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
Here're some more:
There's a turntable version at auction now from a pawn shop, with a high Buy it Now:
https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/r214538054
There's a car model at auction now at a ridiculously low price because the seller thinks it's broken since it doesn't hand wind.
Are they selling in-store demonstrators or what, I wonder. The text says, "Please note that this is a vintage watch and may be over 10 years old. It may feature a few minor scratches, but will arrive in brand new, unworn condition. Additionally, select pieces may come with their original gift box (while supplies last) and warranty."
A week ago I got a second Retro Future Camera edition in a different colorway. This is my favorite of the bunch, and I figured I could piece together the bracelets to get one that fits me. It came with a bracelet and the removed links and the box and documentation, but ...
-- The bracelet is a different bracelet (which is big enough for me)
-- The watch face is structurally, not just colorwise, different, with a single larger cutout over the stem
-- And most bizarrely of all, the movement is different. The white face has a non-screw-down, hacking, hand-windable movement, which the black face watch has a screw-down, non-hacking, non-hand-windable movement. Without looking to check, I think the black one has an FH movement while the white one has a DK movement. Taking a photo of them, I see that the screws in the watch face are in different positions, hinting at different movements.
I put them on different NATOs, with a central blue stripe for the white one that has blue hands. At some point I may put the black one back on the bracelet. I want to clean and ultrasonic the sucker first.
I like these Retro Futures because they are not as assertively eccentric, and they are on the small side, 38 or 39 mm, but thick, which for this kind of watch works better for me, even though normally I like larger watches.
Sounds like they could just be NOS condition pieces. Kind of a collectors dream, eh? Would another major watch company sell off their "found" old stock and make little fanfare about it?
Here is the link to what we are talking about for others reference: https://www.orientwatchusa.com/own-a-piece-of-orient-history-pt-x/
I have a couple of fur felt hats, fedoras, from the 1960s, Adams Executive brand, that I bought at a forum NOS auction. Some guy showed up in the forum with a tale about how he had bought the stock of an elderly, retiring Maryland haberdasher. It sounded fishy, but two trusted forum members jumped on planes and met the guy and it was for real, about 200 vintage hats after accounting for moth damage. The clothing was sold to a Hollywood costumer in a bulk sale, but the hat forum auctioned off the hats. I got two, but in retrospect I wish I had bought a dozen. And they were cheaper than new handmade hats. But completely different, done with a lost technology and a long-gone skilled workforce.