Horological Meandering

Don’t worry, nothing permanent, just our Christmas breakup to cap off a great year of get-togethers. We were honoured to welcome two interstate visitors who flew in especially for the occasion. And while ‘wine flights’ are all the rage these days to accompany meals, we had ‘horology flights’ of Rolex, Patek, and independents. There are many pieces that I failed to photograph (hopefully my friends can add to this post) but I will let the watches that I did capture speak for themselves.

Enjoy.

Until February 2012 ...

Andrew

 

A Panerai heavyweight ...

Not the ugly duckling ...

Rolex heaven ...

At every GTG we are treated to the evolution of Tom’s project ...

... and now he is teaching himself hand engraving!

And the table shots ...

The independents. No pressure, Tom!

Separated at birth? Not quite. One year apart ...

A special guest ...

We enjoyed a private upstairs room at Scopri, an Italian restaurant focusing on regional Italian cuisine which sources both fresh local produce and imported ingredients that are unique to Italy. The food is honest and the attention to culinary detail was obvious in the well cooked and seasoned dishes. A variety of flavours, colours and textures were enjoyed by all. Even better was the fact that the Scopri allows BYO (bring-your-own) wine. This was a popular way to dine out and enjoy your cellar decades ago, but BYO restaurants are a dying breed here. But for Scopri we were able to raid the cellar and enjoy some aged Aussie classics.

Buon Appetito

 

The slow cooked pork belly (Roman style) with fresh Borlotti bean ragu was mine!

Amaro Montenegro, a distilled bitters from Bologna, was our newfound friend for the late evening …

No message body

No message body

This message has been edited by grumio on 2011-12-07 16:31:52

Big thanks to AndrewG for the organization, this will be a hard gathering to beat, with special guests, special watches, good food.. 

i have huge respect for someone who can make their own watch. i've loved every piece that Don Corson has made and yours look like they could be as interesting so feel free to pm me details.

 

best

Graham

Great night indeed.  This message has been edited by dreamer8 on 2011-12-07 16:54:51

new faces and see some amazing pieces.

 

Food was good and wine was exceptional

 

Thanks to all

 

Julian

Good to meet!

Not to the break-up hehe (Andrew you're good at picking titles, I clicked into this immediately after a mild heart flutter when reading the title!)!! But to what you guys have achieved in 2012!! All these wonderful gatherings shared with us through Andrew on this forum, I can feel the excitement, ambience, fun and the good food you guys had in Melbourne!

That look like an awesome GTG, and I think I know who are the visiting brothers and sisters What a spectacular gathering of Indies! It's great to see how Tom's work is progressing, it looks fantastic! Well done, Tom!

Looking forward to another year of wonderful gatherings from brothers and sisters down south!

...you guessed :P

Now you will have to join us for one of the 2012 GTG's. 

Whenever I get a chance to head down south, you'll be the first to know!!

...compiling , Andrew.

Nice work.

And thanks to Grumio for organising the event.

Is it the individual that made those watches with the omega movements?

Best,

Horo

... Tom the Tinkerer. The Omega movement is just temporary and Tom is working on his own (literally) in-house movement. And teaching himself all the skills required to realize his vision. It's a very impressive project.

More to come, I'm sure.

A

A pair of Journes.

You bet!

Many thanks, WatchBandians, for inviting me to be an interstate interloper. It was a fun evening full of faces familiar and new. I realise, looking at AndrewD's photos, that I too somehow missed seeing one or two certain very beautiful vintage pieces. There was clearly a bit too much for me to absorb, and I regret not being able to chat more to everyone there.

The room was perfect for the GTG - good lighting for the photos, lots of table room, great location, and a nice place to hang out until the earlyish hours.

I'm hoping that I behaved myself sufficiently to not be barred from any further watchband GTGs...and to my fellow interstate interloper - twas a blast to finally meet.

Always great to catch up.

Three hours sleep and my espresso machine is off being upgraded and temperature mapped. No morning coffee! The stuff of nightmares.

A

Thanks to grumio for the legwork, and everyone else for the pleasant company and vaguely interesting watches. 

What you guys lack in 'quantity' (was it an early dinner or a late lunch? ) you sure make up for with quality!

It was a treat, and an honour: thank you very much to all MWBians, and particularly A1, A2 and A3; to the organisers and to 'AP with the AP'.

The 'twits' amongst you should ask aptronym about the journey home: horological surprises did not end at the dinner table....

Cheers,
pplater.

...(an extended lunch I think, but then again I could be wrong, these Melbournians may just be messing with my poor head) and an evening which I hope will be the first of many.

Hehe. That was arguably the greatest horological surprise of the evening, that final one...! One curious soul has already asked me for details.

...should I let pplater take this query?

I especially enjoyed the post 12 am. repartee you had with that poor waiter who had to "summon"  his boss to take over. Entertainment par excellence .

....as what was 'discovered' by pplater.