Three panda dial watches that bear resemblance to China’s national treasure

Pandas. Most people, I assume, love them. They are cuddly and cute and, of course, endangered, so they score instant sympathy votes. But allow me to suggest a counter argument: they are a waste of money. Pandas hoover up conservation dollars and resources on unsuccessful breeding programmes that could be better spent on saving whole habitats and other species that are keener on reproducing. You know, animals that see the point of getting busy and not just spending all day eating and sleeping. There, I’ve said it. I’m a panda truther. We’re being taken for a ride by Big Panda. Open your eyes, people!

Now that I’ve successfully alienated a lot of people and, worse, annoyed the panda lobby, it’s time for another tepid segue into watch talk, namely “panda” dials. See what I did there? Yes, this week, it’s literally “panda watch!” as I’ll run through three watches that fit the current trend for said dials. But first, what is a panda dial, you ask. Well, simply put, it’s a white-dial chronograph with black subdials, you know, kind of like the face of a panda. That’s as complex as it gets, folks. There are historically famous panda-dial watches such as the Rolex Daytona Paul Newman from the 1960s, but this year has seen a slew of new ones, which has mixed things up a bit.

We’ll start with the traditional configuration found on the rather lovely Montblanc Timewalker Manufacture Chronograph. This sporty watch is dominated by the white-dial-black-subdial set up as well as the tachymeter scale on the bezel, which lends it a throwback look. And the nostalgia doesn’t end there, with the distinctive red seconds hand a nod to Minerva, the storied Swiss watchmaker Montblanc purchased and integrated a few years back.

Inside is an MB 25.10 movement with 46 hours of power reserve and the 43mm case is steel, the bezel ceramic. Aside from the chrono­graph, there’s a date window and in addition to the heavy-duty leather wrist band strap there are also normal options, too. The Timewalker Manufacture Chronograph is priced at HK$43,200.