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
- I’m very pleased with all three: two Tuna Cans (one bronze, one steel), and one bronze Turtle.
- Yes, I would buy/order again from Heimdallr (there are several others I like).
- Shipping was very fast, everything was nicely packaged, individually cased, warranty cards included for each.
No doubt everyone is curious about the build quality and value of these watches—a reasonable concern because frankly, the prices they’re selling for are, to my mind—a steal! So let’s talk about that. First I have to say one of the reasons I was dragging my ass about writing this was because I was concerned about what to compare these watches to. It’s a little easier with the Turtle homage (I have a couple real Turtles) but I’ve never seen or handled a true Seiko Marine Master "Tuna Can”. And I have to be honest here; I was never particularly interested in one. A) they cost a fortune, and B) they look funny. So why did I just buy two homage (knock-off) Tunas? A) the price, and B) I guess the Tuna Can design kinda grew on me? All of that is to say, I can’t really compare my sort’a Tunas to real-deal Tunas I’ve never owned. My thoughts on the Turtle comparison are more head to head. So here goes… First it should be said that the attraction to buying half-price Seiko homage watches, is that all of these watches are Seikos, in as much as all of them use Seiko SII NH35A movements. I mean, wouldn’t you buy a fake Rolex if it had real Rolex movement in it? Don’t answer that! But each of these watches do contain a genuine, decent quality, Seiko movement—that certainly checks a box. Another plus is that all of them use real-deal Sapphire crystals, no Hardlex to piss and moan about on these watches