A Look Behind the Leather of Jean Paul Menicucci

Nestled in the picturesque hills of Tuscany is a small town called Lucca. It is here that we find master strap maker Jean Paul Menicucci (JPM). Since 1989 Jean Paul and his team of craftsman have been producing some of the world’s finest leather goods. For us watch geeks, having a strap stamped ‘JPM’ is a special privilege that very few can attest to owning.
 

While many of us have blinders on when it comes to the watch industry, strap making is just a small part of what JPM produces. In the past he’s worked with Roberto Cavalli, Blumarine, Anna Molinari, Blu Girl, Roy Rogers, and many more. For decades, belt making was the bulk of the workshop’s production. In 2011, after numerous requests from collectors, JPM began making vintage styled leather straps for watches. Since then, JPM has seen their business explode and today they produce watch straps from crocodile, lizard, snakes, elephant, zebra, and numerous other reptiles.
 

We recently had the opportunity to sit down with Jean Paul and talk about his life and the cult of aftermarket straps.

Alexander – Hi Jean Paul, thank you for taking the time to meet with us today. How do you view the aftermarket strap marketplace?

JPM- Obviously there are a lot of competitors, do you pay attention to what others are doing or do you always forge your own path? Unfortunately, many people now copy this strap style (vintage), which are mostly the vintage look and style, but the copies are 80 % without taste, not hand made, and without QUALITY!
 

I always try to be one step ahead of the competition. I hate people who copy! The leather used by these people is sometimes not leather at all! The stiches are machine made. A copy may always be easier to arrive at, but the quality of what I make is a different story. I travel a lot, invest a lot of energy, and taste which is something you cannot buy. This is my lucky part, I always do what I feel, I'm always inspired by the watches my straps attach to. I may not make all straps the same, but I always think about a watch and create a collection for it. I try to make a combo with color, distress stitching, and painting. I’m lucky again that my first love is watches, so I can feel maybe different.
 

AF – Based on that, you must be surely be a watch guy at heart. Is there a favorite watch in your collection? Or maybe even a favorite watch that you like to see your strap on?

JPM- I LOVE WATCHES 100%!!! I love gold watches on bracelets, a favorite of mine is the unique piece rose gold Rolex Day-Date 6611/B with 3 diamond indices. Of course, I love the Patek Philippe Nautilus ref. 3700 in steel. Seeing my distressed strap or elegant honey color style looks great on the VETTAcrono brand from the 1930s.
 

AF – Looking forward, what does the future hold for JPM?

JPM- I’m always around the world, so I’m working on a new collection inspired from old school hotel stickers classic hotels. Like the Peninsula Hong Kong, RAFFLES in Singapore, The Ritz in Paris, and all the coolest hotels I come across.

Perhaps we may even see something involving a vintage airline company…
 

We paired JPM’s creations with the classic Rolex references 1680 (Submariner) and 6238 (Pre-Daytona). The bund style strap forms a comfortable cuff around your wrist and should you ever want to pare down the look, you can easily remove the two-part strap from the cuff and wear it traditionally. The black alligator is supple and broke in quite easily. On the 1680 we opted for two looks, first a distressed brown leather with black horizontal stitching, which looks great under a cuff. We then switched it up for a brown suede strap which pairs perfectly with your weekend loafers. It goes without saying, but JPM makes some of the smartest most stylish straps around!