Winter GTG.. SalonQP 2012

[thewatchguy93]

Hello all..



Some of you may know, us brits like to throw a good ol' gtg..



Our GTG's normally take place 2 times a year.. 1 in the summer, and 1 at chrismas.. (November time).. There is a luxury watch exhibition held at the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea from the 8-10th November annually.. (Highly recommend!!!) once we have covered all corners of the show, we normally head down to The Dickens Inn Pub for a few bevvys.. (And a few more)..


Between me and Chris.. (TheGMTMaster) I planned a surprise, nobody expecting me to turn up..


Upon Chris's arrival with the "riff raff".. I sat outside the Saatchi Gallery, spotted the boys, and followed them to the entrance (with no idea I was behind them.. ).. Gave good old Dan (Spuds) a shout.. and BAM... "What the hell are you doing ere'..."


Long story short, and sorry if I bored you.. On with the GTG.. and pics!!..





Sitting waiting anxiously for the boys to arrive..





There was a fantastic talk on from Robert Loomes (English watchmaker) Based up in Stamford Lincolnshire..




I saw this and thought of Shannon STRAIGHT away..










Very veryy impressed with Bell & Ross..







Here is my baby.... Not sure if you remember her from last year...





















































Ready..??!


























































I'm not sure you are??!!!....












































































































































eh.. Voilaaa!!


Ladies and Gents, I give you Manufacture Royal.. "OPRAH"..




More pics to follow..

[thewatchguy93]

... and her party trick














.. A VERY special piece from our very own...


ROLEX DEEPSEA ORIGINAL..







Bi-Colour?..








This was a stunning piece.. From Zenith, which really caught mine and Chris's attention.. Featuring a 360* Degree Tourbillon..






Thought of our very own Chris (ZedHomme) as soon as I spotted this beauty!!

[Silvio Mosiello]

Looks like a minute repeater. Insane...

[sleddog]

Did you get married recently Dino???

Great looking reference you're wearing, and I'm sure, extremely valuable......

Where's the pics of the boys?? (Edit: Still uploading)

[nick c]

wow amazing thanks for sharing

[thewatchguy93]

My preciousss.....

[thewatchguy93]

.. Opus 12

[Sweramic]

How could I miss you?! The only one I think I would recognize was Spuds but I couldn't see him. Were you there until it closed?

[thewatchguy93]

I headed off back into town... Just a few pics of central London in the Christmas spirit!!..



















Forgot about this bad boy...

[kilyung]

I like the Santa suit. How'd you arrange that ride?

[thewatchguy93]

Originally Posted by sleddog

Did you get married recently Dino???

Great looking reference you're wearing, and I'm sure, extremely valuable......

Where's the pics of the boys?? (Edit: Still uploading)

Not married yet.. (Unfortunatley.. I don't have anyone to marry..).. They were my grandfathers..


That piece will set you back £265,0000.00


I don't have pics of the boys, (The boys do though..)

Originally Posted by nick c

wow amazing thanks for sharing

Originally Posted by Sweramic

How could I miss you?! The only one I think I would recognize was Spuds but I couldn't see him. Were you there until it closed?

Carl man!!... Gutted!!!! I never knew you were there.. I was there from around 1:30 until about 5:00

[sea-dweller]

Thanks for sharing!

[Freedom fighter]

I thought I spotted you guys as I was leaving! I recognised Chris from his avatar, there were about 5 or so of you guys and I had a quick glance to check what watches you guys where wearing hoping I'd see some Rolex! Did you see the JLC spherical torbillions? WOW

[johnbeth]

Excellent pics!

[Xenophon]

Great pics Dino, good to see you too. I was a little disappointed with QP this year. A lot of the manufacturers didn't bring their sports watches but focussed heavily on gold & diamond models. Also, I noted that Panerai and Graham weren't there this year either. I was impressed with Zenith and also the new British brand Meridian. Of course, it was good fun to catch up with the usual suspects and a pleasure to meet Geert and Josh for the first time.
Quite a few pictures were taken later at the Dickens Inn, I'll wait till Paul or whoever uploads them

[Kingair]

Thanks for sharing !

HAGS

[thewatchguy93]

Originally Posted by Xenophon

Great pics Dino, good to see you too. I was a little disappointed with QP this year. A lot of the manufacturers didn't bring their sports watches but focussed heavily on gold & diamond models. Also, I noted that Panerai and Graham weren't there this year either. I was impressed with Zenith and also the new British brand Meridian. Of course, it was good fun to catch up with the usual suspects and a pleasure to meet Geert and Josh for the first time.
Quite a few pictures were taken later at the Dickens Inn, I'll wait till Paul or whoever uploads them

Thanks Nathan matee.. It was a pleasure to meet up with you and the boys as always!!..


