289 Discussions and CommentsMember since March 14, 2012Western,
Slovakia
Well, gentlemen, pictures have been already shared and many thanks expressed. But there was also said that better a little too many than not enough :o) So here is my portion of the experience. I hope you will enjoy it.
First of all I also would like to give away some thanks. The very first one has to go to all of you – the forum members. Without you creating this community I wouldn’t get caught in this forum a year ago. Then my thanks go to Michael and Oliver for their involvement in the invitation and finally of course to the truly International Watch Company, for hosting me. It is always a big pleasure to see a company that really takes care for their customers even if they are not directly billionaires :o) Last but not least I’d like to thank all the people at the fair for creating the atmosphere to enjoy. Thank you all!
And now to some pictures and the story: Monitoring the weather situation a couple of days (weeks :o) prior to my departure I was concerned a little. I planned to depart from Prague and hoped the icy clouds will not reach it. They did only partially, resulting in the need of de-icing the plane before the first route in the morning and carrying on some 30-50 minutes delay during the day. Never mind, I have waited patiently in the first booth that day:
First plan was to visit the town, the weather was beautiful:
But then, evaluating the information about the SIHH passes validity as a newcomer I have decided to go directly to the fair. Michael has warned us, that it is huge, so that I could see as much as possible. The fair itself isn’t huge. But taking into account what is being exposed and how much of these little things, called watches, can be stocked in one hall, it really is huge. It took me 4,5 hours just to “run” through the fair and see what the other brands have to show. And I have still missed the Museum and Art exposition, where I have returned the day after during the breaks. Now I know, this is an IWC forum but still I have to express one thing. In the other booths I was able to see pieces that I liked. But the difference between the other brands and IWC is in the complexity, so to say. Where I find one or two pieces by the others to which I can say I like them, I can find the whole line by IWC where I just can’t decide which one I like the most. Not only single ones. Probably that’s also why I am here and wear the IWC watch and not the other ones :o)
To cut the paragraph, here is a shot from the museum:
The last year’s stars:
Had to make place for the new ones:
Not leaving without the picture of my pilot favorite:
This running around had its cost, unfortunately. I have missed the opportunity to let Alan and Kevin to introduce me to that lovely friend of theirs, being in the mean time in the IWC booth :o) When I finally came there, booth was slowly getting quieter with people heading to the Gala Dinner. Still, I could meet first collectors in person and agreed to join for Mini Ingenieur GTG with dinner in the town. Thank you guys for bringing me the Swiss fondue delight! :o)
From Wednesday morning the schedule was though (there is never enough time to chat with the like-minded people). First on the program was the presentation from David about the history of the Ingenieur line and the museum.
All the folks listened carefully:
Then the magic box has been opened:
Revealing the work in process:
And causing other antiques to emerge as well:
Before the lunch I’ve taken a break and went to see the Arts exhibition, causing me not to fit behind the unofficial collectors’ table and having to eat the lunch with some lovely French ladies over the other booth. I did not complain very much… Afterward “das Rennen war angesagt” with the Performance presentation.
Now for that screen size, that should be the one you consider as your next TV if you not already have it :o)
Closing the hour with the usual rush of Touch & Feel, together with Wrist & Shoot:
Here-by one more thank to the guys allowing me to take some wrist shots with their watches, while these were laying abandoned on the table :o) Then and in-between it was the time to spent with the fellow forum members (or the present guys from the F1 team) at the very stylish IWC racing box, I mean fair booth:
I have heard it was also started once in a while:
A strange guy like me, with narrow wrist for the new Ingenieurs but body too tall to fit comfortably to this coach:
Did you notice the bartender? Yes, Lewis Hamilton was the man :o)
The bar itself with the racing track around:
And the race cars:
Leaving the show tired, Mr. Klaus? No, the man never is!
Departing from the fair I have learned a valuable lesson. Thou shall not use the shuttle! The traffic in Geneve in the rush hour with the combination of the 2-car-lights is a killer. The hotel near the station with the trains leaving almost every 5 minutes does the trick ;o) Then in the evening the collectors’ dinner took place in the old town. There was a chance to speak to various people from IWC which I personally have used to chat with the guys from design, not knowing that the highlight is still waiting. I have been honored to sit next to Mr.Klaus himself and bothering him with my newbie questions during the whole evening! Luckily Wiemer and Giovanni were also around to give him a break from me :o) While I have already used the chance to take the photo at the fair I didn’t do that during the dinner:
Later, there was an “Are you worthy?” quiz from Andrew, the Quizmaster:
And finally two obligatory shots. The group photo:
And the table shot as seen from the other side:
For me the show was over then. On Thursday I had a plane to catch before noon. Here it turned out that re-scheduling the visit to the town in a favor of the fair on Tuesday was not very clever from that point of view. The reason was that the weather, being sunny for two days have had suddenly changed to dark and cloudy. Together with the sun rising very late in the mountains I could only make few night shots in the morning. Not to be mistaken, these pictures were taken between 8 and 9 o’clock:
The Swiss-Geneve-SIHH bridge:
And in a way also “my princess” Sissi:
And that’s it guys. I hope you have enjoyed at least these few photos and a lot of unnecessary words as I have enjoyed this trip. It was a pleasure to meet you all and I hope I have the opportunity to talk to you again.
