather straps that can be found on ebay. The difference in quality is so tremendous that it makes me feel that even this price is a steal. After all, it gave my Alpinist a brand new life and feel!
To conclude: if you like the look of a Colareb strap, just order it with eyes closed, you won’t be disapointed in terms of quality and comfort. Highly recommended!
For those interested, here is the link to the exact strap I have bought and reviewed: http://shop.colareb.it/en/venezia-vintage-watchband-24
Small Toys for Grown Men 
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