SIHH 2010 , the IWC-compass is pointing towards su

SIHH 2010 , the IWC-compass is pointing towards succes.

Here is a review of our visit to the SIHH, I am sure that my English will not be perfect and that the content is not representing all the impressions and every story we heared, but I hope that it gives a bit the feeling what we had during these 2 days. I am convident other reviews will appear so you will have the whole picture. Enjoy the reading.

Part one
The English forum was represented by 10 members and the we really should say the International forum because there were 9 different nationalities involved , USA, Holland, Greece, UK, Portugal, Italy, Canada, Swiss and Belgium. Some came for the first time, some were “oldtimers”.

The fun began even the day before the meeting at SIHH. On Wednesday I arrived at Geneva airport and found Nad also waiting for his luggage. I went to him behind his back and then suddenly I asked :” Sorry sir, do you have the time ?” and he quickly showed the time on his Big Pilot, before recognising me ( LOL ).
In the evening we had organised a dinner ( with help from Nad and Bill in choosing the restaurants ), MF had invited as surprise guests a few people from IWC , Olaf Eichstädt --he is IWC's technical director (in charge of all movements, testing, etc.), Herr Pantli , and Oliver Siegle. We were at the restaurant Les Armures were we got seating in the cellar, a corner a bit seperate from the “normal” people.
Everybody brought their nicest or most rare watches and all these were going from left to right and back again, plenty of pictures were taken ( I saw a ref 325, a BP Perpet (x2), a Ceramic Pilot Carlson lim ed, Amalfi chrono, some 5001, Port. Perpet,... ). The IWC staff brought some pieces from the new collection. I can tell you that the waiter had to come 4 times to ask if we had already chosen something from the menu...

Then we had a little quiz with 12 questions about the forum ( f.i. how many posts were made last year ? , name 3 Italian cities/regions that gave name to a IWC model )
Winner was ( by drawing ) Tony Gomez (clepysdra).

Then D-day , we were expected around 9.30 at the IWC booth. This booth is made like the deck of a yacht. Pictures show better than I can describe, so pics will follow. The people doing the reception and the catering were all dressed in the yachting style. What I did like was the attention to some details. As IWC is taking care in the details of their watchmaking, the same philosophy was used here , the girls had a belt specially made for the occasion with the name Portugieser written on it.
We were welcomed by Jasmin Beier and soon we were invited inside the press room to see the presentation of the new models. I do like the strategy that IWC has in building their collections.

Then, the big moment, the “touch and feel” session : all new models came on the table.
And everyone was surprised that a guy like me can be so fast in jumping to these cases and grabbing the Grande Complication before even one could blink with the eyes.

SIHH ,the IWC-compass is pointing towards succes

Part two.
The new models were photographed, put on the wrist and commented. You could see the favourite one of each forum member, that model stayed longer on the wrist and before the lenses. Some were more asked for, but no model stayed behind, every one of them had approuval of all of us.
What I also like in this years collection is the fact that if you cover the name IWC on the dial,
you still can tell in a second that the watch is an IWC. The DNA of Schaffhausen watches is present all over.
But also must be noticed that the watches in real are looking far better than the pictures can tell, so go see them with an AD. ( The blue dial of the new PPC in white gold is soooooooo nice ).
Another highlight was the Q&A time we got with Georges Kern. Again a big thank you to mister Kern to take some time for us during the busiest week of the year.
We could ask him anything, no questions or subjects were unanswered. He was very open in his answers about the attitude of some forum members. - Do not forget that we are guests in an IWC forum -, he encourages that everyone can express his opinion about IWC or the models, as long it stays in a polite and positive admosphere with respect for everyones opinion.
The future of IWC looks also good in a business point of view , there are some changes in the markets but he was positive about the sales. Good news is that there are going to be more boutiques around the world. Nad could tell that the HongKong boutique was very succesful,
he had visited it some days before and spoke to the people working there.
Some of his answers were off the record, so I will surely respect that, but we have got some behind the scenes info that in the future there will be more % inhouse movements in the collections.
This completed a perfect IWC day for us. There was some time left to visit the other booths, I saw some nice watches, nice innovations by the other brands, but I had all the time the urge to head back once again to the IWC booth, where I found back the other members with the same feeling , IWC is still on top.
A tendence in the collection is that there are again more red gold watches , the current market is less demanding apparently for the white gold understatement. Also the high level ones are doing very well, plenty of tourbillon models ( not only at IWC ).
So after a goodbye to the SIHH, we met again in the evening at a nice restaurant in Geneva with the collectors and with Chris Grainger, Kurt Klaus and Mario Klein , another higlight for all of us.
Mario Klein is in development responible for the Vintage line and the for a part the new Portuguese line. I was lucky that he sat next to me and we could have a long conversation.
He told me ( next to plenty other things ) about the develoment of the new folding clasp.
I will post a picture of this. It has the Probus medaillon in it, very nice made.
Some of us had a great chat with Kurt Klaus, who was pleased to see so much knowlegde and enthousiam about IWC.
After these two days, we said goodbye to our fellow forumfriends and left for all the different places on this planet, all with great memories from this visit to the SIHH.
Again a big thank you to IWC, MF and all the attendees for making this happen, and... keep on posting.
Tonny Berteloot

the pictures part 1

part 2, what is orange and does not grow in Forida

part 3 a nice presentation

part 4 at the booth

part 5 the retrograde technique and the clasp

part 6 at the wrist

I do like this colour combination, looks very appealing

part 7 had two more pretty ones on my wrist

The PPC got a new moon display, looks very good.
thanks for viewing the pics.