First of all I also would like to give away some thanks. The very first one has to go to all of you – the forum members. Without you creating this community I wouldn’t get caught in this forum a year ago. Then my thanks go to Michael and Oliver for their involvement in the invitation and finally of course to the truly International Watch Company, for hosting me. It is always a big pleasure to see a company that really takes care for their customers even if they are not directly billionaires :o) Last but not least I’d like to thank all the people at the fair for creating the atmosphere to enjoy. Thank you all!
And now to some pictures and the story: Monitoring the weather situation a couple of days (weeks :o) prior to my departure I was concerned a little. I planned to depart from Prague and hoped the icy clouds will not reach it. They did only partially, resulting in the need of de-icing the plane before the first route in the morning and carrying on some 30-50 minutes delay during the day. Never mind, I have waited patiently in the first booth that day:
First plan was to visit the town, the weather was beautiful:
But then, evaluating the information about the SIHH passes validity as a newcomer I have decided to go directly to the fair. Michael has warned us, that it is huge, so that I could see as much as possible. The fair itself isn’t huge. But taking into account what is being exposed and how much of these little things, called watches, can be stocked in one hall, it really is huge. It took me 4,5 hours just to “run” through the fair and see what the other brands have to show. And I have still missed the Museum and Art exposition, where I have returned the day after during the breaks. Now I know, this is an IWC forum but still I have to express one thing. In the other booths I was able to see pieces that I liked. But the difference between the other brands and IWC is in the complexity, so to say. Where I find one or two pieces by the others to which I can say I like them, I can find the whole line by IWC where I just can’t decide which one I like the most. Not only single ones. Probably that’s also why I am here and wear the IWC watch and not the other ones :o)
To cut the paragraph, here is a shot from the museum:
The last year’s stars:
Had to make place for the new ones:
Not leaving without the picture of my pilot favorite:
This running around had its cost, unfortunately. I have missed the opportunity to let Alan and Kevin to introduce me to that lovely friend of theirs, being in the mean time in the IWC booth :o) When I finally came there, booth was slowly getting quieter with people heading to the Gala Dinner. Still, I could meet first collectors in person and agreed to join for Mini Ingenieur GTG with dinner in the town. Thank you guys for bringing me the Swiss fondue delight! :o)
From Wednesday morning the schedule was though (there is never enough time to chat with the like-minded people). First on the program was the presentation from David about the history of the Ingenieur line and the museum.
All the folks listened carefully:
Then the magic box has been opened:
Revealing the work in process:
And causing other antiques to emerge as well:
Before the lunch I’ve taken a break and went to see the Arts exhibition, causing me not to fit behind the unofficial collectors’ table and having to eat the lunch with some lovely French ladies over the other booth. I did not complain very much… Afterward “das Rennen war angesagt” with the Performance presentation.
Now for that screen size, that should be the one you consider as your next TV if you not already have it :o)
Closing the hour with the usual rush of Touch & Feel, together with Wrist & Shoot:
Here-by one more thank to the guys allowing me to take some wrist shots with their watches, while these were laying abandoned on the table :o) Then and in-between it was the time to spent with the fellow forum members (or the present guys from the F1 team) at the very stylish IWC racing box, I mean fair booth:
I have heard it was also started once in a while:
A strange guy like me, with narrow wrist for the new Ingenieurs but body too tall to fit comfortably to this coach:
Did you notice the bartender? Yes, Lewis Hamilton was the man :o)
The bar itself with the racing track around:
And the race cars:
Leaving the show tired, Mr. Klaus? No, the man never is!
Departing from the fair I have learned a valuable lesson. Thou shall not use the shuttle! The traffic in Geneve in the rush hour with the combination of the 2-car-lights is a killer. The hotel near the station with the trains leaving almost every 5 minutes does the trick ;o) Then in the evening the collectors’ dinner took place in the old town. There was a chance to speak to various people from IWC which I personally have used to chat with the guys from design, not knowing that the highlight is still waiting. I have been honored to sit next to Mr.Klaus himself and bothering him with my newbie questions during the whole evening! Luckily Wiemer and Giovanni were also around to give him a break from me :o) While I have already used the chance to take the photo at the fair I didn’t do that during the dinner:
Later, there was an “Are you worthy?” quiz from Andrew, the Quizmaster:
And finally two obligatory shots. The group photo:
And the table shot as seen from the other side:
For me the show was over then. On Thursday I had a plane to catch before noon. Here it turned out that re-scheduling the visit to the town in a favor of the fair on Tuesday was not very clever from that point of view. The reason was that the weather, being sunny for two days have had suddenly changed to dark and cloudy. Together with the sun rising very late in the mountains I could only make few night shots in the morning. Not to be mistaken, these pictures were taken between 8 and 9 o’clock:
The Swiss-Geneve-SIHH bridge:
And in a way also “my princess” Sissi:
And that’s it guys. I hope you have enjoyed at least these few photos and a lot of unnecessary words as I have enjoyed this trip. It was a pleasure to meet you all and I hope I have the opportunity to talk to you again.
Last edited: 28 January, 2013 - 13:51
Michael
What an enjoyable read! Thanks for sharing. Almost felt I was there.
Todd
Marian ! It was great meeting you too at our mini GTG. Master Andrew turned out to be a good teacher on the art of eating/enjoying FONDUE !
Vishal.
best wishes,
thang
iwcforummer@outlook.com
Last edited: 21 April, 2013 - 08:55
Peter
Last edited: 7 February, 2013 - 18:18
Best regards,
Jim
"We are the other people, we are the other people...you're the other people too!"
Frank Zappa
Skule
Kind regards,
Clemens