Firstly I want to say THANK YOU to the powers that be that selected me to
be a part of this epic event. When I first applied (at the urging of a couple
of good friends) I really had no expectations of being selected. I am truly
honoured and grateful for the opportunity.

Also THANK YOUto IWC for taking the time to host and include the
Collectors in one of your biggest and busiest events of the year.

A BIG THANK YOU also goes to the Collectors in attendence, new and
veterans alike, and even some who were there on their own accord and not part
of the "official" Collectors Meeting group. People have asked me what was
most memorable about my trip and my first and simplistic answer is, "The
people". Thank you for welcoming me in and making me feel like part of the
group. You all have played a role in making this such an epic and memorable
experience for me.

I likely didn't take as many pics as I would have liked to. Being as this was
my first time at SIHH, I wanted to absorb as much as I could without having
the
distraction of feeling like I had to photo document everything. The watches
are the centre piece of this event and by now eveyone has seen them via some
form of online media or in person. So I'm going to try and document my
experience without overlaping the pics that Ben has already posted. Here
goes.....

The trek to Geneva from Canada was a bit of a "milk run" but at least I had
good company....

After the long journey to Geneva I was welcomed at my hotel with a little
fanfare. Four policemen to arrest one guy, can't be that bad can it?

I was pretty exhausted from the journey so I decided to have a quiet night in
to rest but not before having dinner at Parfums de Beyrouth, a local Lebanese
restaurant (conveniently half a block from the hotel) as recommended by a good
friend.

The next morning, without anything on the itinerary, I decided to check out
the sights at the Palexpo and see what I could see and meet who I could meet.

First celeb sighting.... long time forum member Mr. Andrew Thomas

And the star of the show.... The Silver Spitfire with a little photobomb by a
Safari. Amazing that they brought the actual plane that will making the around
the world flight.

Second celeb sighting of the day and ulitmate IWC fan boy moment..... The
meeting of Herr Kurt Klaus. Such a kind and genuinely nice person. Still
didn't stop me from gushing and being a fan boy everytime I saw him. More on
that later.....

An interesting event on the day's schedule was a panel discussion hosted by
James Holland, Silver Spitfire pilots Matt Jones and Steve Brooks as well as
Christian Knoop, The Creative Director at IWC. Through a little mix up in
location I almost missed this event. So glad I made it. You could really feel
their passion and excitement for the upcoming journey and the Spitfire. The
entire video is on IWC's FaceBook page.

On the way back to the booth and even MORE importantly the booth bar/lounge
which would become the staging point for meet ups for the course of the week.
Who do I run into? Long time forum member, Red Bar Co-Founder and all round
nice guy (I wasn't supposed to tell anyone the last part) Adam Craniotes. Bald
will play a significant role in IWC SIHH 2019.

I decided to head back to the hotel unitl I ran into Ben and Mark F (who had
just gotten in). A quick drink turned into a few hours with a host of IWC
employees and collectors popping by occasionally. Mark and I even met with a
representative of the Saint-Exupery family. It was a valued few hours of great
conversation and new friendships. (myself front and centre, Mark F on the
left, Peter from HK on the right and Ben in the back)

Everyone talks about what amazing booths IWC creates for SIHH every year. The
grand scale of it is mind boggling....I'm sitting indoors, at a bar (which
also has amazing coffee by the way), with a freaking Spitfire behind me.....

When an IWC exec comes up behind you and says, "Now that's a picture..." you
take the picture.....

The night ended with a very generous inviation to dinner at Cafe de Paris from
Ben, Mark F and our esteemed forum moderator Tonny. I had a great time gents.
Thank you again.

To be continued tomorrow.... the IWC Gala

Well done and to think it is your first report on a SIHH event. It is a true
honor to be invited. More importantly,it is the place to meet old and about
to be new friends. Thanks for the tour.

Great read, Clem! Looking forward to part 2... Next year we go together!!

bromance

Awesome read, Clem! Thanks a million for sharing. Can´t wait to get more of
that kind of impressions!

Hope to be lucky enough to attend next year, too.

Nice pics and commentary, Clem! I enjoyed the "tour!"

Thanks for the responses. I'm glad the four of you enjoyed Part 1 ;-)

GALA NIGHT:

Well I was hoping that the itch in my throat that I felt before leaving to
Geneva was a passing thing but I guess that was wishful thinking. I 'm always
the last one to contract the plague in my house and unfortunately this was no
exception. The lack of sleep and the hours in the "flying viral incubator
tube" likely didn't help matters either. In any regard, I developed a bit of a
cough and was still a bit jet lagged so I decided to take it easy and try and
sleep the cold away. The Gala didn't start until late and by all acounts today
was the day that the celebs and ambassabors toured the booth so it was closed
off for a good part of the day anyways.... too much information yet?

Looking back, I actually have more video than pictures from Gala night but
most of those are covered in Ben's thread.

