Received Watanabe today and here are some first impressions: the knife is awesome
I ordered the knife without handle since I was going to put my own handle on it, so speaking about fit and finish I can only comment about blade itself. Which has very good finish. All the edges that needed to be rounded were rounded. Not polished, but rounded enough to the level where you don't bother about them anymore. Looking under magnifying glass you could spot some grinding marks on the softer clad. Very few and very minor.
Watanabe is noticeable thicker on the spine compared to Tanaka's. And the distal taper is almost non pronounced, so there's NO flex even at the very tip. Geometry wise somewhere in the middle of the blade it starts to thin and became VERY thin near the edge. Noticeable thinner then any other petty I have.
I love the profile. Probably I'm latent santoku guy, but I really like it because it gives enough clearance for pinch grip. Factory edge was very good. When I tried to cut some food I quickly realized that it doesn't need any touch ups on stones or stropping. Cuts beautifully. I haven't had any big carrots so tested wedging on a small squash and it didn't wedge at all. But it was a lousy test. I'm gonna prepare some real food tomorrow and gonna give it a real stress test. The big difference that I quickly noticed about Watanabe NO food sticking. After cutting half of squash I continued to cut with two Tanaka's pettys and they both experienced very pronounced food sticking.
So far I can see only one downside for this Watanabe knife price is rather high. But even with all my love to cheap Tanaka's I'd say this Watanabe is worth high price tag.
quick family photo: Watanabe, Tanaka blue№2, Tanaka VG10, Carbonext, Hattori HD 120mm