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
This is from the Presage line, and it is finished with all the attention to detail one would expect of a Presage watch. The bracelet and case combine brushed and polished surfaces in perfect proportion, showing off Seiko's craftsmanship and making this watch equally at home in the boardroom and at a dinner party. The dial is also set off by a dark jewel topping the crown, which is unique for Seiko and could be a callout to Cartier.
Moving on to the dial, it's topped by a sapphire crystal with AR coating on the inside only. Applied metal markers and the applied SEIKO logo are almost the only adornments on this minimalist dial. They make it elegant yet still interesting.
The hands are perfectly proportioned, and they hold a secret in plain sight. On close inspection, one sees that the leading edge of the hour and minute hands are frosted, whereas the trailing edge is polished. This solves a common problem with fully polished hands - unless the polished edges catch the light, they can look dark and blend into a dark dial. The frosted edge ensures that each hand is always visible with light from any direction. The markers carry on this theme - the center strip of each marker is frosted, and its other surfaces are polished.
I am normally not a fan of white date windows against dark dials, but I make an exception for this watch. Somehow Seiko made it work here.
Finally, I previously wrote about another Presage in my collection, the SARW011. That watch has a 28,800 bph movement (8 beats per second), and I pointed out how it has 4 sub-second markers per second division, which align precisely to every other beat of its second hand.
This watch does almost the same thing. It has a 6R15 movement beating at 21,600 bph (6 beats per second), and its dial has 6 sub-second markers per second division to reflect the different beat rate.
I still find it mind-boggling that Seiko would actually bother with details like this, which 99% of people wouldn't even look for or notice.