Gisteren had ik een meeting van Horomundi, een internationaal horlogeforum. Deze werd in Maastricht gehouden. De tekst is voor Horomundi geschreven dus in het Engels, maar ik wilde jullie de foto’s niet onthouden.
First of all, another big, big thank you to Wim, for creating this fantastic meeting.
The meeting started at Leon Martens in Maastricht. Leon Martens is an authorized dealer for Richard Mille, Lange & Sohne, Patek Philippe, Rolex, Harry Winston, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Hublot, Chopard, Cartier, Breguet, Blancpain, Officine Panerai and many, many more.
A perfect place to start a perfect meeting
We arrived at 10:30 at Leon Martens to see some pieces you won’t see everyday. A very special Panerai PAM203, some very rare Pateks, Breguet, Lange & Sohnem Richard Mille, JLC and so on.
One of the most special things was a JLC Reverso which you can move the dial away to reveil a beautifull enamel dial. With a twist to another separate crown, you can put the dial back in place.
Unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures of it.
Mr. Martens is giving us a warm welcome in Maastricht. This weekend is a very important one for Martens, because it is the 100th anniversary of the store.
I will tell you something about it later on.
Charles, an employee of Mr. Martens told us a nice story about watch movement and showed us a nice JLC table clock, with the escapement al opened up.
Here are the pictures of the superb watches we saw. Everybody received a nice wooden Chopard loupe and a JLC cloth. We could touch and feel every single watch.
A beautifull Patek Celestial, 1 out of 3 for Europe
Edwin is playing with the Patek
The new Patek chronograph
The elusive Panerai PAM203 with a vintage strap on it, with the original 1936 buckle.
(sorry guys, it is from a customer, so not for sale) next to my Zero
A beautiful Breguet Tourbillon
The Richard Mille from Theo
The watch is hard to photograph, because of the relief in the movement
A nice view to the tourbillon cage
Roger Smith brought a Series 2 with him. Platina case and hand-engraved dial. They started working on this watch in September 2006 and it just finished.
A completely bespoke watch
Roger makes everything himself excluding sapphire glass, some screws (others he is making himself), rubies and the straps.
For the rest he is making everything himself by hand.
Roger, it was a great pleasure to meet you. You are an inspiration for everybody
And then we saw this beautiful JLC
Then this very nice Richard Mille, it is sooo light, almost unbelievable
I already told you Martens has its 100th anniversary. Lange & Sohne made a special limited edition for Martens with the city of Maastricht on the dial and the back is engraved with Leon Martens and the number.
Very, very nice piece
Some other beautiful Lange’s
It is almost build like a tower
The Hublot Big Bang all-black Mike Margolis brought with him
Roger W. Smith is looking through his loupe
After the very nice presentation at Leon Martens it was time for lunch. We went to the Beaumont Hotel for a very good lunch.
Here are some pictures
They even had some watch related decoration
After a walk through the center of Maastricht (sorry no photo’s) we went on a cultural trip.
The place is called the Jezuietenberg, Back in the 1700 limestond was cut out to build houses and castle. The hallways are cut-out by hand. The Jezuiet monks used those hallways to create art.
The stone is a kind of limestone which is very soft. The temperature is always 9.8 degrees Celsius and the humidity is 98%. Not a good wine cellar 
The hallways are over 10 miles long. We only went to a small part of it, because some parts of the mountain weren’t safe to walk.
All the paintings and objects are made by hand. Some took over 10 years to build. They made art here from 1853 to 1953.
With full flash you can see the vivid colors
Everybody was listening carefully
This is the last piece that was made, the Jezuiets already left then.
Chateau Neercanne was very nearby, where we had our splendid dinner.
Some nice watches
This yellow gold Series 2 was a prototype. Roger told me it has some small flaws. I think that only Roger sees this flaws
Brothers in arms
Beautiful PAM249
Some table shots. Some watches i really liked were the Urwerk(s), the Platina Lange 1, the AP Star Wheel and off-course the PAM249
Roger is telling his story about his working with George Daniels and his vision towards handmade watches.
Ian listens with the greatest admiration
Theodore is complimenting Roger for creating a superb watch. Theodore told a great story about the ever more demanding customer. Everybody wants to see new complications every year.
And that developing a simple watch movement by hand is much more difficult than developing a complication by computers.
Wim and others had some great goodies for us.
And if Roger wants a career change, he can always be photographer. Thanks Roger for making this picture of Ian and me
