A Wonderful Night & Gala Dinner With Vacheron Constantin & The Charming(& Chiming) Sound of Time Exhibition

As posted earlier (LINK) Vacheron Constantin has opened it's new boutique in Singapore at Ion Orchard and has setup a Sound of Time exhibition with some fine minute repeaters on display. My thanks to the wonderful team at VC for the invite down for their gala dinner and the exhibit opening. So what did the night hold for the raphmeister? ;) 

First up let's ogle the contemporary pieces in the boutique, some great pieces on display... the classy
 Ion Orchard boutique with a lovely lady at it's entrance ;) 

the first wall of watches on the left as I entered. some wonderful timepieces on offer here

guests for the gala dinner mingling and discussing their next Vacheron purchase :) 

onto the watches and first up, we have one of my faves... the 1921 American... such a great looking piece... 
the only thing preventing me from purchasing one is the $$$ or lack of it

next we have pieces from the wonderful traditionnelle range... 43mm platinum quantieme perpetuelle, 

chrono and hand engraved moon phase... a dark dialled version

and a light dialled one

the chrono

and the world time... a very nice range in their lineup impo

a really cool thing which you won't find in most boutiques is the watchmaker in the boutique itself. 
he fixed 2 watches on the spot! ok it wasn't opening them up and doing stuff to the movement 
but he demagnetised 2 watches that were magnetised there and then. one went from +20 secs a day
to +2 secs a day. Excellent stuff!

the demagnetiser on the right. a quick fix but it makes a helluva difference

And Mr Stuart Anderson providing excellent service with a smile. Trust me when I say 
the customer was wearing the broader smile :) 

[ahh thinking more about the American... runs off to check the bank balance... walks back head
 down... thankfully there were some lovely ladies on hand to help me get over the dejection of not 
being able to buy the 1921] soft lilting voice telling me not to fret... uhm it may have all been in my head though ;)

someday perhaps... we'll see.. I've actually loved this watch since launch LINK

Next, sharing some pics I took of the exhibit. Some lovely recent and older vintage chiming watches 
on display with information on them.. a 1992 minute repeater and perpetual calendar here

Platinum minute repeater pocketwatch

some with lovely movements too of course

dial side

the current 1731

and a blown up version of it shown as well

back of the movement

this was an interesting area too which had these viewing glasses resting on top of the display

when you place them over the watch parts you can see additional graphics and animated pictures within it.
moving them away it's just the movement part you see. eg. hairspring without the glass

and with the glass viewer over it

dial through the glass viewer

but i'm sooo hungry... Dinner Time!!! what's for dinner let's see

there was also some wonderful live classical music as we entered the dining venue
these talented individuals bringing the noize classics 

hmm should i stick with a liquid diet though? a bit of champagne, white and red

nice dining venue setup for this occasion

i will only share shots of 2 of the dishes as the rest of the pics aren't too great on account of it being pretty dark
 first up the excellent lobster confit appetiser. the edible flowers were a nice salad

and i had the excellent wagyu beef cheek... so soft, no knife was proffered or needed. eaten with a spoon

During the dinner, Julien Tornare, MD of Vacheron Constatin Asia Pacific, welcomed us
 and gave a short speech on the boutique & exhibit opening

and water glass music fantastically played by Roger (didn't catch the surname apologies) was
our entertainment nearing the end

thanks too to my dinner companions for the fine dinner conversation. Margaretta from VC, 
Kong, Peter, Bruce and Harry. no shot with all of em but this wrist shot had Margaretta, Peter, KC and me in it

overall a very fine evening... beautiful timepieces, great dinner conversation, catching up with old mates, 
new friends found, what more can one ask for? ;) [oh that American... ] headed home with mementos from the night 

and very suitable swag. a cool headphone set from musical fidelity. excellent stuff

and that's it for this post. hope you enjoyed it and do check out the boutique and exhibit if in the Ion area but don't blame me if you're a few bucks short stepping out from the shop ;) cheers, raph