November GTG - Small Gathering, Big Big Watch!

We get together every now and then to share watch stories and share our collecting passion. This time around, our two themes were - Non-Swiss watches and thematic timepieces. What I mean by thematic pieces will be like the Omega Snoopy, Zodiac pieces, Miffy etc. You get the drift. Let's start with the Thematic pieces that came to the gathering. Gathering was held at Naked Finn located at Gillmann Barracks.

The first timepiece is a Zodiac piece made for me by the very talented Stefan Vinogradov a Russian watchmaker.

I met Stefan and his wife Svetlana back in 2015 when they visited Singapore and we discussed about customizing my first Dragon piece. This is the second piece from Stefan and the movement is very well decorated - by hand.

Next up is the original Blue Miffy watch by De Rijke and Co.... Then the Orange...

And a picture of the two together.

Before I go to the obvious, here's a Popeye for you by the folks from Undone.

Now, what about this Snoopy by Citizen watch?

Bet you have never seen this before! What a cool Snoopy!

What about the Timex M79 Peanuts Masked Marvel? Another unusual Snoopy amongst the many Snoopy timepieces around.

The most famous of all Snoopy watches must be the range from Omega. These three are owned by one individual. The first edition above.

This is perhaps the most sought after second edition - the white dial version.

The first two editions are limited editions but the latest 3rd release is a regular production piece.

What's a theme without Mickey? Party will be incomplete!

And here we have the Unimatic Modello Uno U1S-HS2 "Diver"

Some times when some collectors come as they wish for whatever reason but it could be a blessing in disguise... In this case, it's our lucky day!

What a treat! The Greubel Forsey Double Balancier! The one watch to rule them all. How often do you get to handle such a stunning and breathtaking piece?

What an amazing piece of engineering! And we are all glad he "just grabbed what was there" and didn't follow the memo.

So often, these gatherings will surprise us with pieces that are lesser known and this is exactly why we have themes around our gatherings. Stay tuned for Part 2 when we show the timepieces for the second theme - Non Swiss watches! If you missed our last gathering, click this link to see the report.

About Naked Finn, if you have not been there, you should. Great ambience and great food too.

We started with the Signature chilled piquant rice vermicelli (bee hoon) topped with sakura ebi. What came next was the Sugarloaf cabbage with in-house anchovy butter.

Food was excellent and I am sure if you visited Naked Finn, you will agree with me. More to come in my next report.

IAMWATCH - What I Managed to Photograph

IAMWATCH organised by The Hourglass brought together many independent watchmakers and brands and the event was held across 4 days in October.

Held at The Singapore Edition hotel along Cuscaden Road, Day 1 was invited guests only and the next three days were for registered guests. On top of exhibiting watch brands and watchmakers, there were roving ambassadors - social media personalities, watchmakers who do not have a booth or even watchmakers who are not represented by The Hourglass. On top of meeting watchmakers and brands, the event also hosted talks discussing a variety of topics.

This is one event where one gets to see the top of the range indie pieces in one location. But due to the format of the event, I was not able to capture all the pieces on display. I attempt to share with you what I saw and captured and hope you like the photo essay. First up, the Akrivia AK06.

The Chronomètre Contemporain white enamel dial...

The Tourbillon Heure Minute...

Equally impressive are these few Chopard LUC time and art pieces. This is the L.U.C Full Strike ‘Year of the Dragon’ featuring a minute repeater built on a Grand Feu Enamel dial with a dragon motif.

The details of the enamel dial is out of this world!

As with the Chopard L.U.C Quattro Spirit 25 Year of the Dragon

This LUC comes with the L.U.C 98.06-L jumping-hour complication and from what I understand, the head of the dragon is hand decorated with wooden elements. The 4 barrels (double stacked) provide 8 days of power reserve.

Another amazing brand is De Bethune. This DB Kind of Two is a fully reversible timepiece.

What about this DB25 GMT Starry Varius?

One of the invited guest watchmaker is Felipe Pikullik and he brought along his Moonphase 1 timepiece.

Build on a UNITAS base, this Moonphase 1 is several years in the making.

One of the highlights for me is this Girard Perregaux Quasar Light Tourbillon with Three Bridges.

Then there was the classic Three Bridges Tourbillon

What about Kari Voutilainen? Some of the most well made independent tiemepieces out there.

This is the 20th Anniversary Tourbillon...

And this Chronometre 27 - a timepiece Kari was wearing at the event.

And the KV20i Reversed.

I was also able to meet Anton Suhanov and photograph his Chronotope - a day date timepiece with an unusual adjustment mechanism.

The snail shaped mechanism is for the day change and to make the change, there is a pusher at the 6 o'clock position.

Next Up, two very interesting gentlemen - Mr. Petermann and Mr. Bedat with their creation under the Petermann Bedat brand. Start with the Reference 2941 Chronograph.

And the reference 1967 dead beat second timepiece

I also managed to photograph the Remy Cools Tourbillon - both the current Tourbillon Atelier and also the Souscription Tourbillon.

And the Souscription piece

What is independent watchmaking without the mention of MB&F? My favourite of all times is the LM Perpetual - what a marvel!

And the HM6 with a "central" Tourbillon on top of the timepiece.

To round off the shoot, I had the pleasure of meeting Stepan Sarpaneva and these are the two watches I photographed:

And the SUF Moomin

There were many more very talented and amazing watchmakers and brands but this was as much as I could muster given the time constraint and enormous crowd.

It was a hugely successful event and congratulations to Mike Tay and the Hourglass for organising such an event. From the people I met, most agree that the whole event was very well planned and executed and are looking forward to the next edition.

For enthusiasts like me, such events allow me to get up close and personal with the watchmakers and brands and feel and touch the timepieces which would otherwise not be accessible to me. Kudos to IAMWATCH and the Hourglass and looking forward to the next one!