21 April 2004
Kent's description of BaselWorld 2004 continued:
"Next I met Robert Bray, a first year candidate member from London who makes wonderful clocks including a beautiful Westminster Skeleton with 8 bells (which struck while we were talking). I asked if one clock was related to Harrison's. He said it was 3/4 size and included all the elements of Harrison's H3 but was not an exact copy. He apologized for it not running. Said he finished the hairsprings and installed them for the first time in his hotel room only to discover a problem with the escape wheel. I sympathized as I recounted how I put the numbers on the chapter ring of the jadewatch in my room one hour before deadline to enter it at the NAWCC National in Cleveland. He encouraged me to continue... (designing and building)...With a background in machining, he has done little repair as he can't deal with the mistakes...(other watchmakers built into them)...or (inadequate) repairs.
"I noticed alot of press attention being paid to two more 1st year candidates and continued to check back until I met Robert Gruebel and Stephen forsey. These two have collaborated to develop an R & D firm called 'Complitime' based just down the road in La Choux Du Fonds. Their first piece to display is a double tourbillion wristwatch called the '30 degree tourbillion'. I asked Stephen to explain the name when he was interrupted for a few minutes allowing me to study the piece. I told Stephen upon his return that its action reminded me of the gyroscope toy I had as a child. He said that he too had one and it was the inspriation for the piece. he mentioned that he tried to find it on his last visit to his mother's house in Lancashire, England. If you would like a close up view of this piece, you will find one on the AHCI forum at http://www.timezone.com . Stephen said that he too was at WOSTEP in '88 and '90. He encouraged me to continue making unique pieces like the jadewatch, stretching my scope with each one.
"I kept hangin around looking for a chance to meet Thomas Prescher, another AHCI member, but he too had alot of attention from the press and others. I was able to hold the glass as he tried to clean all the finger and nose prints off for another interview and got a closeup look at his single, double, and triple tourbillion wristwatches. I wasn't too disappointed at the briefness of this encounter as I know I will be meeting him later on the tour in August.
" After the AHCI I moved on to some of the smaller quarters. Passing a fascinating video of tourbillions at a dealer named 'DeWitt', I asked if the video was available. This added another dvd to my collection.
"I passed some very beautiful clocks at a booth for La Valee and discussed them with the british salesman. This was the day for meeting very nice Brits!
"Wtih catalogs gathered from Blandpain, Zenith, Chopard and Corum, along wiht another dvd, my bag was getting too heavy so I checked it at the door. On the way I met with a couple of the guys talking to Miss Lange. Her father owns Chronoswiss and she was in the Refresher course before us. She talked of ruining her hairspring with 30 minutes left in the test and having to retake. And she gave us all a catalogue and she said they did not have any dvds there but I probably could obtain one from their office.
"From there it was off to search for the tools which were in the basement of the building across the street. Here were all teh tools watchmakers dream of: full lathe sets, fantastic benches for watchmaker and jeweler, hand tools of every description, gold plated loupes and hand tools with bodies of ebony and other fine woods. There were the latest timing and cleaning machines and water testers. There was highly sophisticated machinery: computer driven milling machines, pinion machines, huge presses, laser welders and machinists, electroformers, and some I couldn't even guess their functions. I bought a piece of a new mold material called 'protoplast' to try on my next watch.
"We then went upstairs to 'related items'. Here we found displays, boxes, and packaging of every color and material. The gorgeous hardwoods appealed to me most. We also found a booth for German made watch parts representing a number of companies: Dial companies, hand companies (one gave us a catalog with free samples) and companies which made springbars, crowns, pushers and attachments...Some of these said they would gladly export to the US. Others said 'No, only in Switzerland'.
"After this I went on to find the bookseller. Here were many free magazines and all kinds of books. I bought a new copy of George Danial's "The Art of Breguet" which is hardly found anymore. Mr. Dutta paid Mr. Simonin (former head of school) 200 CHF for a used one a few weeks ago. I paid only CHF 150 for a new one!
"They were out of the lates book on Breguet in English, which I had hoped to have signed by the author. Well, I guess that I will have to do that on a visit to Paris sometime. I understand they are building quite a museum.
"Walking out the door at closing, I saw a few of the guys from WOSTEP at the front of the crowd outside enjoying a jazz band. They were quite good with trumpet, trombone, clarinet, guitar, saxaphone, and drums. The trumpet man did a great imitation of Louis Armstrong. After about an hour of that my feet and legs could take no more. After tram and train ride, I had supper at McDonald's in the station with Senor Marin. That is the first time I've eaten there since coming here but I have to admit the Big Mac sure tasted good."