I found QP this year a tad disapointing purely because I had my eye on Panerai and really wanted to try a few pieces.. All aside, I think it was a great day, and always love a place where you can talk watches, and not look a fool..


I almost forgot, I never got to try on your 114060.. Totally slipped my mind!!!! I was to engaged with Manufacture Royale OPRAH!!..


I think for at 5k, the ND is a good buy.. I would be able to get one for much cheaper anyhow, I may have to invest.. who knows, I don't know what I'm playing around with, I need to get a Rolex back on my wrist..


We all know the truth Nathan mate, you LOVE Rolex..

[Peppers90]

Great pics Dino and I do indeed LOVE that AP!! WOW!! Some spectacular watches at the show!! Can't wait for the pub shots ;)

[thewatchguy93]

Originally Posted by Peppers90

Great pics Dino and I do indeed LOVE that AP!! WOW!! Some spectacular watches at the show!! Can't wait for the pub shots ;)

I'm glad you liked it Shannon, I thought of you straight away!!..

[thewatchguy93]

Originally Posted by Freedom fighter

I thought I spotted you guys as I was leaving! I recognised Chris from his avatar, there were about 5 or so of you guys and I had a quick glance to check what watches you guys where wearing hoping I'd see some Rolex! Did you see the JLC spherical torbillions? WOW

Bill! Gutted we never met, I never realised you were going!!!!.. Should have give us a shout!!..

The JLC tourbillons were beautiful!!

[BH13GMT]

Hi Guys
a few pics from the GTG, some are a tad out of focus (beer related)

My view from the hotel room, The Dickens was only a short stagger back


Met up with guys at Salon QP


Another shot of the motley crew with aguest appearence from Dino


JLC class was back again this year


This one is for Steve (Diamond Jack)



Headed over to the disckens for Beers and watch swapping


Chris was rather taken by Geert's Zenith TT Daytona


Geert and Gabriel who both brought their Z serial LV Subs





Another shot of Gabriel's shirt in focus this time with Nathan


Geert was kind enought to bring us some Belgian Chocolates, however Dan and Chris scoffed the lot before we could get near them


The following morning we hit the shops with the mother of all hangovers for some watch trying on and listening to Dan saying all afternoon " I wont try on a Deepsea because if I do I might buy one"

We pounded the streets of the west end of London in search of some serious watches and this is what we found!!!!!!!!




So


We decided to look at some Pateks instead


So we went back to 1 Hyde park corner



And still no watches in the bloody window. We got there 30 mins before opening



So we went next door and looked at some tasty motors instead




Thanks for looking

[Grumpy Badger]

The safari jacket isn't nearly as bad as I was expecting Paul... I thought it would have lapels you could hang glide from!
I might need to come along to one of these shindigs one day and teach you sassanach's how to drink!

[BH13GMT]

Originally Posted by Grumpy Badger

The safari jacket isn't nearly as bad as I was expecting Paul... I thought it would have lapels you could hang glide from!
I might need to come along to one of these shindigs one day and teach you sassanach's how to drink!

That is a deal!!!! Next one will be mid July give or take

Here is another shot of the jacket before it goes back into the wardrobe

[Grumpy Badger]

I'll see what I can do.

...but you'd better have your drinking trousers on, I come loaded for bear!

[The GMT Master]

Really enjoyed it, folks - always a pleasure seeing everyone, and it was great to meet Josh and Geert too! Cracking write ups

[dalip]

Fantastic to see you guys as ever

Great pics.....and write up.

Hope to catch you all next July.......great to see you having a blast

[illuminatus]

-
Thank you Dino, throughly enjoyed this post ...


_

[steveclocks]

Didn't really know what to expect from a GTG. But thanks to Paul, Dan, Chris, Gabriel and Nathan I had a marvellous time. So nice to meet you guys I really enjoyed myself.
I add a bit to the story... after the drinks at the Dickens, we went next door and had dinner at an Indian restaurant. Paul, Gabriel and Chris liked it very spicy so curry was everywhere
But must admit guys the food was brilliant !
We were so busy talking that we did forget to make many photographs. So I had to take this one...which is watchrelated (as Paul puts it)

Dan had to go to bed as he had to much "Chocolates"

Gabriel do his job as he (ac)counts the money to pay for our dinner


Next day as the boys went for the watchshops, I did the serious work! (did the shops 2 times while I was in London, so saw the lot)
Memorial sunday


Thanks Paul, Chris, Gabriel, Dan and Nathan for making me feel so welcome!
Hope to see you next year aswell

[steveclocks]

oh and while the guys were looking at empty watchshops.... the guy next to me at the Cenotaph was wearing a TT sub with blue dial and his mate (who took a lot of photographs and did a lot of filming too) was wearing this Omega, which I must admit looked just wonderful.

[esm]

Good one guys. Felt like I was there also.