At the meeting spot (aka the IWC lounge) what do we see? More Collectors and
some Safaris

Micahel Freidberg, Erwin Chu and myself

When you check in at the Palexpo Hangar for the Gala you trade your "Golden
Ticket"

For your personalized "boarding card"

As you make your way to the main hall you pass the red carpet.... they
wouldn't let us on for some reason but I did find me some REAL VIPs in the
vicinity

From L to R: Anthony (aka Black Sheep Hemsworth), Ethan Hawke (aka Cody L look
alike), Erwin C, Mark F. and myself.

In the main hall which will act as the after party venue post dinner we are
treated to a great selection of appetizers and alcohol... yes please!!

I'm sure just about everyone has seen the grand call to dinner with the
dancers and rock music that lead you into the dining room. No? Maybe I'll
upload the video one day. In any regard by rough estimation there are about
800+ guests for the Gala event. EIGHT HUNDRED PLUS!!!

I must say IWC knows how to throw a party.

"The menu with no choices" sounds like a Harry Potter novel..

The earplugs to which no one realized were to be used for the grand entrance
of one of the Longest Flight pilots in a RUNNING Spitfire!!!!

The table map to where the speculators... I mean Collector's were trying to
figure out where the Silver Spitfire would stop.

As I've said before the greatness of this experience wouldn't have been made
possible without the people...

SC, Michael F and myself

"The Commonwealth" St. John, Nad, Ethan and myself (missing Mark F and "Black
Sheep Hemsworth")

The Asian remake of the movie "Twins" that starred Arnold Schwarzenegger and
Danny Devito. You decide who is who...

The traditional Collector's photo with Ms. Karolina Kurkova. What a beautful
person inside and out. You have to respect and admire how she took the time to
take the
group photo and even made time for individual photos with each Collector that
was STILL there (ahem Cody ;-) ) as well as some fun posed shots all the while
seeming to genuinely want to be there.

and finally the Collector's got their moment on the red carpet albeit with no
photographers except ourselves... remember how I said bald was a recurring
theme?

and the signal it was time to fly home for the night...

Tomorrow..... Collector's Day

Awesome report Clem! It's great with all the details and the site notes!
Looking forward to the collectors day.

Awesome indeed. Brings back fond memories of my day in the sun.

Mem'ry
All alone in the moonlight
I can smile at the old days
Life was beautiful then
I remember
The time I knew what happiness was
Let the mem'ry live again

...

Touch me
It's so easy to leave me
All alone with my mem'ry
Of my days in the sun
If you touch me
You'll understand what happiness is
Look a new day has begun

HAHAHAHAHA Bill if that's all it takes for a serenade I will post more often!!

Amazing memorries thanks for the pics and post Clem

Great report!

thanks for sharing!

cheers

COLLECTORS DAY

The morning starts earlier than most but just early enough to enjoy a cup or
two of that amazing coffee at the booth and possibly a pastry... or
two...before the days events begin.

Collectors Assemble!!

It's time.... Dr. David Seyffer begins herding the sheep upstairs so he can
present his welcome speech and a little bit of IWC pilot watch history.

A nice personal welcome from Mr. Christoph "the Boss" Grainger-Herr and a view
of the Silver Spitfire from the other side. It's starting to get busy.
OBSERVATION: The Timezoner is playing a part in the booth design. Bravo to
design team.

Off to the SIHH Lab. Dr. Seyffer shows us a bit of R&D history and prototypes
of IWC's foray into different and innovative materials. Dr. Lorenz Brunner of
the Innovation & Pre-Development department explains to us the process used to
"create" Ceratanium.

After the demonstration, we break for brunch. I won't get into those pics as
Ben has already done a great job of covering those.

After brunch we have a scheduled "Production Presentation + Touch & Feel". It
sounds dirty but I like it because of all the tingly anticipation. We are
invited to what I like to call the war room.

Once all the touchy, feelies are done we are invite to take some professional
group and individual portraits with the Silver Spitfire.... Sidenote: these
are not my photos but one of the photographers at the booth.

and we would be remiss without highlighting a special appearance from a trio
of CFAT/CF4s

So now we break before dinner. A few of us decided to grab a beverage before
heading back to our respective hotels to rest and freshen up. A couple of 8%
alcohol IWC beers should do the trick...

To continue on our bald journey may I present Mr. Martin Dohrmann and I on the
shuttle back to central Geneva and our hotels.

....and the 15 images per post interlude....

UBER FAN BOY MOMENT

I forgot to includes this part which occured before heading back to the hotel.
One of my goals for this trip was to meet and have Herr Klaus (who is also
bald(ing) sign my Big Pilot Top Gun Perpetual Calendar manual.... Mission
Accoplished... (Side note: He's using a Porsche branded pen for those
following the recent Porsche Design threads on the forum)

COLLECTORS DINNER

Pre-Dinner meet up is at the Geneva boutique before we head over to Les
Aviateurs next door. Some gratuitous sight seeing inside the booth and some
delicious aperitifs.

