NorCal Collector Dinner: Unusual Complications

Yes, time again for one of the periodic dinners of the NorCal gang, this time with the welcome addition of our own timerider! 

This is the second time that I have entered this post -- the first version was lost forever when I hit "backspace" rather than "delete" to remove a duplicated photo...aaargh!  The good news for you is that this version will be a bit briefer...

Our theme for the evening was "unusual complications," to draw out some of the pieces that folks wouldn't ordinarily bring.  In addition, members of the group conceived of some unusual categories of complications, as you will see! 

Apologies to the attendees for leaving out some pieces that I didn't get photos of, and to you, kind readers for the photo quality -- the lighting in the restaurant was pretty desperate.  But hey -- it's about the people, after all!

Let's start with the first category: "improved timekeeping."  Nice to be able to open with an icon: the original Lange PLM, with chain and fusee:

Next up a, shall we say, rare piece: the Dufour Duality, with twin escapements and differential

And then the next two: the FPJ tourbillons, incorporating a remontoir and dead seconds.  The first is one of the original "subscription" pieces that FPJ sold to finance the start of his business; the second in the double wrist shot below is a more recent, but no less lovely, example

This grainy gold dial has to be seen to be believed:

Siblings:

Next, we move on to "jumping" indications.  Some of my faves from the group, including the Vagabondages, did not make an appearance, but we did have, among others, this unique jumping seconds piece from the Habrings.  This also fell into the "multi time zone" category.  Can you tell from the picture below what the home town of the owner is?

A second, simpler jump seconds Habring was also in attendance:

And both minutes and hours jump on this Zeitwerk Luminous...

The Moser Perpetual 1 was in attendance as well -- its special jumping trick is the instantly jumping date (including month end).  In addition, it belonged to its own category, "traditional complications (in this case perpetual calendar) displayed in non-traditional ways"

One of the categories that was explicitly mentioned in the invitation was "astronomic complications."  We had a few moon phases to start the bidding:

...and the grand-daddy of moon phase displays, the Lange -- if I live to be 1000, I still wouldn't have to change the moon display on this one!

Even more "astronomic," perhaps, was the AP Equation of Time, with moon phase, EOT, and times of sunrise and sunset.  This one in white gold:

And with its fraternal twin, the rose gold/black face version -- both with San Francisco bezels and cams.  Lots of fun to compare!

We had a couple of other watches that put forward their own categories: this JLC that merges twin time zones with bomb-proof durability...

...and a very pretty Blancpain that was an entry in the "extended running" category at 8 days power reserve (one more coming in another category, below)

On to our last set: the chimers!  Off to a great start with the UN Hourstriker:

...and then a piece that is both understatedly beautiful and rare, the AP Jules Audemars quarter-hour grande sonnerie -- this one with the skeletonized movement, as well:

Wouldn't be a NorCal gathering without at least one of Kari's pieces -- in this instance the MR 10.  This watch is a bugger to photograph, but in person it is beautiful, believe me:

Ho hum, another repeater!  Striking (pun intended) IWC skeleton repeater, here sitting on the wooden resonating box brought by its owner

And, two repeaters from JLC.  First, the MMR, with its 15-day power reserve also an entrant in the endurance category, and with (if memory serves) a torque indicator as well

And, a personal favorite of mine, the original Reverso Repetition Minutes

Here are all of the chimers in one spot -- quite an array of sonic pleasures!

That's all, folks!  As usual the evening sped along, with great conversation on topics large, small, and hilarious.  It's always a great treat for me to have a chance to meet with my great friends in this group, and I hope that you enjoyed seeing a bit of the watch-related goings-on from the evening.

Best,

Gary G