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 is a bit of a long shot but I've always wanted to see higher end pens find wider distribution, such as Franklin-Cristoph, Romillo, Nakaya, and Sailor's fancier stuff.. Having tried out a lot of those, each pen has certain characteristics that are interesting and distinct.
Ultimately, my decisions for fountain pens come in threes: capacity, nib feel, and hand feel. If the pen writes well but runs out of ink quickly, it is hard to take it on the go to be a daily writer. Similarly, if the nib (and feed) have a hard time getting started or have a tendency to burp while on the go because of a bumpy ride, it reduces overall enjoyment of the pen. The feel of the pen in the hand is hard to quantify, but posted or not it should extend a little past the crook of my hand over the knuckle with a medium weight.
A Nakaya Decapod is actually really good in all of these aspects, but the cost is pretty expensive and the manufacturing process takes quite a long time. Modern made pens like TWSBI's stuff are pretty good and a great platform for tinkering. I feel like Asian manufacturers are represented the least inside of the drops available on rotation, and I'd love to see more of them!