Travelogue of a Really Blue Blue Blue Blue Tuesday

Dear Friends,

now I need to tell you a really special story that happened to me today. Read what happened:
Last week Friday I made an appointment for today to have a look at a very nice NIB IWC and potentially buy it. The appointment was with a private seller in Aschaffenburg, a place 260km from Düsseldorf. Fine I thought, I can make those 260km in normal traffic conditions in less than two hours ... even in 1.5h in case of perfect traffic conditions.
The IWC I was going to look at was intended to temporarily satisfy my increasing need for "Blue".

I asked a buddy of mine who knows IWCs quite well to accompany me. A great opportunity to spend some time with him in the car, have nice chats and in addition to have a second opinion on the watch.

9am, starting our trip to Aschaffenburg. I felt it would become a special day, therefore I put my Platinum Regulateur on my wrist:

That is my buddy sitting on the copilot seat. Any idea who that buddy is?

Unfortunately my buddy took his role as copilot far too serious. He took his role that serious, that he made me drive in perfect traffic conditions that slow, that we needed 3 hours for a drive I would only need 1.5 hours for. Guys, believe me, after that ride I know why I married my wife and not that buddy:-))

Anyway, finally we arrived in Aschaffenburg and here is what we went there for:

A beautiful new and unworn Portuguese F.A. Jones in steel, limited to 3000 pcs. This very pure and classic dial, the wonderful blue hands and numerals, the gorgeous F.A. Jones writing on the dial, this great movement, so greatly finished, so nicely decorated ... It took me exactly five seconds after I saw it to decide that the baby would drive back home with me (I mean obviously the Portuguese, not my buddy).
Negotiations were done quite fast, payment done and here I am, happy new owner of this wonderful timepiece:

Yes, that watch clearly satisfies my need for "Blue".

I jumped back into the car, having my buddy still with me and knowing that again I would need 3 hours for a drive which should take only half that time. But you know what? This time I did not bother me at all. I thought great, driving that slowly I can constantly look at my new F.A. Jones:

I started the engine and Riiinnngggg ... What's that I thought ... Did I buy a Minute Repeater F.A. Jones? ... No, it was my mobile ringing.
"Hello, who's speaking?"
"Ah, hi Mrs. Authorised Dealer, how are you?"
"What???? YOU HAVE MY DREAM WATCH? Right now? It just arrived an hour ago? You need right now an answer if I want to take it? Here and now? You have a waiting list of 20 people for that watch? So now or never?"
Oh hell, I just bought this great F.A. Jones? What shall I do now. My AD in Düsseldorf just got the watch of my dreams!!!
In my diving courses I learnt that in such situations one should STOP, BREATHE, THINK and then ACT!
And that is exactly what I did in that situation ... well admittedly in an accelerated way - I saved the stopping, breathing and thinking part and jumped immediately to the Acting part - I said "Yes, I WANT IT. I am right now on my way to you dear AD. I'm arriving ... don't give it away ... will be with you in max 1 hour" (Please note that I just had started the engine, so I was still in Aschaffenburg - 260km away from Düsseldorf).

"Hey Buddy, fasten the seat belt, tense your muscles and most importantly SHUT UP! I have an emergency and I promise you we are going to be in 1 hour in Düsseldorf!" Off we go to Düsseldorf.

Compare this pic of my buddy with the one in the morning when we started: doesn't look like he feels to comfortable at the moment. Anyway, who cares, I have an emergency ... my dream watch waiting for me.
On the way back we nearly bumped into RAVE (Your text to link here...).

Arrived back in Düsseldorf in little more than one hour ... my Buddy's face was as blue as his blue watch ... jumping out of the car, running to the AD. Where is the watch? Which one is it?

Here it is - but I am still not holding it in my hands:

But now - what a moment ... Notice the joy in my face:

You still don't know which watch it is? Here you go:

Nad, these were made in your honor - the NAD Pose:-)

Now you should also recognize who the Buddy is I am talking all the time about (if you look carefully you can still see some blue in his face - LoL).
You want more pictures? Here you go:

There are simply no words to describe the beauty of that watch. Every adjective I would use to describe it would not be good enough.

But wait, there is still one question open. Is it a 5021-21 or a 5032-03? Here is the answer - my watch side by side to Mark's 5021-21:

And, do you see the difference? No difference? Shall we count the Jewels or measure the height of the movement to know which one it is?

Well, it is a 5032-03, and there is clearly a difference in the blue of the dial. The blue of the 5032-03 dial is a tiny little bit deeper/darker than the 5021-21 blue.
Now, my 5032-03 says on the movement that it has 62 jewels. But you know what? I do not care if it has 62 or 63 jewels, if the movement is 9.1 or 8.8 mmm ... It is a great beauty, and that is what I care about.
And I am the proud owner of this beauty!

Driving back home the must have Porsche Pic:

And a Side-by-Side with Mark in the car:

Having a nice glass of wine to calm down again:

Wow, what a day.
Mark, thanks for sharing in person this incredibly emotional day with me.
Dear friends, thanks for sharing digitally this incredibly emotional day with me.