Mr. Jones and me, and brief musical interlude in honour of Bill Barker.

Mr. Jones by The Counting Crows

"I was down at the New Amsterdam
Staring at this yellow-haired girl
Mr. Jones strikes up a conversation
With a black-haired flamenco dancer
You know, she dances while his father plays guitar
She's suddenly beautiful
We all want something beautiful"

We migrate to Les Aviateurs, dinner is a standing style where Collectors and
the IWC execs in attendance (who graciously took the time out of their busy
schedules) are encouraged to mingle. It is a truly spectacular experince to
have the opportunity to interact with these people who play key roles in
designing and building these watches we are so passionate about.

A great speech from our forum moderator Tonny. This man exudes charm and
charisma..... and HUMOUR!!!

The wonderful and magnificent Clizia (and myself), who has been responsible
for our rag tag group for the past few days. Her patience knows no bounds
(that I have seen) and such a genuinely beautiful person inside and out.

One thing I learned about an IWC Exec: Dr. David Seyffer has an amazing
passion for the TV show "Ice Pilots". (if you've never heard of it, google it)
When I say amazing, I mean the man speaks about that show with as much passion
and vigor as he does about IWC history... possibly even more. Don't believe
me? If you ever meet him just mention the show to him...

Post dinner night cap was hosted by Andrew Thomas. I was truly honoured to be
included in the group and Andrew was a magnificent host. T'was an evening with
great laughter and friendship.

Unoffical Collectors Dinner

Thursday/the next day was uneventful for the most part. For those still in
town theres a Traditional "Unoffical Collectors Dinner". Still battling my
cough/cold I decided to rest for most of the day and head out a couple of
hours before dinner to sight see.

Prior to dinner there was a call out to see who was around and a few of us
decided to meet up at Les Aviateurs for a drink.

St. John, Nad and Myself (missing Adam C)

After dinner, long time member and RedBar co-Founder Adam helps direct us in
the subtle art of the "table shot"

To end the night.... a photo I like to caption: "The final moments right
before Mark F was mugged at a Geneva ATM (by two bald guys)"

So I've kind of zipped through this day partly because Ben has covered most of
it himself but also because the next day is a very important day (to me and 3
others) in this adventure. I'm going to need my image posting allowance
dedicated to it. It's something we like to call, "The Pilgrimage"

Great photos Clem, thanks for sharing! It's always fun to see through someone
else's perspective. It was fantastic to meet you as well, it is great people
like yourself that make this such an amazing experience. So which of the
novelties caught your fancy? I really like the new double chrongraph in
Ceratanium!

Thanks Ben!!

Loving the Big Pilot Rodeo Drive PC, The Spitfire UTC, The Timezoner, Top Gun
double chrono, as well a few others.

Like a friend of ours like to constantly say, "No Money" HAHA

Wonderful post, Clem! You can't not smile when reading through your experience
and seeing your photos. Thank you for sharing. I know it was a fantastic
adventure that has made a significant impact on you.

Cheers Brother!!

THE PILGRIMAGE

Prior to leaving for SIHH/Geneva there was some interest from/for those with
availability in their schedule to make a pilgrimage to the IWC
Mothership/HQ/Museum and the new Manufakturzentrum. Much thanks belong to Mark
F for spearheading the initiative and to Clizia and Dr. Seyffer from IWC for
making the arragements for our visit. Sadly there was a little caveat.... we
needed to be in Schaffhausen by 9:00 ish AM to meet our guide and
trasportation for a 9:30 tour booking at the Manufakturzentrum. To make this
work we needed to catch the 4:51 AM train for a four hour ride to
Schaffhausen.

So now I have this curse that where no matter where it is or where I'm going,
I cannot sleep the night before a trip. Normally this isn't an issue except
for the fact that my cough/cold has progressed to the point that I've lost
about 85-90% of my voice.... my travel mates likely won't be complaining about
that. ;-)

No matter what I'm not missing this trip. SIHH has already checked of so many
items on my bucket list and this trip to Schaffhausen will check off so many
more.
I will tough this out and I'm glad I did.....

As much as it would have been great to experience this trip with the entire
Collectors Group, I couldn't have asked for better travel companions.

On the morning train from L to R: myself, Black Sheep Hemsworth, St. John and
Mark F (along with some unimpressed and unenthusiastic commuters)

The beautiful Swiss countryside and a GORGEOUS sunrise over the Rheinfall

After a quick pee break (a funny interchange with an Irish fellow about the
merits of leaving the Commonwealth and removing the Queen from our respective
currencies in the public washroom..) and a coffee and pastry we make our way
to the Mothership....

To be continued..... once my daily image limit resets......