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
Grifos pens are all hand-made; they definitely have character, and certainly not popped out by the dozen from some assembly-line factory. In fact I'd say Maurizio himself must've had a hand in the production of every pen that comes out of his atelier; this explains his presence here, replying to every question/post just like in his previous drop - characteristic of someone who runs a family business and places immense pride in his products and will stand by them. It goes without saying that after-sales service (if any is needed in the first place) will be taken care of personally.
My recommendation - just buy this pen; it's a great value purchase, it's something you'll be very happy to use or just hold in your hand, and this testimony comes from a real owner of this same pen, on top of the fact that this pen had been in constant rotation since I purchased it (which is no mean feat since I own more than 300 pens, and I gave up counting by the end of 2013).
You should also check out the other stuff that he produces - pens made out of wood (briar, olive), acrylics, buffalo horn, skins (cobra, alligator, lizard, stingray), sterling silver, and (I don't know whether he still makes them or not) stone!