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
Anyone have experience with leather Natos? I have to fold back much of a Nato with my smaller wrist size, and seems like that wouldn't quite work with leather if it was any sort of quality.
Here is the video: https://youtu.be/nMgSSvbKVz4
Besides DeLuca, and specifically designated full-grainend products from B and R, there's Vulture Premium, who've done about three drops here, obviously use full-grain hides, from Horween, Tochigi Leather, and probably their Italian stuff (I want to try a band from their camouflage ltalian leather: the incongruity of a kitschy camo pattern on full-grain leather is too funny to pass up). Eternal Leather of Hong Kong has done a watch pouch drop here, but they also do straps and will do custom straps from their Etsy page.
Dangerous9 gets into full-grained but "e-mail for the price" territory. There's SNPR. The Strap Smith, and Aaron Bespoke. I don't know about Clover Straps: They say genuine leather, but the guy might just not know the terminology, since I can't believe he'd put such effort into something with inferior materials.
Here are some promising makers from a quick Google search: Martú, Vintager Straps by Micah, Bas & Lokes, Stevo's Straps, Erica's Originals, Toshi Straps, Camille Fournet, ABP Concept, Ted Su, Greg Stevens Design, GasGasBones, Popov Leather, Equis Leather, DStrap, Jack Foster, Di Stephano, Julien Landa, Europelli, Strap Culture, Dirk Straps, (Ryan) Gordon Straps, NeroStraps, and various people on Etsy.
To-do: Ashland, District, Maratac, Guarded Goods, Triwa, NATO Strap Co., Hides and Stitches.
Edit: I went over to the Horween website, and they have a detailed chart listing the characteristics of their three or four dozen leather products. Chromexcel, Dublin, and Derby are all full-grain; Genuine Shell Cordovan is not full-grain, it's probably a high-quality top grain leather, as the description says that it is shaved ("to expose the shell") horsehide. Also, neither their Basketball nor Football tannages are full grain, but their Glove leather is full grain. Depending on the use and the characteristics desired (e.g., uniformity of surface texture, impregnation with various kinds of goop), full grain may not be the best in all cases, perhaps. Or maybe it's simply a price issue. In all, Horween has over two dozen full-grain tannages, and I expect that some may not be appropriate for watch bands, but it's too bad that the same few types are seen over and over and these other tannages are never seen in straps (e.g., Shrunken Grain, Longrider)
https://www.horween.com/tannages
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGJAkdcdj8s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPLnTMSyi68 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MT9hc_iW-Q
What's that cool watch that the Dangerous9 guy is wearing in his video? See here:
http://dangerous9straps.blogspot.jp/2012/11/my-newly-arrived-kaventsmann-bathyal.html http://dangerous9straps.blogspot.jp/2013/03/blue-shark-for-kaventsmann-percula.html http://dangerous9straps.blogspot.jp/2012/12/happy-holidays-kaventsmann-bathyal-no.html http://www.kaventsmann-uhren.de