Pandamania: why do we love contrasting dials so much?

We continue to discuss the current trends capable of shaking up most modern watch collections. Today, we're discussing the interest among watch manufacturers in chronographs with white dials and sharply contrasting black counters — a composition that bears a striking resemblance to the playful Chinese panda bear. And the popularity of Rolex Daytona Panda models has now exploded into full-blown pandamania.

Rolex Cosmograph Daytona

Rolex Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona "Panda" is the most sought-after automatic chronograph on the market. The 116500LN edition from 2016 has now been joined by a fresh edition that celebrates the Daytona collection's 60th anniversary: 126500LN.

The watches are almost identical in terms of appearance. The only real difference is the applied hour markers on the new watch, which are a little thinner and don't have the barely noticeable rounded corners. That, and the edge of the bezel made of the trademark ceramic alloy Cerachrom, which is now encircled by an extremely thin steel ring.

The main change lies hidden beneath the dial. We're talking about the new automatic manufacture caliber 4131. It has fewer components than cal. 4130, which means it's more reliable.

And the new cal. 4131 now also has a patented Chronergy escapement. This model's initial retail price is USD 15,100. So the price has remained more or less the same, and so has the waiting list.

Tudor Black Bay Chrono "Panda"

Considering the unbelievable level of demand for Cosmograph Daytona watches in general, and the huge amount of love there is for watches with white dials and black counters, it would be strange for the Rolex sub-brand Tudor not to have a chronograph with a similar design.

Rolex only got around to giving Tudor a full rebranding relatively recently, but they did an extremely effective and successful job at it. The watchmakers at Tudor decided to create their own panda as part of the popular Black Bay dive watch line.

The Tudor Black Bay Chrono model was launched in 2021. Even though the company chose to pour energy into promoting their Black Bay Ceramic watch line which won the "Petite Aiguille” prize at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) that year, it’as their panda chronograph that still remains one of Tudor's most sought-after products to this day.

Black Bay Chrono has a steel case measuring 41 mm in diameter with a black bezel made of anodized aluminum. Despite its sporty presentation, the model provides a perfectly professional level of waterproofness: 200 m.

Housed inside is the self-winding Caliber MT5813 with a three-day power reserve. It was created based on the famous Breitling B01 with a well-earned reputation.

The watchmakers kitted the base movement out with a new balance mechanism and silicon hairspring to improve the movement anti-magnetic protection. For all this in one versatile yet complex chronograph, Tudor is only asking for around five thousand euros.

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph

The watchmakers at Audemars Piguet long considered themselves above pandering to the masses of Rolex fans. But they finally caved in the lead up to the 20th anniversary of Royal Oak Offshore in 2017. And good thing they did. The model referenced 26331ST.OO.1220ST.03 turned out beautiful.

It has a particularly fresh look, as the three black subdials are placed on a light silver-tone dial instead of a classic white one, decorated with the recognizable Grand Tapisserie pattern. The 41 mm steel case has an elegant case height for a chronograph: 11 mm.

AP managed to keep it compact thanks to the automatic manufacture Caliber 2385 with a balance frequency of 21,600 vph and a 40-hour power reserve. The case doesn't provide a great deal of water resistance: only 50 m.

Despite a high price starting at around USD 29,300, AP's panda chronograph went down a treat. That's why it's still released in small quantities to this day.

Last year, many expected that Audemars Piguet would further the panda theme when it marked the 30th anniversary of Royal Oak Offshore, but that hasn't happened.

True, there were a couple of pseudo-pandas in the form of fully diamond-encrusted jewelry watches for him: Ref. 26423BC.ZZ.2100.BC.01 and Ref. 26423BC.ZZ.D002CA.01.

Sure, they looked similar to the panda watch from a distance, but they're not real members of this bear family. This actually raised awareness of the collector's value of Ref. 26331ST.OO.1220ST.03.

Parmigiani Fleurier Tondagraph GT Steel "Panda"

Tondagraph GT was born in 2021, which can be categorized as a luxury sports watch. The watchmaker took a big gamble with this watch, and they weren't even afraid of having them branded "pandas". The resulting panda wasn't the most expensive. but it was the most complicated.

The chronograph module is accompanied by an annual calendar with a big date. With that in mind, the 42-mm steel case isn't all that thick at 13.7 mm in height. That’s also a perfectly acceptable case height for a regular chronograph. 

After all, the flawlessly finished automatic manufacture caliber PF043 with a balance frequency of 28,800 vph and a 45-hour power reserve has more than 400 components. The panda by Parmigiani also has a luxurious dial, decorated with the challenging "Guilloché Clou triangulaire" pattern. Parmigiani has always been in the expensive watch bracket, where the price is justified by the high level of quality and decoration.

So for the most complicated panda on the market, they're not asking for all that much to take home for themselves: CHF 21,500 for the model on a rubber strap (Ref.  PFC906-0000140-X01482) and CHF 22,500 for the watch on their recognizable luxury bracelet (Ref: PFC906-0000140-B00182).

Girard-Perregaux Laureato Chronograph 38 mm

Judging by the case size of the Laureato chronograph (38 mm in diameter), the time-honored maison of Girard-Perregaux launched their own panda in 2018, primarily for the Chinese market and home of the panda bear. There's actually another 42-mm version of the chronograph, but the 38-mm edition is far more popular.

The panda by Girard-Perregaux does a very successful job at marrying elements of timeless classic with modern design, where the brand’s respected name and traditional “Clou de Paris” guilloché pattern meet a round case based on a barrel with an octagonal bezel, bright blue hands, a radically black flange around the dial and an integrated metal bracelet.

For connoisseurs, this is an interesting model in that Girard-Perregaux used to mount Dubois-Depraz chronograph modules on their base movements, but this one now uses an ETA/Valjoux 7750 module.

Yet the masters belonging to the Sowind Group of watchmaking manufactures still cleverly managed to keep the case height down to 11.08 mm. And while they claim the case has a water resistance of 100 meters, it's better not to take it into the water even if the chronograph pushers are screw-down.

The models don't differ greatly in terms of price: around USD 15,100 for the 38-mm model (Ref. 81040-11-131-11A) and USD 18,600 for the 42-mm model (Ref. 81020-11-131-11A).

Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch CK 2998 Limited Edition

It's no secret that Omega and Rolex have long been competing with each other. The brands are more or less neck and neck in the United States — the main market for both watchmakers. Other watches in Omega's line have yet to delight us with such results.

However, if Omega does delight fans of watches like the Omega Speedmaster CK 2998 Limited Edition with panda dials more often, things will only get better for the company. Omega launched this panda with the reference number 311.32.40.30.02.001 in 2018. Its official name is Omega Speedmaster Anniversary Series Chronograph 39.7 mm.

That's because it was inspired by the original Omega CK 2998 chronograph released in 1959, and it was launched just ahead of its 60th anniversary. They may have jumped the gun by getting the celebrations underway a year early, but this was Omega's way of subtly hinting at who the original author of the panda-dial chronograph is.

The limited edition of 2,998 pieces were housed in steel cases with the original 39.7-mm case size. It encases the same historic manually wound Caliber 1861 that was specially developed for space, with a balance frequency of 21 600 vph and a 48-hour power reserve. Its modern features include a ceramic bezel with a pulsometer scale applied using modern technology.

The model which has a micro-perforated black leather strap with a white rubber interior retailed at a more than reasonable price of USD 5,850. Needless to say, Omega's pandas sold out in the blink of an eye. Omega still occasionally releases Speedmaster CK 2998 watches in limited runs, but they haven't repeated the pandas.

Previosly (part 1)