First point of interest, St. Pancras station London. This is where Dent has supplied the new station clock inaugurated by HM Queen Elizabeth II. Why is this of interest, well Dent was the clockmaker of arguably the most famous clock in the world, and I’m not saying this just because I’m a Brit, as I don’t think I’ll get any argument here, The Tower Clock in London & Big Ben, it’s famous chiming bell! The clock in the tower of the Palace of Westminster is instantly recognizable to any sentient being. The gothic numerals and wonderful hands are world famous.
My daughters at St. Pancras excited to meet Grandpa and surprise him:
Here is a close up:
Since Dent was commissioned to make the new clock for the recently refurbished St. Pancras Eurostar station in London, they also decided to make a desk clock with a “Great wheel” with the same dial design. Additionally, they have begun a line of wristwatches, with the Parliament model utilizing the same dial design and hands as Big Ben.
After my week of family, celebrating Dad’s 70th out in the lovely French countryside, I went into Paris. My plans were to travel to Switzerland on the TGV into Geneva. An un-expected treat for me was meeting an “online friend” Nicolas, this gentleman is one of the most passionate, knowledgeable and warm hearted watch fanatics I’ve met. I wasn’t sure what to expect and how long we might spend chatting about watches, however our meeting at 5pm ended after a lovely dinner “en famille” in the Latin quarter of Paris. We finally wound up the visit after viewing the best fireworks display I’ve ever seen, at the Tour d’Eiffel 5km away, but wonderfully viewed from his top floor apartment. It was of course Bastille Day, the French National holiday! Ironically as was mentioned, and as much as this is a big party day/night, the reality is one million people lost their lives as a result of the revolution all those years ago. Anyway, I had the pleasure of enjoying a world class watch collection, that featured a variety of themes, vintage examples of watches in superb condition, some taking 7 years to find and many of the superb modern complicated pieces that one doesn’t often have the pleasure of handling in the flesh..
I have my daughter to thank for these photos of a clock on the Louvre:
Closer:
Now we get much closer!
Then there is the clock tower at Gare du Lyon and the interior of the station, with it’s rather lovely clock, albeit a bit worse the wear for pigeon crap!
Inside Gare de Lyon:
The exterior of this train station is quite elegant:
Here we see the clock tower on the west side of the station:
Check out this clock tower:
And \now a close up of the dial, quite lovely, inspiration for a future wristwatch perhaps! Note the amazing stonework detailed to finish off the tower.
Time measurement comes to mind as I’m typing this at about 150mph on the TGV. We are speeding across France on my way to Geneva, this is the fastest I’ve gone on land, and I like to go fast, and it feels like we are about to take off! I suppose I’d feel a bit more secure if I were in Switzerland, although to be fair to my French friends, I don’t think they have had any problems with these jumping the rails! Geneva in 3.5hrs without the hassle of airport security etc. etc. The only way to travel cross-country as far as I’m concerned. Why, oh why can they not sort out these types of trains in the US???
Onward and upward, the next portion of this is now being typed on the tilting InterCity SBB train from Geneva to Neuchatel, where I’m to meet the McGonigle brothers.
The Swiss summer sky is blue with small cloudy patches, warm and quite pleasant, not humid and oppressive as Paris was yesterday. Yverdon-les-Bains is the next stop, meanwhile I’m struggling to show my online ticket to the train conductor. Too small on the phone, so finally after being shown the only power outlet in the carriage, I have fired this puppy up to keep it all copasetic. Don’t want to break any rules while here “en Suisse”! Stephen’s workshop promises to be fascinating. Having visited the Irish Mecca of watchmaking, in Athlone 3 years ago, I’m keen to see what this Swiss outpost has to offer.
A watchmaker meeting place!
Arriving in Neuchatel a lovely warm afternoon, I walked down through the town to Stephen’s pub, Café du Cerf, right in the heart of the old town center. As I was unable to get him on his mobile, I figured someone at the pub would be able to call him. I grabbed a v. cold beer and waited only 10 minutes for him to arrive. We then spent the afternoon catching up, I was shown his new digs, he is moving his workshop from up above the town of Neuchatel in a modern office building, to down in the town center, right around the corner from his pub and ten minutes walk from home.
Here is the little square from Stephen's soon to be workshop window:
It couldn’t have been more predictable if I tried, but the new workshop has a bar in it! No joke. He has taken over an old bar/hotel and this room with the bar, cannot be changed. The landlord requires the bar to be functioning when the lease ends, so it stays! Within the next couple of weeks, he’ll have moved the workshop here.
We enjoyed a quick swim in Lake Neuchatel prior to meeting up with John late afternoon. My UN Blue Surf doing sterling work as my only watch of choice for this hectic travel time. Didn't want to scratch/ding/submerge any other of my timepieces!
The lake:
We showed John the new digs, then had dinner right in the little square below the new workshop. This gave us a chance to go over future plans and discuss current projects. The lads are progressing well on their new movement, which is a work in progress, not created other than in 3D on an amazing watchmakers’ program. Suffice to say, it will be quite spectacular when it is finally revealed. Unfortunately I’m not at liberty to reveal any details.
The new workshop, up on the 3rd floor:
In the meantime, they continue to assemble super complicated movements for several of the prominent watch companies. Tourbillon Minute Repeaters, some with automatons are their specialty, with John being instrumental in the design years ago, while at Claret. These arrive in parts kits, which then require many days of assembly, final hand polishing & hand finishing, prior to being submitted to the company for casing. This isn’t just a case of following the schematic and assembling by numbers, screwing all the pieces together in the correct order, winding it up and watching it start flawlessly! Oh no, far from it. What has to occur is that a watchmaker of Stephen or John’s caliber, is needed to carefully assemble each section, making sure all the tiny parts work correctly, before assembling the next level. Once the whole thing is working correctly, then the final polishing and finishing is done by hand. Fine adjustments are needed in order for these types of movements to work, which is why they take so long to put together. John headed off to Zurich to catch a flight back to Ireland after we spent some time in the Café du Cerf’s main bar.