Chopard

5 May 2008, 7pm at Equinox Private Dining

We had the pleasure to  organize another Chopard PuristS event  for the Singapore PuristS to view and try on the L.U.C 2008 novelties. 
Thanks to Chopard Asia's Mr Maxime Labey (Managing Director), Julien Wong & Charlotte Char and the L.U.C Master, Patrick Wehrli for making this event happened.

It was held at Equinox Private Dining, located on the 69th floor of Swissotel The Stamford.
Imagine having your exquisitely prepared food and wine with a breath-taking view of Singapore (and possible some parts of Malaysia and Indonesia) at 230 metres above ground.

Equinox is at the 'peak' of the Swissotel The Stamford.

 

Ground floor - the entrance to Equinox...  

 

The LCD displaying the event details...

 

The restaurant signage.

 

The lift lobby to the 'culinary heaven' ...

 

6pm....Arrived at the Dining Room...

 

Not ready yet...

Staff still setting the tables..

 

Total of 5 tables for 49 pax:  PuristS 31 pax, the balance was made up of Chopard Asia Team, Sincere Team & guests.

 

The view from one side of the room...

 

A comfortable neat layout for 10 per table.

 

The menu for the evening... (MTF may surprise us with the gastronomical delight later)...

Another fabulous view.

The Singapore Flyer ( a giant Ferris wheel) in the background.   The roads will form part of the F1 Grand Prix route this coming September.  Hmm... will be nice to watch the race from here.  On the top right corner, at the mouth of the bay:  that will be the venue for the new Integrated Resort with casino.

 

Another angle of the room ...

 

The table-stands accorded the names of 5 remarkable Basic Movements that L.U.C has created over only a decade. Great achievement!

 

Notice the 4 "rolls" sandwiched between the bags and the computer...guess what?

 

Yep, the 4 rolls contained about 38 pieces of L.U.C.... nearly all the models of L.U.C.
There were also the bare-movements housed inside clear plastic-casing for us to admire the superb workmanship of L.U.C.

Some of the pieces on display...

What were these interesting items for?  
They were motivating goodies for the 'tests'  later 

 

About 6:50pm....fellow PuristS and guests would be appearing....

 

About 7:20pm... nearly everyone has arrived....some catch hold of Patrick and asked him some difficult questions...

Some were networking ...getting to know each other.... Maxime (in suit)

The new Director of MarComm of Sincere Watch, David Chan, introducing himself to the guests...

 

Patrick Wehrli with David Chan and guest...

 

Some pictures of the PuristS and Guests...

 

The greatest draw of the event.... REAL pieces, nearly all models were available for everyone to see, touch, feel and wear.

This is one of the best or smartest moves by Chopard... bringing all the pieces (or the boutique) to the fans.
One-stop full experience-centre!

 

This gentleman, Wim Bon, is a long time PuristS from Netherlands. 
Just arrived in Singapore for about a month....very timely for our second Chopard Purists event.  He is wearing a beautiful piece of Pro One!

 

This gentleman, a discerning collector....I guessed he was pondering which piece to get

 

More actions at the end of the room...everyone (none was spared) was attracted to the pieces. 
Indeed a rare opportunity to view & try nearly all the L.U.C models at a single location.

A guest wasting no time and got hold of Patrick to ask about case work of L.U.C. Patrick was showing some pictures to illustrate his points...while Maxime and Julien were preparing to do the introduction follow by the Basel 2008 Novelties introduction...

It was tough to have everyone seated as the attraction of the 'toys' were so immense....

About 8pm... Maxime kicked off with a nice Welcome, followed by Introducing the Basel 2008 Novelties.

Maxime Labey.

People were "all ears"

Why?  The TEST answers could be found in the presentation

 

Dinner was served....and next up was Master Patrick Wehrli...explaining the how and what L.U.C does to manufacture its pieces, combining both cutting-edge technology and traditional craftmanship and artistry.

A few jokes along the way by Master Patrick... especially the part linking " COSC with Geneva Seal"

 

Some pics of all tables....

Once the dinner was over...man... see what happened again... a big group rushed to the back!



While a few of us were excited to have a group picture of  the L.E. Qualite Fleurier (161896) appeared in a single event.

Ah... this was the fun & remarkable moment ( which was posted by Jokoh earlier).... perhaps we can form a Fleurier Club... total I know of 10 who have these quiet-charmers!

Hey...Singapore could be the biggest concentration of QF ownership!

The engraved back....errr....counting the bees again...



After 15 minutes....the Moment of Truth -  the TEST.... no pictures as I was the Examiner!

Pretty intense for another 15 minutes...everyone was very competitive.... one of the PuristS could even provide the exact bee-count on one of Patrick's slides.  Wow! Scary man....  By the way - it was 45 bees on the slide.

 

The 18K WG crank (WAS) for the Tourbillon WAS.


The dinner ended about 11pm, and a group of about 10 PuristS stayed back to examine the watches and asked Patrick even more technical questions.

It was a very fun-filled night.

Thanks Team Chopard for another wonderful event!


Kong


This message has been edited by MTF on 2008-05-08 21:17:52 This message has been edited by MTF on 2008-05-08 21:38:06 This message has been edited by Kong on 2008-06-12 13:30:22

Salads of Crab, Avocado and Apple; coriander lemongrass vicchysoisse

 

 

Cappuccino of Wild Mushroom; mushroom on toast 

 

Roast Foie Gras; orange and sichuan pepper 

 

Tenderloin of Beef; red onion marmalade, red wine sauce 

 

Sorry that there was no photo of the alternate Main Course:  Miso Glazed Cod; edamame beans crushed potatoes, mirin sake dressing

Too busy with the delicious beef: moist, tender and flavoursome: Amazing for so many diners that they could maintain the quality.

