Horological Meandering

Timecollector
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Watch Time SIHH 2009 San Francisco Presentation

First of all my apologies for the late posting but I wanted to share this information about the San Francisco Watch Time show from last week June 23rd.

The show was well attended and to my understanding sold out. The watches on display as always were fantastic examples by all the vendors in attendance. The staff at each presentation was extremely friendly and we had several hours to handle and view some magnificent timepieces. I have to tell you if you have never attended one of these presentations this is like a kid in a serious candy store. I didn’t actually count but my guess is a few hundred different watches and some of the most wonderful timepieces on full display with wonderful sales and technical staff to answer questions.
To top it off you get to handle almost anything that is there.

The dinner was fun and the SIHH presentation and interviews were as usual very well done and extremely interesting. This really gives you a good inside view of what is behind many of these large companies and their present lines and future plans for watch development.
The only thing I can see missing is a door prize raffle of a trip to SIHH for the next year.

In my opinion head and shoulders at the top this year was the Mont Blanc exhibit.
This display by far was my favorite of the entire show.
Not only was there a wonderful display of Mont Blanc timepieces, they had arranged to display a Grand Tourbillon Heures Mystérieuses in a special viewing case with an attached microscope and special lighting for close inspection.

From all the articles and postings to date and Internet pictures of this watch you have to see the watch in person do to it justice. The shape of the case, the warm color, the fantastic large size of the watch and the yes the extremely large tourbillon was worth the entire evening. I would have to say reading the technical specifications is fine but once you actually see this watch up close and personal it will convince you that Mont Blanc is a serious contender in the Haute
The size and viewing space provided the owner to actually see the tourbillon easily sets the standard for all watches in the future. The actual visual viewing field allows the owner without magnification to watch the tourbillon in full motion and grandeur not like other watches were the tourbillon is small of hidden by other elements of the watch. In this example the tourbillon is pure artwork for you to enjoy. We agreed on two things that evening the top watch had to be the Grand Tourbillon Heures Mystérieuses and that if either of us ever did own this watch we would spend most of time just watching the tourbillon. It is simply beautiful to watch it in motion.

In my opinion artistically and horologically this one of the most fascinating watches shown at this year’s presentation. I just wonder if after my last purchase if I can save enough to make this a future addition. Probably not given only 8 pieces in production but the privilege to have been in the same room and to have seen this magnificent watch in person will remain a highlight for many years. Thank you Mont Blanc for a wonderful presentation.

Cheers
Jay