This past Sunday evening, I had the pleasure of joining a small group of local watch collectors for a dinner at a restaurant on the peninsula. Our chapter of WIS (watch idiot savants) meets fairly regularly and we all agreed that as we enjoy it so much, we ought to do it more often! A guest of honor was in town from up north, Seattle, so it was a joy to see Steve G again.
We all arrived over the course of 30 minutes or so, and eagerly began to examine each other's latest and greatest micro-mechanical art/wrist wear. Eating the delicious food was almost secondary to enjoying the various watches.
I was thrilled to see such a good representation of Independent Watchmakers, highlights were a superb white gold Voutilainen "Observatoire" and one of Speake-Marin's 1 in 20 Time Only gems in red gold with a two part enamel dial. Other more mainstream brand highlights for me were the Blancpain Carrousel Volant Une Minute, superbly presented in a 43.5mm platinum case, an exquisite JLC Duometre in yellow gold, a rose gold Patek Philippe Ref. 5100 10 day power reserve with a grey dial and possibly the most interesting, although not the most complicated, a rose gold H. Moser & Cie Perpetual. This last piece is extremely rare and I have wanted to see one for a while. Comparing it with the Mayu, it is quite lovely, and another veritable bargain, especially when one knows the genius behind the design and development, Andreas Strehler!
Ok, to the pictures we shall go...this pretty much says it all!
So to some of the watches present:
Starting off with a watch that I wouldn't normally pay any attention to, but in person it is rather captivating!
Another view:
Now we'll go for a more sober direction, Moser's elegance:
Another shot of the siblings:
The H. Moser & Cie Perpetual:
And the lovely 7 Day movement, sporting screwed gold chatons:
A well known WIS has recently acquired this superb JLC, and having seen a platinum version of it in Paris in July, I was happy to get my hands on the YG version for a few minutes. This is a wonderful piece and I can see it bringing much joy to the owner!
The JLC Duometre & Chronographe:
A slighly different view:
And now the amazing calibre:
Now to some Independent excellence, first up is Peter's 1 in 20 gem, cased in red gold with the two layer enamel dial, on the wrist:
Pictured here with an original enamel dial Piccadilly in rose gold:
Now with Kari's wonderful white gold "Observatoire":
More of that sublime KV piece:
And now to the lovely Peseux 260 chronometer standard caliber that KV and his team transform into this!
As allways, it is the attending passionate watch lovers, that make these events. Thank you Larry for organising and I look forward to the next one!
Cheers,
Tim