 

 

Milk Chocolate Parfait; mango chutney pomelo ginger salad 

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for both watches and food! Yummy-licious would aptly describe the evening. Thanks again PuristS, Chopard and Sincere!

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OooOOooOOoOOO!!!

Thanks for making me starving MTF :P

- AT

 

good chance to engage in insightful conversation with Wim who I was sitting next to!

I enjoyed this event very much and was happy to be able to have a chance to invite my friend and his wife to the event!

Thank you Chopard, Sincere and Kong for the wonderful evening!

I have some pictures too. Will be uploaded in a while.

Regards

Elgin

Its ok...we need a better camera...the anti-shake just does not work!

I like the pics....supplementing what I've missed...a beautiful night scene with the litted Singapore Flyer, the showcase pieces & the smoking room.

Thanks.

Kong

Glad you enjoyed the evening.

Hey, you were seated beside our PuristS from Netherland and Wim was wearing the Pro One with bracelet.
It looked very new.

One of them could be wearing a Pro One GMT on another table.

Which dial you prefer?

The White is also known as Cadence ( 1000 production pieces) and the Black.
Hope you've the chance to see the beautiful glow of the markers on the Sapphire-bezel.

Kong

Kong for the invitation. ;-)

A couple more pics

 

my obsession...hehehe ;-)

 

Last but not least....

cheers

joe

 

What did you do to the bee-hive pic?
It becomes RED!

Chopard / Sincere / Purists and Kong for a memorable event . Great watches ,great food and great time !

 

George

 

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Hi Kong,

Many thanks for the invite. My friend and I did enjoy ourselves very much. We met a lot of new friends who are also interested in watch appreciation and learnt new knowledge of and angle at this brand. Among all watches displaying there, I especially like the XP one because of its simplicity. It would append to my dream watch list : )

Some pics were taken using my HP during the dinner, but am only able to select these 3 pics to share with you all because they are relatively better quality.

Hope to see you and other friends at future events soon.

Stefan

 

The HP takes quite decent pics at those lighting.
Glad that Jeffery and you enjoyed the event.

One of the best things in the PuristS gathering, you will get to meet people.  We learned from one another.

Which dial of XP you 'dreaming'?   I like the Black dial WG.  The black dial with the double AR crystal looks so good.  Where as the new slate dial YG, has a nice 'sun burst' pattern under light.

See you around.

Kong

Hi Kong, I would like the "grey" (do I correctly desribe the color?) dial of XP. This color is very special one. Talked to Patrick during the dinner, he said he likes that color too. 

Stefan  

Hi Stefan

It is called Slate-grey.

The spec is on this page :
chopard.watchprosite.com

And some real pics to tease you

Kong

L.U.C has 4 dial designs for Extra-Plate (XP)

The Slate-Grey Dial & RG, latest by dial design by L.U.C... launched during Basel 2008.

The dial from another angle.

I prefer the Black Dial & WG... the "blackness with tint of blue" greatly accentuated by the double anti-reflective (AR) coatings.



This message has been edited by Kong on 2008-05-10 12:52:01

Thanks Kong for correcting me. 

Yes, it is really tempting to me! I would aim to get either this or JLC master ultra thin with sub-dial (in 2008 SIHH) for my next watch : > 

Cheers,

Stefan

 

Dr Ma,

We are biased here.

Despite JLC being a respectable watch, the thoroughbred Chopard L.U.C. and family passion wins!

 

Do the right thing!

Be the right stuff!

MTF

hi MTF, was very nice to meet you in chopard dinner night and am glad to talk to you on this platform.

yes, this chopard XP model is really cool and getting attractive to me...

stefan 

Chopard really sure knows how to throw a great event, and great job in spreading the passion of Chopard!

Cheers,
Anthony

Except those unique pieces which were grabbed during Basel.

Heard there could be a piece coming over....we shall see.

The best part, the PuristS present, could see and try every piece.  After which they can compare notes among themselves on the spot!   This is fantastic experience.

Just that next round I need more help to get them seated  during every intervals .

Kong

I'm sure everyone will be glued to their seats!

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Hi all,

These 2 gifts were kindly given in the dinner: (Pic 1) to everyone who were attending the dinner and (Pics 2 and 3)  only given to our winning table for the quiz!

Cheers,

Stefan

 

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Thanks to Chopard LUC, Sincere and The Purists, and last but not least Kong for giving me the opportunity to learn more about LUC watches. It was indeed a rare treat to be able to handle almost the entire range of LUC watches. The new renditions of Chrono One are nice, but my favourite remains the platinum Lunar One.

I also greatly appreciate the opportunity to catch up with fellow watch enthusiasts and collectors, and meet new ones.

Regards,

CS

 

 

Only 4 pieces a month, by THE only 3 watchmakers.

Have you a chance to play with it?

Very spectacular!

How's the ChronoOne compares to the Dato?

Kong

Good ambience, good company, good food and of course lots of good watches.

Ahh, the test.  We don't get the change to test our knowledge here in Malaysia.  May be Patrick does not want us to feel embarrassed.

Regards

Ling