Watch History in the Making..
10 Days to be Remembered

by Tim Jackson G.G

The dust has settled, life is, relatively speaking, getting back to normal here in Redwood City. Having had the collective genius of Peter Speake-Marin, Vianney Halter, Marco Lang, John McGonigle and Stephen McGonigle spend, all told, 10 days here in California, I’ve just got to put something down for those that couldn’t get here. I had the pleasure of picking up Peter and Daniela Speake-Marin on the Monday evening prior to our events here in the store. They were able to spend Tuesday getting their bearings and renting a car, Wednesday I sent them down to Monterey to experience the Aquarium with their young son. On Tuesday, John & Stephen McGonigle arrived separately, the hotel next door to us had lost their reservation much to my annoyance, so we offered them our guest beds. Wednesday they came by the store for a couple of hours before I lent them my M Roadster for an afternoon drive along Skyline to give them a change of scenery. They then went up to San Francisco for the evening. Vianney arrived Wednesday mid-day, after settling in, he and I were able to spend some time getting to know each other and enjoyed dinner at one of my favorite little tapas bars, Iberia, in Menlo Park.

Thursday Marco Lang arrived together with Johannes, his colleague who has recently graduated to become a qualified watchmaker after apprenticing under Marco tutelage.

With the whole team present, safely in CA, I was closer to having it all go right for the following few days.

Thursday Marco, Johannes & Vianney headed off to San Francisco to see the sights prior to our 3 intense days with friends, clients collectors and enthusiasts. Peter, John & Stephen were present in the store for several long time collectors to visit with. An opportunity our collectors relished, spending one on one time with these masters was not to be missed. I saw a new appreciation for what these guys are creating in the questions and response from the clients. I again am reminded of that wonderful quote “the mind once expanded, never goes back”.

Thursday evening will be remembered for a long time. Having all the watchmakers to dinner at our home was an experience I will relish forever. I managed to sit myself between Vianney and Peter’s wife, Daniela. A great time was had by all. One of the benefits of living in CA was the weather, no rain, so we were able to sit out by our outside fire pit and enjoy the evening. Something very few are able to almost guarantee at this time of year.

Friday 13th, ominous for some, not for me, never has it had the significance that so many place on it. Possibly my UK upbringing sheltered from Hollywood’s pantheon of horror flicks to cultivate the sometimes abject dislike of a mere number. For me, the true beginning of Watch History in the Making. The first day our store was exposed to the public for their opportunity to visit with these masters. It was a long day, very busy from when we opened until 6.30pm when we extricated ourselves in order to head down to Menlo Park, where we were hosting a formal dinner for friends and clients to have a more intimate evening. I have to mention at this point, that our friend Ali Elsafy at Bistro Vida, does a superb job. His staff were professional and he orchestrates with a mastery not often seen in restaurants today. As an owner-operator, I very appreciate his passion and commitment to his clients. We enjoyed a family style sit down dinner with the watch makers rotating part way through the meal so that a different table of guests were able to experience their company. I did my usual thing, made each one stand up and say a few words to the group, an opportunity for them to explain a little of what they do and why they do it. I came away reminded of the camaraderie between all these guys. One might think there would be tremendous rivalry amongst them, but there is none. They all realize that the type of person who appreciates their art form probably will acquire a example form each of them, so they work almost as a team. From my perspective, it was a consideration I had when we first thought of putting this event on, only to be set straight by Peter, who explained this camaraderie phenomenon with the Independents.

The joking around between Stephen McGonigle, who called Peter’s cell phone whilst he was speaking at the dinner, much to the amusement of all as he has a “rooster crowing” ring tone!

Saturday morning we were “up and at it” as my dear wife, Carrie, likes to say. Open for business at 10am, we quickly filled up the store with enthusiasts eager to see some of the amazing watches and chat with the creators. I have to say I was not expecting to sell or rather take orders for a couple of Vianney’s Contemporaine Moonphase watches! I thought the Classics would fly out of here. His prototype in a WG finish of the Trio, got a lot of play, sporting an wholly in-house movement, many were eager to handle it for it’s first West Coast showing. Glad we ordered 3 back when we did!

Marco and Johannes set up a lovely display with a group of traditional tools and watch parts, showing the "before and after" of several of the pieces, the swan's neck regulateur perfectly polished on the tin bar, the hand made blued hand. A great visual for collectors to see side by side, gives one an appreciation of the attention to detail paid by Marco and his team.

We had a full house Saturday, with many of our old friends stopping in to meet these guys and to check out what they had on offer. Another dinner Saturday evening ended the day on a fun note, with after dinner drinks going a little later than I think any of us planned...the smart ones were Peter & Daniela, owing possibly to having their young son, Fenton, with them on this trip, who headed back to the Inn after we closed Bistro Vida.

Sunday morning came rather to soon, but up and at it we were, albeit rather groggily, breakfasting with the team at the Atherton Inn. I corralled the team, dropped in at the store to pick up the watches from the safe, and headed on down to Los Gatos for the luncheon event at Testarossa Winery. This was a public event sponsored by by the northern California WIS (Watch Idiot Savant) group ably lead by Marvin Arnold and Larry Seiden. A group of about 45 enthusiasts spent the best part of 3 hours chatting about watches, looking at what these great watchmakers had brought down and as usual having a show & tell of some of their personal collections. We were treated to each of the watchmakers giving us a little talk about what they do, I even got to stand up and make my case for these guys, saying that whether or not the group realised it, that they were in the presence of a group of the greatest living watchmakers. I have to say for many of these guys it went right over their heads, so for my part their is much work to do. Sunday evening was fairly quiet, with an excellent Indian take out dinner at our home.

Monday was our R&R day with the watchmakers. We planned a tourist day up in Napa, touring some of my favorite wineries and generally giving them a sense of our wine world in CA. Our first stop was up at Pride on Spring Mountain at the border of Sonoma & Napa counties. The winery straddles the border, so when making their wine they have rollers under some of the tanks with which to move them in order to be in the correct county. Appellation rules are quite strict about bottle labeling...We were given an excellent tour by Tim Bouchet, who explained the soils and geological make up of Spring Mountain, then took us into the vineyard to try some grapes which were close to picking and finally to do some barrel tasting in the wine cave under the mountain. It was a very informative and interesting tour. We then had a picnic lunch on the property accompanied by a magnum of their superb Merlot. For those of you familiar with Spring Mountain Merlots, you'll understand, for others not, try them, if you are normally a Cabernet fan. I think you'll be happily surprised. We headed back down into the valley, stopping in on Sequoia Grove for a tasting and tour with the genius winemaker Michael Trujillo, who is also responsible for Karl Lawrence wines. Quite special if you can get your hands on them. We had our final dinner all together at John Bentleys here in Redwood City, fairly tired from our long day!

Vianney, John & Stephen headed out the following day, Marco and Johannes took the M to Yosemite for the day, you know those Germans, they like to drive. Actually it is Johannes, the gear head who enjoyed the drive! the following day the others headed home.

In looking back on that crazy 10 days, I have to say it was the culmination of many hours of preparation and careful planning by our team here, in order to execute this Independent tour. I have had great feedback from many of you about this event and I really appreciate the kind words. In closing I think a great success and I look forward to Watch History in the Making 2 next year. I would also like to say thank you to these guys for taking time out of their busy schedules to come to CA and participate.

Warm regards,
Tim