I’ve had a confluence of events that’s provided an opportunity for a mini adventure.

Event 1 - I’ve been in London for three weeks on business (which also allowed me to attend the awesome Time 4 a Pint gathering this past week - thanks Chris / @tyrantlizardrex )

Event 2 - My wife was supposed to come and meet me in the UK from Canada for the weekend, but work events on her end have conspired against us. I’m flying back to Canada on Sunday giving me a couple of free days.

Event 3 - a watch dial I’ve been hunting has popped up near Zurich.


THE PLAN: a two day, barnstorming German/Swiss mini-road trip.

Stop 1 this morning - Heathrow airport for an early morning flight to Stuttgart, Germany

Stop 2 - the Porsche Museum - I love Porsche (although they’re the Rolex sports watches of the car world, so getting further and further out of reach for me). A few of my favourites:



Stop 3 - Porsche Drive Experience - time to pick up my mode of transportation to Switzerland. Porsche offers the opportunity to take pretty much any car from their lineup for between 1 hour and 1 week. I’ve always wanted to drive a 911 where’s it meant to be driven - thundering around Germany! Bad news - they were out of standard 911s. Good news - upgraded for free to the new twin turbo 911 GTS, which sounds like a jungle cat’s roar crossed with something violent.



Gratuitous wrist shot to get the thread back on point:



Stop 4: The Autobahn - A81 heading towards the Swiss border, with its remaining unrestricted speed areas.


I will neither confirm nor deny that the numbers 2, 5 and 0 may have made an appearance on the speedometer at one quieter stretch of the A81.

Stop 5: A meet-up with Willi from Swiss Watches and More of Zurich at his weekend home in Konstanz on the German/Swiss border to pick up this:


A NOS UG Evil Nina dial with correct printed logo to match original equipment for my serial number (as opposed to the earlier applied logo - which Willi also had). To say that Willi has an insane stock of dials is to put it mildly - over espresso prepared by his lovely wife, he showed me an incredible array of NOS dials from Heuer, Enicar, UG, Longines, Excelsior Park and others that he’s acquired over 40 years in the business in Switzerland. Many, many Singer boxes with dials in original wrapping.

Stop 6: Zurich for the night.
Beef Tartare, a much needed beer, a stroll through Aldstadt and the Christmas market and preparations for tomorrow.

Potential stops for tomorrow:
- Schaffhausen and the IWC museum;
- the Mercedes-Benz Museum
- a German beer hall in Stuttgart

 

OK ... I thought I was pretty effective at making good use of my business trips! You are the Jedi master!

 

I do love a road trip, especially one that’s just for the sheer hell of it, but wow you just turned it up to 11.

Great to meet you at T4AP too.

Oh and the IWC Museum has my vote.

All the best

Nathan

 

Thanks gents! Perfect combo of things I’m into and things my wife doesn’t really care about so isn’t TOO upset about being left out made this workable.

The more I talk about meeting old Swiss watch dial dealers in small German towns, the happier she is to be in Toronto.

 

Good on you for making this happen!

"It's only, like, a couple of hours drive away!" - overheard this Tuesday...

At that time I didn't realise you'd be travelling by Porsche

 

Day 2 update:

Left Zurich, which is a tremendous city albeit insanely expensive on the puny Canadian dollar...

Stop 1: IWC museum in Schaffhausen
I’m not an IWC collector, but since it was essentially on the way I stopped in. Glad I did, as it was a nice albeit not overly large museum. If you’re in the area and especially if you’re an IWC aficionado, it’s worth a visit. That said, to me it clearly highlighted the outstanding back catalogue the brand has. My tiny wrists push much of the brand’s modern offerings off the table, but there quite a few old pieces, particularly from the 50’s/60’s that I really liked. A few favourites - forgive the horrible photo quality, the lighting and glass wasn’t conducive to photos:




Stop 2: Mercedes-Benz Museum - Stuttgart
If you’re even remotely into cars, even if you think you’re not into Mercedes, this is absolutely worth a visit. I’d be surprised if there was a better car museum in the world. The fact that their history spans the first car, all types of transportation from city garbage trucks to formula one cars, the classics in their catalogue from every era and their tremendous racing history..... this would be an amazing museum even if they hadn’t clearly spent an un-Godly amount of cash on it.
Some highlights:


Stop 4: Sad (albeit safe) farewell to a new friend:

Light traffic today meant I could really wind it up on the A81, with a random Mercedes S600 and Audi R8 for company to clear the way and create a fast moving convoy. The GTS is absolutely the easiest car to handle I’ve ever driven at speed despite its vicious sound. If you’re into Porsche and are around Stuttgart or Berlin where they offer the Drive experience, it absolutely has my recommendation.

Final Stop: attempting to convince my wife that I didn’t have THAT MUCH FUN without her...

 

Recall that sjg22 comes from Toronto, Canada, and 2 hrs drive is nothing...many of us do that much and more commuting in heavy traffic in a day. So to have the opportunity to take a fire-breathing dragon out on the Autobahn could be...ORGASMIC!!

 

Great use of free time!! And thanks for the great pics...Now when we go back to Zurich, the IWC museum will be a must!!