Vacheron Constantin Snow Golf Cup Aspen Experience

PROLOGUE

For Christmas, my wife Annie bought me a Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle from the Vacheron Constantin Boutique at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, California.  She knew I'd stopped by to admire the piece there, had been impressed to be remembered by name by salesman Justin Schaefer, and had unsuccessfully looked for the watch at authorized retailers in Vienna and Prague last fall.

Of course I was delighted with the gift and passed it around to the whole family on Christmas morning, telling them something of the history of the brand and praising it as the perfect dress watch.

Notice the engraved "PT" on the side of the case at 6:00:



THE INVITATION

In February, Annie and I stopped by the Boutique and were recognized by Eric Shen, the Assistant Manager.  I was excited by the release at SIHH of the new Overseas collection, especially the blue-dialed version of the Overseas Chronograph with the new 5200 in-house movement.  As we chatted, Eric asked if we might be interested in attending an event the brand was hosting in Aspen, Colorado.  Vacheron Constantin had been hosting Snow Golf tournaments in the French Alps for the last 10 years and would be inviting a handful of collectors to the first such event in North America in March.  He assured us that skill in golf was not essential.  Circumspect, we said we'd need to check the dates.  Eric promised we'd receive information by e-mail.

We soon heard from Daren Gaussa, the Boutique Director, inviting us to be guests of Vacheron Constantin, and saying he hoped there would be a sneak preview of the SIHH novelties.  He sent a save-the-date card, too:



We accepted, and soon heard from Marci Blinderman of Client Marketing, offering to make travel arrangements.  Marci's timely communications anticipated everything, and she even apologized that there were no first class seats available on our preferred return flights.

ARRIVAL THURSDAY

At 6:00 a.m. sharp, a driver arrived in a black S-Class Mercedes to take us to LAX for our flight to Aspen, where a Little Nell driver met us and gave us a tour of Aspen on our way to the hotel.  Above the registration desk hung a Vacheron Constantin wall clock, nicer than any I'd seen before, designed after the Patrimony case and dial.  (Sorry, no photo.  The clock would sure look great in my office.)  I later learned that the clock was not just a temporary placement for the event, but rather a permanent fixture in recognition of a partnership through which Vacheron Constantin is the official timepiece of Aspen and Snowmass.

When we checked into our lovely room, we discovered his and her gift bags, each containing a folio with a welcome letter from Vincent Brun, President of Vacheron Constantin North America, and a schedule of events, a box of chocolate golf balls, a gorgeous scarf with subtle Vacheron Constantin branding, and a windbreaker with a Vacheron Constantin Snow Gulf Cup patch:

 
Yes, of course I wore my Christmas present on the trip!

The first event was a sumptuous dinner at Casa Tua, hosted by Vincent Brun and Yann Bouillonnec, Vacheron Constantin Internal Brand Director, who was stepping in for CEO Juan Carlos Torres, whose work had detained him in Geneva.

The menu:



As at each event, Vincent thanked the 15 North American couples and three guests from Russia for taking the time to join in this first North American Vacheron Constantin Snow Golf Cup.

Desert proved a sweet end to the first day.

Stay tuned for Part 2 as the adventures begin!

Park
This message has been edited by Park on 2016-03-16 22:22:42