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
So for parts of the day early this morning using-used this to keep track of and measure "time", not a watch, not a clock, but related sort of an evolution of a chronometer in purest sense of the word aka metronome, I'm actually working to build a collection of various of these , this was my 2nd one, Seiko JDM (I imported direct from Japan ) SPM 320 mechanical metronome, these are what manual wind watches are to the wrist and pocket watch world. They would be considered 'mid tier' but the are the entry into pure mechanical for Seiko current offerings re
http://www.sii.co.jp/music/english/products/metronome/spm320-370.html
These have some cool features even at this sort of entry-ish level base model [I'm saving For a premium hard wood pyramid model next], has a bell inside and allows me to turn on and off and choose on which click , 1 thru 6, it rings, allowing me to study score rhythms and practice at different ultra slow tempo or just keep track of the dang beat in tricky areas.
The little little rod with a counter weight is like an upside down version of clock hands for pendulum yi u see on grandfather clocks, as I move the weight down, the pendulum swings faster and instead of a dial with hours minutes seconds, i have how many clicks per minute or each click is one flu swing from one side to the other, the words correlate with traditional ranges of speed called for in music.
I have a Seiko discontinued bur awesome quartz one too I'll post some time near future ,but wanted to highlight Seiko manufacturing and technical prowess at not just watches but these cool related and ultra handy but not so commonly seen [especially in West for Seiko] instruments.