The Hemel HFT20 Panda Date is an extremely versatile tool watch that can fulfill many functions, from a chronograph, to a field watch, to a travel watch, and even a dive watch. With impressive looks and some vintage military aviator styling, this timepiece packs quite a punch with some great attention to detail. Those of us who love vintage pilot watches such as fliegers will appreciate the little touches in this modern counterpart, such as the onion crown, waffle pushers, and riveted thick leather straps.
Features such as 100 meters water resistance, the same as many dive watches, scratch resistant sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating, strong Swiss Super-LumiNova lume (equivalent to a decent dive watch,) the convenient date window symmetrically balanced at 6 o'clock, the chronograph timing functions, plus a 12 hour 120 click unidirectional bezel, not to mention the Hemel HFT20 Panda Dates' good looks and vintage vibe too, all make this a popular and practical everyday wear.
The VK64 mecha-quartz movement brings the best of both mechanical and quartz movements together, with the greater accuracy and convenience of a quartz movement, and mechanical action on the chronograph pushers, for a crisp, tactile start and stop, and an instant spring loaded reset. The VK64 also features a "sweeping" second hand that mimics the action of a mechanical watch with five ticks per second rather than the tell-tale one tick per second normally associated with quartz watches. The careful selection of the VK64 movement is very evident here, combined with the aesthetics, sizing and heft of the Hemel HFT20's design, which gives the wearer a strong impression that they are wearing a purely mechanical timepiece.
Best of all, our choice of the 12 hour rotating "GMT" bezel we've made here allows the user to use it to extend the chronograph timing by 12 hours or more simply by setting the pip to the hour hand position. It can also easily be used as a second time zone, or of course as a traditional dive watch minute timer. Versatility indeed.
