IWC Schaffhausen

What a brilliant idea MIchael - always fun to "meet" and learn more about the young and younger :-) faces on the forum - many of which I now consider friends!
Friends from all over the world - Singapore, Holland, Greece, Italy, Hong Kong, USA, UK - just to name a few.

But I am getting ahead of myself. My name is Skule Smørgrav, 43 years, and I'm an addict! I am addicted to both watches and chocolate:

As far as I know neither my father nor my mother had this watch addiction, so I cannot say where it came from, but I have had it since I was very young. Evidence you ask? Well, I requested to have my own wrist watch several years before any of my friends ever had one, and I was able to strap on this green "beauty" before I turned 5:-)

And I still have it of course - in fact I actually have every watch I have ever owned - how is that for an addict? :-/

So who am I then, other than being a watch addict? I live in a small village in Norway, approximately 1 hour south-west of Oslo, with my wife Anita and our 12 year old pride and joy:

She is a Gordon Setter and the most spoiled dog you could ever imagine.

After completing a 3 year Bachelors degree in electrical engineering in Norway, I got a Masters degree during 2 years at the University of California Santa Barbara. After fulfilling my duty as a Norwegian citizen with serving one compulsory year in the Norwegian Airforce, leaving as a corporal,
I started my professional career working for an American company in the oil and gas business here in Norway called FMC Technologies. As a matter of fact I still work in the same company. I received my MBA a few years ago while simultaneously working full time, and have since had several positions within FMC. I made the last move in March last year and I am currently the Manager Engineering & Marketing for our Measurement Systems division. We design, sell, install and run on- and offshore systems for measureing oil and gas to the highest accuracy possible.

As many of you have seen in the 2012 additions thread, it was this latest job change that led me to take the step to add IWCs #2 and #3 to my collection:
The Deep Two:

And the Big Ingenieur Chronograph:


But I'm getting ahead of myself again. I have been married to my beautiful wife Anita for 13 years now.

She is the Marketing Manager in the newspaper in the city where we work, Kongsberg. Fortunately she has been affected by the same addiction as we all have, which means she is very understanding towards new watch purchases on a semi-regular basis. Unfortunately this has another side-effect - every time I buy a watch I am really buyng two watches, one for me and one for her. That's just the way it is :-) But I am not complaining!!!

I bought my first "good quality" watch in 1991, and the first "expensive" Swiss watch in 1998. Well, that first Swiss one was a Tag Heuer and it was a present from my wife :-)
Since then I have been able to grow my collection with approximately 1 watch per year. That is until I finally saw the light in June last year.
Travelling quite a bit for work, thru many major airports and to places like the US, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur - fuelling my watch interest was not difficult. I of course noticed IWC even if I was mostly interested in other brands at the time - but on our way to the US for our summer vacation last year I was struck by lightening. The gorgeous Portuguese Perpetual Calendar in rose gold was there in a counter staring at me, and I was lost. The entire Amsterdam airport went quiet, people moved in slow motion all around me and my heart stopped beating. I had to leave it behind but after joining this forum and getting some invaluable help, a few weeks later the PRECIOUS was mine:


After joining this wonderful IWC family fantastic things have happened to me. not only have I been able to make friends with many of you here, but I was even invited to SIHH last year and got to meet the master himself:


Even if I love IWC (and chocolate:-)) I must admit that I do find a little time to indulge in other interests. Both my wife and I enjoy travelling, hiking, relaxing on the couch with a good movie, and we love a good meal. But other than watches I really only have one other main hobby - cycling!

So I wish you all a happy holiday season with a picture from a bike race on the French Riviera this year - and yes, that is me in the front:-)

All the best from a freezing Norway!!!

Skule

Last edited: 29 December, 2012 - 07:43

Waimar Wrote:

Hi Wiemer, please take my comment as a clear symptom I'm getting old but, you look so cute, together :)

Regards,

Roberto

Last edited: 11 January, 2013 - 11:07

Skule Wrote:I am addicted to both watches and chocolate.

Even if I love IWC (and chocolate:-)) I must admit that I do find a little time to indulge in other interests. Both my wife and I enjoy travelling, hiking, relaxing on the couch with a good movie, and we love a good meal. But other than watches I really only have one other main hobby - cycling!

Thank you for reminding me about the chocolate I forgot ! :o))))

Excellent initiative, Michael!

Hello Everyone,

My name is Jeronimo, I am 41 years old and I am portuguese. I live most of my time in Southern Africa for professional reasons, my wife is Asian and we have a lovely little daughter.



I've been collecting watches for almost 15 years and for all sorts of silly reasons I only got my first (and now a second) IWC this year. I might have a few more already but, fortunately, I have my wife to instill some common sense into this IWC "addiction".



My work as a director in a company that has a broad span of interests in different countries keeps me very busy and leaves me little free time to pursue other activities.



