There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
For the link-clicking challenged, or shy, the specific CRKT knife with the premium build is the Pilar, a Jesper Voxnaes design. BladeHQ is offering an exclusive with a carbon fiber presentation scale and an S35VN blade. The frame and lock are still stainless steel, which makes me worry that the knife might be pretty badly imbalanced in the hand, but it's a small knife so hopefully the weight disparity isn't too affecting.
As one of many people who has said, on this site and other in venues, that I wish CRKT would offer some of their very cool collaborations in upgraded materials (and, ahem, hopefully equally upgraded fit 'n finish), this is a positive development. A price of $69.95 ain't too shabby either; that's low enough I'll pick one up just to see about the build quality.