Salon QP - Some of my highlights
Discussion
I didn't take a camera this year, so sorry no pics, but the were certainly some amazing watches - as per last year, many beautifully engineered pieces that for a variety of reasons I didn't like or at least would want to own even if I had unlimited cash, mainly because they were just too fussy for me.
It's great to see new and small brands, some of which I'd never heard of before and watches you'll never see outside the web / magazines in the unless you go to this sort of event. Some themes - skelotonising is still something a number of high end manufacturers believe will sell watches and there were a number of designers pushing different ways of displaying time.
In no particular order.
JLC - Much fussier than my usual taste, but I want a Duometre Chronograph so much it hurts. Definite lottery win purchase. At the slightly less expensive end of their range the Deep Sea Chronograph is also a big favourite of mine, but I'd have a stainless steel case rather than the admittedly very clever Cermet.
Ressence - The rep was extremely helpful and the Type 3 is a beautifully made piece with a great way of displaying time & date. The full sapphire case is very pleasing to handle and the oil filled watch is great to look at - the case almost disappears.
http://ressence.eu/collection/type-3/ In the rarefied atmosphere of Haute Horology £11k ish is not a bad price for such an innovative, low volume piece really.
Nomos - Despite being distracted by the lovely young lady sales agent, I did manage to appreciate some of their very nice, new models. The thicker (than normal for them) auto versions were very attractive.
Muhle Glashutte - These guys had a number of prototypes - The SEEBATAILLON GMT looked really good, the Teutonia II Chronograph was a watch I wanted to see, having admired the magazine photo's I'd seen - nice watch, but the sub-dials were too small and legibility overall not good. I really liked the white dialled M 29 Classic.
Revelation - The "magic dial" still amazes even though I saw it last year http://www.revelation-watches.com/film_r4.php and the case design is really nice. The agent was lovely and didn't even panic (at least not visibly) when I almost dropped her £13k watch on the floor.
Lange & Sohne have some simply beautiful watches and models such as the Grand Lange 1 and the 1815 Up/Down would compete very hard with the Duometre for my lottery win money.
Ludovic Ballouard - Extremely well made watches with great designs, although I'm pretty sure the "Upside Down" would annoy me after a while.
MB&F - Max Busser is obviously a very brave or crazy man. The Horological Machines are just amazing designs executed flawlessly at massive cost to a limited audience. I tried on an MB&F 4 Thunder Bolt. What an amazing, but frankly ridiculous watch? Max told us that both the titanium and the sapphire parts of the case were made CNC machined from solid blocks - the sapphire part using diamond cutters and that both pieces took about a month of CNC time. The movement is also amazing, but the whole thing results in a tiny time display without a date of even a second hand - at over £100k very rich extroverts only need apply, but he said about 91 of the 96 made had been sold. By comparison the lovely LM1 is pretty conventional, but these things are relative.
Cecil Purnell - These guys had just a few watches on display. All beautifully made, very expensive and hideously ugly.
Meridian - As last year, the watches don't look remotely well enough made for the asking prices.
Dottling - These guys make very expensive safes, watch cases and winders - watch the video http://www.doettling.com/en/tabletop-objects/doett...
I don't even like watch winders, but I would love one of those - I didn't dare ask how much?
Eterna - Back in the UK with some decent looking stuff including a re-issue of the Kontiki.
Urwerk - Almost as way out as MB&F but a bit more wearable. I love some of their designs, but it really is complexity and engineering for the sake of it.
Hoptroff - These guys make watches with unusual complications including for instance a stock price movement indicator linked by bluetooth to the London Stock exchange, but their No 10 Atomic Pocket Watch was both amazing and bonkers with more data than you could ever need on a single dial and self contained Atomic accuracy (not radio controlled)
http://www.theprodigalguide.com/2013/10/11/world-e...
MCT - Their Sequential One is another innovative way of displaying the time http://www.mctwatches.com/ Expensive watches, that with that mechanism must I'd imagine need quite frequent (and expensive) servicing.
So, another very interesting exhibition. This time enjoyed with a few fellow TZ-ers and also involving Harrods, Burlington Arcade, Bond Street, beer and curry - perfect.
It's great to see new and small brands, some of which I'd never heard of before and watches you'll never see outside the web / magazines in the unless you go to this sort of event. Some themes - skelotonising is still something a number of high end manufacturers believe will sell watches and there were a number of designers pushing different ways of displaying time.
In no particular order.
JLC - Much fussier than my usual taste, but I want a Duometre Chronograph so much it hurts. Definite lottery win purchase. At the slightly less expensive end of their range the Deep Sea Chronograph is also a big favourite of mine, but I'd have a stainless steel case rather than the admittedly very clever Cermet.
Ressence - The rep was extremely helpful and the Type 3 is a beautifully made piece with a great way of displaying time & date. The full sapphire case is very pleasing to handle and the oil filled watch is great to look at - the case almost disappears.
http://ressence.eu/collection/type-3/ In the rarefied atmosphere of Haute Horology £11k ish is not a bad price for such an innovative, low volume piece really.
Nomos - Despite being distracted by the lovely young lady sales agent, I did manage to appreciate some of their very nice, new models. The thicker (than normal for them) auto versions were very attractive.
