London Issued Watches Meeting 2014

Another great event just passed by… i want to thank Mike Wood, Jed McCormack and Paul Maudsley for the great hospitality and organizing such great event. It was a blast.

For me personally after collecting for 8,5 years meeting the people behind the watches has become the greatest pleasure. Sharing fun, the passion and knowledge. And this is what i would advise everyone entering this addiction. Meet up with fellow addicts. Not only to for the fun, but also to be able to hear the stories behind the watches, gain knowledge, see many watches in comparison, details and get a feeling for quality.

I know i am very lucky to be able to join those meetings and have such friends with such great taste and watches. But it goes for every level and every corner of collecting.
Here we go…Mike Wood, Jed McCormack and Paul Maudsley invited us to join them in London. They are also long time collectors and total addicts.

We met up with a bunch of about 40 people in London to celebrate vintage issued watches mainly. In a wider range. And of course a lot more of the vintage Rolex, Longines, Tudor, Panerai, IWC,.. etc watches. People from all over the world flying in. From all over Europe, USA, Asia and as far as Australia. Which shows you how crazy addicted these people are.

As i organize the Passion Meetings together with Philipp Stahl the last 5 years and visited a a bunch other big meetings i am happy to see many new faces and most important so much passion and fun together (See http://100percent-rolex.blogspot.com for more reports).

Its a big pity that i can’t show you the real value of this meetings. And only show you the watches. These meetings are about so much more then the watches.
Of course there are not many occasions where you can see such an display of rare and interesting watches with history and special stories in 1 place. But the main magic of these events is the twinkle in the eys of the people sharing their passion, stories and joy among each other. And celebrating friendships in a hobby that unites them. Where else.. and with whom else can you share such crazy addiction.

You should realize, that the people at this meeting are showing us some of their watches out of their collection. Collections put together with big, big care. Imagine the hours they spend on research, learning, searching and finding these pieces. Which is 95% of the hobby.<

As we feel.. the biggest achievement we gained over the last years is the fact that its about the people and fun together. So sorry you will have to do with the images of the watches…. you are missing the feeling of the event.

We took a nice boat trip up the Thames where we had all the times to enjoy the talks, some food, drinks and the watches.
And to start off the display i am happy to show you a ‘couple’ of some super rare watches. 2 gold print Omani Rolex Seadwellers. As there are only about 3-4 known. And these 2 are the only 2 confirmed by Rolex you can imagine how special it is to have them together at one place. one of them in a great friends collection. Who collects Arab dial Rolex for a long time and has some amazing watches.

But we also had 2 red print Omani Seadwellers around. How often do you see these… the red ponds where issued before the gold printed ones.

That is the problem with these meetings. When we write all over the forums, that Comex, Milsub, Omani is rare.. and then they are all over the meeting. But i guess you get that these meetings are joined by very, very dedicated people.

Like this collector. A friend who collects a wide range of issued watches. From Rolex like Comex, vintage military Panerai watches and IWC and Blancpain watches from the German Kampfschwimmer. His Panerai collection is amazing. But we had more vintage Panerai lovers at the meeting. Such magical watches.

And of course we had all the Comex and Milsub display from Rolex. So cool watches with great stories.

Did i say rare?? How about a watch where as far as i know only 1 is known off…

Omani GMT..

The boat cruised up the Thames.. with some view on some iconic buildings and London sights.

But there where so many nice watches.

I love the straps !!! 😉

And also a lot of Tudor love around… also the guys from Tudorcollector.com (Ross and Morgan) together with the amazing Tudor MN collection from mr. Cool Grahame Fowler. The guy from the Hodinkee movie.

Some more and cool rare stuff…

Early 5512 square crown guard from a great friend from New York. Who is like mr. Mint… and now enjoying this beauty with a bit more character. I love it. So warm looks.