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 bought a SuperTinker SAK about 29 years ago. It has earned a lot of honest wear and tear from years of use. I bent the tip of the large blade crooked somewhere along the way. The phillips screwdriver is very worn from use. The reamer/awl is also pretty dulled from drilling into plastic parts (did this a lot for my job). Rest of the tools are in good shape.
I am considering asking Victorinox to service this as warranty. I have visited their web page and read their stuff including their position that the warranty is for defects and not normal or excessive wear. I have also read many comments (years old now) from satisfied customers who had free repairs. On the flip side, there are some complaints about Victorinox wanting to charge people for the repairs. Personally I want to believe they would at least replace my bend blade and I would hope they would throw in a replacement phillips driver and reamer. Is that realistic to ask for that under warranty?
I do have a personal experience with Leatherman's warranty, and it was superb. They replaced a multi-tool (Juice S2) that was dropped in a road and run-over by multiple cars with no questions asked. I kind of prayed a Hail Mary as I packed those parts into an envelope and mailed them in.