tl;dr
Why mention a watch on a knife forum? Well I feel like this is a similar situation where Spyderco has released something special and the price will eventually go up.
First of all the fit and finish on this knife feels much better then your avg Chinese made Spyderco. There's no sharp edges, the screws are nice, and the waffle g10 feels great in the hand. They even bothered to put a nice satin finish on the spacers instead of leaving them stainless.
Is it me or when Sal puts his name on a Spyderco there's just a little extra something special and refined about it?
The only flaw in this knife is that by the pivot screw there is some discoloration in the G10. At the store they were all like this, and I suspect that it's because of the recent Canadian knife laws the pivots were tightened down too far so they could get them over the border.
The lock up IMHO is great. I love how the blade is angled to prolong wear and the liner is solid but easily disengaged. The liners have been skeletonised.
Sorry I know it's not a good pic but the blade centering is perfect. And the knife comes with copper washers.
I haven't cut too much but the blade chomps down like your usual flat grind Spyderco. The blade is CTS-BD1 which from what I read is the American equivalent to Hitachi GIN-1. My understanding is that VG-10 is better, but in my mind it's a good compromise compared to other American budget steels like 420HC.
I chose this pic to show off how in my mind the scales are pretty unique. They are translucent with a small coat of grey on top. I imagine with owning and using this knife the grey will wear down hopefully making the knife look broken in. Personally though I think Spyderco could have done something like a light green so that when the light shines though the handle it would have a cool emerald effect.
Blends nicely into the scenery on my morning walk.
It's hard to sum up what this knife is. In a way even though it's apples and oranges, the knife I can't help but compare it to is the Chaparral. The dimensions, soft edges and coloring make it feel it's not tactical like a Persistence, but IMHO It's a refined sporty and mature Gentlemans knife.
