Have you ever heard of panda face watches? This is not just a casual talk, there is a story about a racing driver behind it! In order to allow racing drivers to quickly judge the time while driving at high speeds, Swiss watch manufacturers have put in a lot of effort, and the black and white design is their masterpiece. Want to know how panda-faced watches made their way from the racing circuit to the mass market? Read on!
The Origin of the Panda Face Watch
When it comes to panda face watches, everyone may feel unfamiliar, but if we change the name to black and white, or reverse the black and white, I believe many watch fans will immediately be impressed. In fact, the design of panda-faced watches can be traced back to the 1960s. At that time, in order to improve racing drivers’ judgment of time while driving at high speeds, Swiss watch factories began to try to design watches with similar color combinations such as black and white or dark gray and dark blue.
Because racing drivers have very demanding tasks, they often do not have time to savor the aesthetics of the watch. Therefore, watch designers do not consider aesthetics when selecting colors, but purely from a practical point of view, trying to create a sharp contrast between the scales and hands on the dial so that the time can be read quickly.
As time goes by, watches with black and white and even dark gray and dark blue colors have gradually entered the mass consumer market. The most classic ones are the series of watches launched by the two brands Longines and Mido, and the latter is still in production today.
The fourth generation Rivera’s reverse panda noodles
Speaking of which, you may be familiar with the Riviera brand. This is a Swiss watch brand founded in 1956. The chronographs it launches have a good reputation in the market. The most important reason for this is its high cost performance.
In the 1940s and 1950s, Swiss mechanical watches were still luxury goods. At that time, most consumers had watches that were either Japanese or domestic. Only a few consumers with strong financial strength could afford Swiss mechanical watches.
With the continuous development of Swiss mechanical watch technology, some Swiss watch factories have begun to try to produce automatic mechanical chronographs. They hope to use this kind of watches to attract more mainstream consumers and allow the public to experience the charm of mechanical watches.
Rivera is one of these brands. In the early days of its establishment, it mainly produced pocket watches. Later, it gradually transformed into the production of wristwatches and began to export on a large scale, achieving good results in the European and American markets.
Nowadays, Rivera’s most classic work is its series of chronographs. This watch has been updated many times. The MOA8594 we are talking about today is its fourth generation product, and its biggest highlight is the introduction of the reverse panda face design.
The reason why it is called reverse is because the main dial is black and the secondary dial is white. This color matching did not actually have many highlights at the time. However, if we take a closer look at the MOA8594 watch, we will find that it also has a very unique feature, that is, there is the number “4” on the secondary dial, and there is only this Arabic numeral on the entire dial. This makes people’s eyes brighter.
The fifth generation of Rivera returns to tradition
However, with the changes in market demand and consumer aesthetics, we have to admit that designs such as the inverted panda noodles are still a little weak. Therefore, Rivera launched a fifth-generation product after MOA8594, which is the MOA8595 we are going to introduce today. This watch still continues some traditions of the Rivera family, such as the dodecagonal bezel design. Most of the watches we see on the market have round bezels. Although this design is classic, it will inevitably cause aesthetic fatigue.
However, Rivera made the bezel into twelve sides, each side extending outward like a small cone, which not only broke the boring feeling of the traditional round shape, but also enhanced the sporty atmosphere of the watch. On the MOA8595 watch, we can also see Rivera’s new trick, which is to add a record texture to the edge of the black sub-plate. This texture, combined with the circular pit in the center of the sub-plate, looks like a spinning vinyl record, which is very aesthetic.
Moreover, the MOA8595 watch has further optimized the movement configuration. It is equipped with the Valjoux7753 automatic chronograph movement. Needless to say, the reliability of this movement is also very good, and the timing accuracy is also very good. This is the first impression it gave us. But taking a closer look, we still found some shortcomings.
Its power reserve is only 48 hours. For a watch that sells for more than 30,000 yuan, this data is obviously a bit low. Even if we cannot judge the value of a watch, consumers only have limited money after all. When they buy a watch, they will naturally consider cost-effectiveness. If the power reserve is longer, more consumers may be willing to pay for it.
In addition, regarding the movement, since we cannot directly see the movement, we cannot judge whether its workmanship and time performance are excellent. However, judging from the development history of the Valjoux 7750 series movement, this 7753 should not disappoint us.
Summary
Let’s talk about the market performance of this MOA8595. According to official information, this newly released Riviera panda face chronograph is priced at 32,100 yuan. For such a chronograph that combines beauty and practicality, this price is still quite competitive. And we also see that the feedback from the market is pretty good.
Conclusion
Rivera’s MOA8595 shows its unique charm in both design and performance. Although there is still room for improvement in dynamic storage, the price of 32,100 yuan does make people feel that it is cost-effective. Do you think this watch is worth buying? Welcome to chat about your opinions in the comment area, and don’t forget to like and support!