some time with vincent calabrese... a great watchmaker & creator

[before i begin this post, i would like to extend my thanks to the fine team at sincere watch academy & also mention my congrats to its new and very capable COO ;) thanks also to the fine folks at blancpain that came by to share with us today...]

before this nite, i knew a couple of things about mr. vincent calabrese based on the net and what i had read... i knew that he has made some very interesting watches eg. in the NHC series, the tourbillons, and the spatial watches which u could see a lot of the movement of... and of course that he is the creator of the golden bridge for corum... [for some pics of i took of this watch, click here]... I knew he was a founding father of the AHCI (the academy for independent watchmakers with many fine watchmakers in its membership) and the independent tag suits him to a T as he was from many many years back, doing things his way... coupled with an innovative mind and self taught technical know how, he has conceived some amazing creations in the last 20+ years...

raphmeister meeting with a great innovative watchmaker...

tonight he was most kind to share with us about the 'Carrousel Volant Une Minute' that he helped Blancpain realise... this movement has a couple of 1sts under its belt... its somewhere on the net and don't be pedantic about it yuh if i get it wrong :) but its i believe the first automatic flying 1min Carrousel tourbillon in a wristwatch and the 1st with a centrally located balance...

a very nice looking tourbillon... the Blancpain Carrousel Volant Une Minute Watch

[ click to read the rest of the post... expand or collapse ]

ok back to the night first... on reaching, i had a chance to enjoy the grub provided at swa :) some of the makan items were pretty good indeed... yummy

photos of the crowd mingling and chowing down... familiar faces...

and grabbed a pic with some mates of mine :) the boyz were down in force...

then we had mr. calabrese give us an interesting presentation on the different styles of the tourbillon... or was he assembling one one-handed? hmmm ;)

he was ably helped by another fine italian gent as he was speaking in italian and that would be uhm... italian to the majority of the non-italian speaking audience... hey, wait a moment...

its my mate massi! professori by day and horology lover by nite...last seen coming up with a judging system for the grand prix d'horlogerie de geneve asia.. now taking on the role of translator it appears... a talent indeed... thanks massi for helping out in translating my questions and mr calabrese's answers to them... most appreciated mate :)

i also had a chance to have a chat with Andre Meier, Head of International Sales... it was a most enjoyable conversation about blancpain's watches, innovations, past leaders and current structure... we spoke too of China's ascendancy in the wealth stakes & luxury products coming quick on its heels... he mentioned that Blancpain's positioning in this key market is a strong one and its up there in the top 3 with some other strong brands steeped in history... a most enjoyable chat with a knowledgeable man...

some other watches from blancpain were around as well... bling wif a tourbillon... a hefty price tag on this one of course...

flyback chrono, perpetual calendar, moon phase... not sure if the correctors allowing for adjustment to the perp calendar are hidden behind the lugs for this piece but wanted to remark that that is a most useful innovation on blancpain watches...

tourbillon semainier, indication of the weeks, grande date... my photos do no justice to this... its much nicer in the metal...

the goody bag contained the usual catalogues but also had a very nice magazine from blancpain called lettres du brassus which i haven't read as yet but a quick skim through shows it to have some pretty interesting articles... jeffrey kingston seems to be writing a fair bit for them...

to close this off, i wanted to bring the focus back to mr. calabrese... before tonite i was also aware that he had joined blancpain and that he would no longer be an 'independent' in the sense of having and running his own atelier... when i first heard about it, it had saddened me to a degree as it seemed that he had given up freedom and independence but after speaking with him today and with the team from blancpain, it does make a lot of sense for all involved...

mr. calabrese has the benefit of doing what he loves in research & design... in creating new wonders in horology and can leverage off the resources that can be availed to him from a brand like blancpain, which is part of the swatch group. at the same time the challenges of being an independent brand of making and selling his own watches will not weigh down on him and he can focus on the former but within an established brand... i wish him much success at blancpain and kudos to the team there for having the foresight of engaging this fine watchmaker and gentleman.

& to sign off, if u're reading mr. calabrese, my sincere wish to you for many happy years ahead creating, inventing & dreaming.. twas a pleasure meeting u sir :) cheers, raph

for more info on sincere watch academy and events that it does... click here

for more info on blancpain, click here google is your friend with drawing out more info on them and mr. calabrese of course :)