Muhle Glashutte - These guys had a number of prototypes - The SEEBATAILLON GMT looked really good, the Teutonia II Chronograph was a watch I wanted to see, having admired the magazine photo's I'd seen - nice watch, but the sub-dials were too small and legibility overall not good. I really liked the white dialled M 29 Classic.
Revelation - The "magic dial" still amazes even though I saw it last year http://www.revelation-watches.com/film_r4.php and the case design is really nice. The agent was lovely and didn't even panic (at least not visibly) when I almost dropped her £13k watch on the floor.
Lange & Sohne have some simply beautiful watches and models such as the Grand Lange 1 and the 1815 Up/Down would compete very hard with the Duometre for my lottery win money.
Ludovic Ballouard - Extremely well made watches with great designs, although I'm pretty sure the "Upside Down" would annoy me after a while.
MB&F - Max Busser is obviously a very brave or crazy man. The Horological Machines are just amazing designs executed flawlessly at massive cost to a limited audience. I tried on an MB&F 4 Thunder Bolt. What an amazing, but frankly ridiculous watch? Max told us that both the titanium and the sapphire parts of the case were made CNC machined from solid blocks - the sapphire part using diamond cutters and that both pieces took about a month of CNC time. The movement is also amazing, but the whole thing results in a tiny time display without a date of even a second hand - at over £100k very rich extroverts only need apply, but he said about 91 of the 96 made had been sold. By comparison the lovely LM1 is pretty conventional, but these things are relative.
Cecil Purnell - These guys had just a few watches on display. All beautifully made, very expensive and hideously ugly.
Meridian - As last year, the watches don't look remotely well enough made for the asking prices.
Dottling - These guys make very expensive safes, watch cases and winders - watch the video http://www.doettling.com/en/tabletop-objects/doett...
I don't even like watch winders, but I would love one of those - I didn't dare ask how much?
Eterna - Back in the UK with some decent looking stuff including a re-issue of the Kontiki.
Urwerk - Almost as way out as MB&F but a bit more wearable. I love some of their designs, but it really is complexity and engineering for the sake of it.
Hoptroff - These guys make watches with unusual complications including for instance a stock price movement indicator linked by bluetooth to the London Stock exchange, but their No 10 Atomic Pocket Watch was both amazing and bonkers with more data than you could ever need on a single dial and self contained Atomic accuracy (not radio controlled)
http://www.theprodigalguide.com/2013/10/11/world-e...
MCT - Their Sequential One is another innovative way of displaying the time http://www.mctwatches.com/ Expensive watches, that with that mechanism must I'd imagine need quite frequent (and expensive) servicing.
So, another very interesting exhibition. This time enjoyed with a few fellow TZ-ers and also involving Harrods, Burlington Arcade, Bond Street, beer and curry - perfect.
Edited by andy tims on Sunday 10th November 14:47
Edited by andy tims on Sunday 10th November 15:19
Did you see the HYT stand upstairs?
They had this on show, the HYT H1 Azo Project. Mental, but beautifully detailed.
http://www.hytwatches.com/Collection/Watch/Item/h1...
They had this on show, the HYT H1 Azo Project. Mental, but beautifully detailed.
http://www.hytwatches.com/Collection/Watch/Item/h1...
One day I'll make the effort to attend one of these events 
I've walked through the Burlington Arcade a couple of times and visited the Watch Room in Harrods earlier this year along with trying a Grand Seiko and a multidialed Master Series JLC in Selfridges, both absolutely stunning. The PP5711 in Wempe was the highlight though, not much doubt about that.
Not quite the same but I was at Bluewater on Sunday, I hadn't been there for maybe the best part of a year and there were a few watch related changes to be noted. Mappin & Webb now have a branch there with a notable Rolex window display along with maybe a dozen JLCs, Chisholm Hunter had a small pre-owned selection and the largest display of Balls >snigger< that I've seen including this Eternity, an absolute stunner IMO -
Biggest surprise of the day though was seeing Fraser Hart's Nomos display, according to the assistant I spoke to they'd only received them two weeks ago, and of course I had to try one on. Here's the Orion 38 that I tried out, pardon my parlance but it was bloody gorgeous
I've walked through the Burlington Arcade a couple of times and visited the Watch Room in Harrods earlier this year along with trying a Grand Seiko and a multidialed Master Series JLC in Selfridges, both absolutely stunning. The PP5711 in Wempe was the highlight though, not much doubt about that.Not quite the same but I was at Bluewater on Sunday, I hadn't been there for maybe the best part of a year and there were a few watch related changes to be noted. Mappin & Webb now have a branch there with a notable Rolex window display along with maybe a dozen JLCs, Chisholm Hunter had a small pre-owned selection and the largest display of Balls >snigger< that I've seen including this Eternity, an absolute stunner IMO -
Biggest surprise of the day though was seeing Fraser Hart's Nomos display, according to the assistant I spoke to they'd only received them two weeks ago, and of course I had to try one on. Here's the Orion 38 that I tried out, pardon my parlance but it was bloody gorgeous
Edited by CardShark on Monday 11th November 21:13
Edited by CardShark on Monday 11th November 21:14
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