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 watch was released some time between 2007 and 2009 and may be the cheapest model in the Croton lineup of watches. I first saw this watch while looking for a watch to buy for my son but decided to pass on automatics as a first watch for him. But for some reason I kept coming back and looking at this watch over the next two years. I figured it was the high gloss finish on the stainless steel case and bracelet that caught my eye but now I realize it was the color of the dial. I guess I had forgotten that as a kid one of my first watches had a dial with the exact same color and I loved it. Unfortunately that watch met its demise on a baseball field when the kid at bat hit a line-drive that whacked the dial of my watch as I was running from 1st to 2nd and shattered it.
I don’t know the actual caliber number of the movement, there’s very little info online. Also, the dial color is called periwinkle which has a bit of purple in it if viewed under certain lighting conditions. The watch ships with a polished stainless steel bracelet but I pulled it in favor of a medium grey perlon strap which I think plays well against the periwinkle blue dial.
Movement: Croton Co. Unadjusted 21-Jewel Japanese Automatic Movement (non-hacking)
Complications: Date
Case: 40mm Polished Stainless Steel
Crystal: Scratch Resistant Mineral
Band: 20mm Polished Stainless Steel Bracelet
WR/ 100-meter