Report/Pictorial London 2011 Salon QP >>>>>

[stuffler,mike]

The London 2011 Salon QP has chosen for a new and excellent location – The Saatchi Gallery. The Saatchi Gallery is a wonderful venue for contemporary watchmaking as it is for contemporary art.

I only had limited time to visit the Salon QP because I didn’t feel well since my return from Munich last Sunday but I couldn’t let go the opportunity to sniff about news.



Compared with the Munichtime the Salon QP undoubtedly is the more impressive event. The venue got quite a lot of more space, beautiful lighting (ok, it is a gallery and not a *****star hotel) in a beautiful setting.

Of course the “usual suspects” like A. Lange & Söhne, Corum, GP, Piaget, JLC, Vacheron Constantin, Nomos, Chronoswiss, Maurice Lacroix, Montblanc, Graham, Cartier, Panerai, Frederique Constant, Zenith showcased their watches. Due to the limited time I had I concentrated on brands which are new or roughly unknown.













Manufacture Royale

The Manufacture Royale which is in business since two years right now and based in Switzerland (Lausanne area) showcased the Opera and the Androgyne.
The brand’s mission is to set new standards in construction and finish.

The designer of those haute horlogerie timepieces is the guy on the left with cap and braces, a lively non-suit-type of designer.



The Opera features a 108-hour power reserve, a tourbillion and a minute repeater in a very special 50mm case.







The Androgyne comes in a smaller case (43mm), a hand-wound tourbillion with a 108 power reserve as well.





Looks good on my wrist, doesn’t it ?



My best shot of today:



For more info please visit their website Manufacture Royale | The Ultimate Excellence in Watchmaking. It is worth to drop by for all watch afficionados.

Schofield Watch Company

Schofield is a new British watch company based in rural West Sussex. When talking to the Schofield guys you observe kind of an understated Englishness and passion for watch making. Schofield is proudly joining the revival of watch making in Britain and sources from the best in European manufacturing but remains wholly English in spirit. Cases are made in Germany btw.

The “engine” of the Signalman is a Soprod 9335 movement. Up to now Schofield Watch Company is offering two models, the Signalman GMT PR (limited to 300 pieces) and the Signalman DLC GMT PR (limited to 100 pieces). There will be more limited editions in the future.

Specs:

Signalman DLC GMT PR

Limited edition to 100 pieces
Automatic Swiss Soprod 9335 movement, 31 Jewels, 28,800 bph (4hz)
Rhodium plated, pearlage decoration, blued screws
Power Reserve of 42 hours displayed at 12 o’clock
GMT display at 6 o’clock set via push button at 4:30 o’clock
Date at 3 o’clock
Water resistant to 500 metres
Anti-magnetic movement holder
Signalman case: 44mm diameter, mirror polish stainless steel
Dial: on two levels, applied numerals, SuperLuminova C1
Sapphire crystal: domed, anti-reflective coating on the inside
Strap: special edition black shark-skin, green calf skin lined
Buckle: curved, polished stainless steel, engraved, screw in

Signalman GMT PR

Limited edition to 300 pieces
Automatic Swiss Soprod 9335 movement, 31 Jewels, 28,800 bph (4hz)
Rhodium plated, pearlage decoration, blued screws
Power Reserve of 42 hours displayed at 12 o’clock
GMT display at 6 o’clock set via push button at 4:30 o’clock
Date at 3 o’clock
Water resistant to 500 metres
Anti-magnetic movement holder
Signalman case: 44mm diameter, mirror polish stainless steel
Dial: on two levels, applied numerals, SuperLuminova C1
Sapphire crystal: domed, anti-reflective coating on the inside
Strap: special edition black shark-skin, green calf skin lined
Buckle: curved, polished stainless steel, engraved, screw in

Both models come with shark skin straps and packaged in handmade cherry wood boxes. The push button for adjusting the second time zone is placed in the right lug – a feature I have never ever seen before.




(Pics courtesy of Schofield)





The watches retail for £2,465.00 and £2,785.00(Excluding shipping and VAT) .

For more info: www. schofieldwatchcompany.com or check/search Youtube. Twitter, Facebook, Flickr. Their technical info sheet does answer all questions and is indeed state-of-the-art.

We already agreed that WUS will pay Schofield a visit in due time.

Heritage Watch Manufactory

Met up with master watchmaker Karsten Frässdorf and Co-founder Christian Gütermann. Both have been very kind and explained the philosophy of Heritage Watch Manufactury. It is the fascination with achieving the highest possible accuracy of the movement that motivates master watchmaker Karten Frässdorf. The result was convincing:













The Magnus, cal. 800



The Magnus features a 42,50mm case, height 13,05mm with a slightly domed sapphire crystal. The case back is fitted with a flat sapphire crystal. The movement beats at 18.000 bph, has a power reserve of 50 hours, features some very interesting technical gimmicks like a Vivax balance (patent pending) and Sectator fine adjustment.

Manufacturer pics:








For more info: Heritage Watch Manufactory

Bell & Ross

Eye catcher and crown puller was the B&R Harley Davidson
.






Bell & Ross presented the new Flieger watch (Baumuster B), powered by an ETA 2892-2, very comfortable to wear on any wrist.







Bremont





Unfortunately I couldn’t meet up with Sarah who invited me to Salon QP but she was ill today (coincidence ).









Roger W. Smith Ltd.



Every movement component, from the base plate, through the escapement, as well as the watch case, dial and hands are created in his Isle of Man workshop. So I tend to say Roger W. Smith watches are made in Manxx.













For 2012 two new versions of R.S. Series 2 will be available – “Time-only” or with a calendar complication.

John C Taylor’s Chronophage

The real gem wasn’t a wrist watch at the 2011 Salon QP. Saatchi Gallery presented the Chronophage clock which you usually will find outside Corpus Christi College in Cambridge. It took five years to develop, about 1,000,000 GBP to produce and 200 people have been involved in the whole process.



It comprises a 15 meter steel disc plated in 24 ct gold.

Viewing into the bowl



[Others]

Zenith









A.Lange & Söhne





Cartier

[Spit161]

Very nice pictures, and write up. Thanks for sharing, Mike.
Do you have any pictures of any more of the Bremont LE pieces? But, wow, that C17 LE is a nice piece!

cheers,
Jake.

[Ernie Romers]

Thanks SO much, Mike, excellent photo report which I enjoyed a lot. Hope you will feel better soon.

[stuffler,mike]

Thanks SO much, Mike, excellent photo report which I enjoyed a lot. Hope you will feel better soon.

Thanks Ernie, will do a "special" on Schofield in due time. This small company is worth to be followed.

[Ernie Romers]

Already looking forward to it, Mike.

[stuffler,mike]

Very nice pictures, and write up. Thanks for sharing, Mike.
Do you have any pictures of any more of the Bremont LE pieces? But, wow, that C17 LE is a nice piece!

cheers,
Jake.

Three additional pics







That's all I got.

[geoffbot]

Bugger. I was in London yesterday and totally forgot about this. Never been to a watch event before but I'm going to make an effort to do so more. Thanks again Mike for sharing this with us - keep them coming please

[Sea-Wolf]

Thank you so much for this, Mike.

Awesome pictorial essay and write-up, which I very much enjoyed, too!!

[stuffler,mike]

Thank you so much for this, Mike.

Awesome pictorial essay and write-up, which I very much enjoyed, too!!

Thanks. I wish I had more time.

[NMGE17]

Lovely pictures Mike, much better than my phone snaps, thanks for posting.

Nigel