Besides watches, I love cars, both the real ones and miniatures which I avidly collect since I can remember, and I particularly like my job because despite being very trying and beyond the entrepreneurial side of it, it allows me to create a positive impact into several communities and that, for me, is a very motivating factor and it gives me a feeling of "real world" achievement.



It is a great pleasure to be a part of this fine online community on which I spend a lot of my meagre free time and I hope in the future to have the opportunity to get to know and interact with more of you.



For now, and for all of you and your families my best wishes of a holy Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

Regards,

Jeronimo

Omar Khayyám (Persia XI-XII Century) offered that Time should not only be measured in length but also in width due to the intrinsic difference between a minute or other depending on what is happening to the beholder... I wonder how a watch would look like...

Last edited: 12 December, 2012 - 19:22

Hi and Seasons Greeting to my fellow IWC forum members.

I am relatively new to this forum - whilst researching an IWC watch, I came across this site and formally joined about 5 months ago.
The forum members have been very kind and generous in sharing their passion. Also thank you to everyone who have pointed me in the right direction to learning more about IWC and their watches.

There are a few IWCs that sing to me - but I am going with my gut and waiting patiently for a 90's IWC that I spied a while back, before moving along my wish list and getting a more modern IWC.

What do I do?
Currently in a financial services industry working for the Operations department. London based - travel a little to North America for work. Providing legal/control functions.

Why am I here?
I became interested in mechanical watches about the same time my parents got me my first Rolex. Over the past 10 years, I have purchased other watches including a 90's steel Daytona and a 70's Red Sub. IWC has always been on my mind and I am looking for a contemporary aged IWC.

What else do I do apart from work and reading watch websites?
At the moment my pride and joy is our baby - enjoying every moment of it, she took her first steps this morning. But before this, my wife and I were keen travellers - choosing to travel independently to some of the more esoteric destinations, including Borneo, Vietnam, Kenya etc. Looking forward to showing baby the world around her.

I enjoy dancing Latin, currently taking time out from running (5/10km distances).

Thank you.

hi everyone,

my name is thang - and joined the forum about a year ago.

i'm vietnamese born in canada and raised in singapore, went to university in boston, lived in new york, and currently am relatively settled here in london. i started off in investment banking & private equity... but for the last several years have been trying to make it as an entrepreneur in the consumer goods industry, property, art and renewables. i'm still not getting very far though - so grail IWCs shall unfortunately remain grails for the time being!

am married with 3 kids ages 4 and under - including a newborn (!) so haven't been too active on the forum as of late (apologies).

outside of watches (and IWC in particular of course), other passions include music, traveling, and tennis.

here's me with my grumpy face after you guys brainwashed me to buy a 5002!



best wishes for 2013 and hope to see many of you in person at GTGs!
thang

iwcforummer@outlook.com

Last edited: 21 April, 2013 - 08:55

Great idea Michael, thanks.

My name is Giovanni Ambrogio. I was born 26.12.1973 - so mark your calendars for a reveal, there might be an IWC under the christmas tree and probably another one under the birthday tree:-) - in Germany.
My parents are Italian, so I had the pleasure to grow up with the Italian as well as the German language and culture, and am still trying to take the best of both.
I am living in Düsseldorf, together with my wife and my two girls, 11 and 4 years old.

I hold a Master in mechanical engineering - oh, just noticing that I should own as mechanical engineer an Inge by definition, but I do not! Need to change that! - however, I never worked in that field, but moved after the Master Thesis into the IT space.
Today I work as Managing Director of a consulting company which is serving the big Telcos like Vodafone with IT consulting and development services. The company I am managing is part of a big Italian IT consulting company, which is quoted at the Milan Star segment - and here we close the loop with my Italian origins.

I love to do sports for charity, like running a marathon or cycling from Oslo to Düsseldorf (I'm the second from left)


Furthermore I do love skiing and diving,


Barolo wine


and guess what - correct, IWCs. That's me while practicing two of my hobbies - the wine is inside as you can clearly see looking at my expression:-)
.

On the diving and the IWCs I have been highly influenced by this guy here, which you all know. He is for me a buddy, a friend, an ex-colleague, a reference person, somebody from whom I learn each time I speak to him and sometimes I even learn from him while just thinking of him.


Today I am a proud owner of a number of IWCs, and luckily enough among them my grail watch, which is this one

This KKDV has a very special meaning to me, but that's another story.

What's this forum and all of you guys for me? It is a kind of home with marvelous people in there. It is simply a place I want to spend time in, and people I want to spend time with. It is a very special feeling, which I didn't knew before joining this forum.

Allow me to give all of you a big digital hug as a thanks for allowing me to spend such great and valuable time with you. Wish you all a great 2013 - may all your dreams come true.

Last edited: 12 December, 2012 - 20:07

Ohhh! 866 blue ray dial. Weak knees.

Last edited: 17 May, 2013 - 09:58

Rave Wrote:


Ohhh! 866 blue ray dial. Weak knees.

On my wrist right now, the knees..? Well, yes, I'm actually sitting down ;-)

watch the time...

Last edited: 9 April, 2013 - 19:22