AuHavrePro shares his long-awaited acquisition of the PuristSPro St. Gallen ABR watch, a timepiece he considers the ultimate representation of the community's spirit. His personal journey underscores the deep emotional connection collectors often form with watches that symbolize significant aspects of their lives and passions.
When it was mentioned here three weeks ago by Melvyn (Dr. MTF) that there are 'some' brand new St. Gallen ABR watches left for sale, I couldn't quite believe my eyes, this is a watch I had wanted to get back when I first actively joined the forum. I hadn't been able to do so at the time, even though the watch was already a year and a half 'old', having been premiered here in June 2008. I participated regularly for a year and a half thinking my time would come foreseeably, but then I ended up suspended from posting content, and despite continuing to read the forum passively for a few years, I did so on a somewhat looser basis so for a period of time my communication with people here had ceased. I had also had to deal with a myriad of personal matters on two continents thus horology in general fell away from top-of-mind consciousness.
When I was allowed by the moderator team to re-establish myself as an active member in Summer 2015, I implicitly thought all of the 178 unit run of these beauties had long been sold-out. I did not even think to ask about it in any context. The watch had always been my firm favorite of all the special edition PuristSPro timepieces, despite some rather excellent ones which I am still firmly enamored with. It simply captured the spirit and philosophy of this community more intensely and vividly than any of the other watches in my eyes, lovely as they may be. It stood for the unwavering commitment to peerless integrity of information shared, purity of passion, and sincerity of individual opinion. In other words, as Dr. Mao would tend to illustrate, our collective pursuit of perfection in a rather imperfect world. Having been given birth to by a physician, and having been raised by the strictest moral principals which I have adhered to my entire life, and will continue to adhere to until my dying day; the practical application of the functions besides time measurement are of crucial interest and merit to me. Immediately after getting the news from Melvyn I contacted Anthony who told me there was a single new watch left available, number 63, and I knew the time had finally come to 'officiate' my now eight-and-a-half year long connection to this community by obtaining the timepiece which best represents it.
I received the watch on June 6, funnily enough the birth date of the fictitious character my profile is named after (Adamska of MGS), and exactly a full decade after the watch was first introduced. I am eternally grateful for every moment of intellectual and emotional joy derived from participating in this group, and now have a life-long memento of the memories made and those to come in ensuing years.
