Ulysse Nardin

Mrs. NickO and I just completed a wonderful little vacation - a couple days in the Santa Monica / Beverly Hills area, and a couple days in Las Vegas, with a travel day to-and-from the East coast on either side. I'm excited to share the highlights of our trip:

In undisputed first place was dinner with our very own "Mr. Bigwig" Bill and his beautiful and highly-accomplished wife and their beautiful and highly-accomplished daughter. Bill, thanks for being such a gracious host, give our regards to your ladies and I very much hope we get to do it again soon!

In third place, was running into Joe Jonas at the Ritz-Carlton Marina Del Rey as we were checking out and he was checking in. Really a delightful young man. He took the time to talk with some young ladies who immediately approached him, asked some questions and posed for pictures before his handler / bodyguard could whisk him away to his suite (otherwise, he'd still be there signing autographs). In this day of self-important celebrities, this was a most refreshing change. As we don't have any children to try and impress, I was glad to have the opportunity to text our 22-year-old pet sitter and tell her I met Joe Jonas. I am now officially the coolest middle-aged man she knows.

But I digress. In second place, was the fact I got to spend the entire week with my Freak Phantom. Vegas can be a little freaky, so I really considered it the perfect choice. All I can say is WOW!! I picked it up earlier this year, but when I'm at home I change my watch every day. So this was the first time I got to spend any length of time with it. All I can say is that everything MichaelC has said about his Freak Black Out is 100% true. The Freak is a truly captivating piece, with tremendous depth to the dial, and I found myself staring at it more than I've stared at any other watch. The fact that it makes you work a little to tell the time, and work a little to wind it, merely adds to its appeal. 

My photos are not as good as Michael's, it's a really hard watch to shoot with its deep black dial, but I did my best to capture some shots in Vegas. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

I can't leave without giving my 2 cents on Vegas. It can be quite a polarizing city and is best known for its trashy side, but it is home to the weird and the wonderful and is equally accommodating to both. Vegas has a tremendous food scene and if you want a more classy experience, that can be had, too. We have visited once or twice a year for the best part of the past twenty years and always stay at the wonderful Encore Tower Suites. It's a private tower at the end of the strip and perfect when you want to get away from all the craziness. They always treat us wonderfully (they treat everyone wonderfully) and this time we found ourselves in a 2,200 sq.ft (205 sq.M) Salon Suite. It's a shame we didn't have a group as it was the perfect suite to host a party.

I like this shot of me at the bar in our suite. I think it makes me look like an International Man of Mystery.... or a member of the Witness Protection Program. My wife informs me it is the latter.

It wouldn't be Vegas without a mirrored ceiling. That never gets old.

Great view of The Strip at night from our suite.

That's it, thanks for reading! I hope everyone is enjoying these long dog-days of summer wherever you find yourself!

NickO

  login to reply