I never had two IWCs in one day! And certainly not so special ones.
I'll go now to sleep, trying to process this day ... further pics of the two beauties will then follow tomorrow.

Thanks for looking and sorry for such a long report.

Alan is having a heart attack right now. That is some kind of hardware their guys. Congrats to Mark and you.

Btw, Giovanni I will be in Dusseldorf starting Oct 20. Drop me an email and I will see if we can meet for a wee bit of a GTG.

Giovanni, what can we say? Two very special watches in less then two hours must set some kind of a record. Enjoy them both but most especially that Blue PPC, I can think of two additional collectors who share my joy for your acquisition.
Wear them in good health and I look forward to additional photos.

Regards,
Kevin

What a great adventure! Thanks for sharing. Maybe you need a new Porsche to make it easier the next time?

Linn

Giovanni, true blue beauty. Very nice. Mark would do anything for buddies so to speak. I enjoy the photos and the travelogue keeps me on the edge of my seat.

Two great friends, two great watches!

What a fun post. I enjoyed every word. And the pictures are superb. Yours was a truly memorable day, and one I am sure you will enjoy for a long time.

Wow...I'm speechless!!! You really know how to do it right. Congratulations!

Congrats!!! These are very nice bluessssss!

rgds
Kee Siew

You guys are killing me.
Great trip. Great companion. Great watch.

Blue indeed!!!

big big congrats Giovanni, and congrats to enabler Mark L :) LOL.

love this travelogue. virus, friendship, nice watches and cars, nice and attentive sellers too :)

What a post? I didnt skip a word when I read it.

Thank you for sharing your joy with us

Acquired Two beautiful iwc watches in 2 hours in two different locations. Must be a world record.

This Travelogue is really taking up my lunch hour !!! just to add also one difference, as pointed out by KS Low earlier today to me, the power reserve indicator hand is blue in Mark's, and the regular silver in yours.

Whatever the case - beautiful blues !!!

Folks, I must tell you - I dont scare easy.

I have dived the Great White invested waters of the Cape - without cage, I've done deep dives with Giovanni and another ex colluege that was scarry enough to make me need share air with my Buddy Giovanni ( who was then badly in need of air)....but man, I can tell you it sure is a scary thing to be in a high performance German sports car, on the autobahn on a rainy day knowing Rave is out there on the asphaly as well, doing a mere 120kmh (thats like standing still - when one considers the average speed Giovanni was clocking)! ....and then to have a fellow collector already on an emotional high thanks to his fantastic new Jones on his wrist...muttering away on the phone in Italian "Mama trimisomo!" as he called his mother-in-law, to have her prepare her daughter to the shock of Giovanni coming home with two new IWC's at the same time!

Now, that was scarry!!!

Worst of all, I can only blame myself. I spotted that blue hands Jones on the net, and had imeadiatelly put Giovanni onto it - having felt bad for having "wound him up on Blue - with our current discussions around 62/63 Jewels and other differences between the 5021 and 5032.

Now that we had these two beauties side by side, as Shing writes above, we did discover another difference between the two that I had not spotted before - another small/tiny detail that makes a big differnce to the readability of the dials)- the power reserve indicator hand, here on my 5021 in blued steel and hard to read under some light conditions is replaced with a nice shiny silver hand on the 5032. that's Schaffhausen attention to detail. I repost the original photo here below, as some quality was lost in the photo above in it's journey accross the oceans.

Also want to thank, Todd, KS Low and Shing who continue to drive towards clarity and understanding of the differences between the two reference numbers.

Thank you Giovanni, for sharing this great IWC day with you, filled with watches, comaradie, emotion and fun! thank you IWC' and MF, for continuing to host us here - for giving us the best watch forum on the web and the chance to meet and make friends all with a common interest and passion for IWC.

one more thing to add (on this topic, 'adding' never ends !)

the blue PR indicator hand and the blueseconds hand in the seconds counteralso makes this catalog pic wrong:

post edit: underlined above !

Giovanni, Mark, congrats on your adventure! That is really my kind of day... Special congratulations to Giovanni for acquiring two fantastic watches in one single day, with lots of driving against the clock (and Mark) in the middle. That's the type of thing that you can only do in the first world and I sorely miss it. I interrupted my work to read this post (I was dealing with the unpleasantness of workers stealing machinery spare parts!) and now I have a smile on my face and a tear in my eye!

Thanks guys, that was inspirational!

LOL! Loved the RAVE connection...! By the way, dear Ralph, if you need any help in "getting rid of the evidence" I'll be happy to send a DHL courier to your door to collect a few bottles, so I can assist you... LOL!

Cheers!

Impressive watches/story/car/photo's/everything!!!!

One can only agree. The story gave me that thrill only by reading it. Big congratulations, Giovanni! I am quite sure you have enjoyed that day very much and I think you are still smiling :o)