Announced back in december, the Chrono24 Watch Collecting GTG – January 27th 2018 happened on Saturday. I've been fortunate enough to be available on that date and to have my registration confirmed by the team. I've had some 350km to drive on Saturday morning to make it for 12:00. On my way to Karlsruhe, very tempted to make a stop here but unfortunately not enough time to queue for a Silverstar run... Thanks to the unlimited highways in Germany, I arrived to Karlsruhe earlier than expected, time for an espresso and a Bretzel, what else? Chrono24 offices are located in an old Brewery building, totally renovated and occupied by different startups and high-tech companies. Beautifully renovated, a smart mix of old bricks and modern deco. I literally fell in love with those offices. Has to be a great place to work in. Some usual suspects at the party, I am sure you will recognize some familiar faces. Chrono24 have created a hashtag specific to the GTG and have brought some equipment to help generating some content on social networks. The photo booth and printer was particularly cool. After a welcome speech, we have had a very interesting presentation by Mr Eric Wind who shared some of his experiences at Christie's and gave some tips and recommendations on watch collecting. I've been live on Instagram during the whole presentation, those of you who follow me have probably either seen it live or in the stories. @Robert-Jan had a slot after Eric to drop some words about Fratellowatches in general. After RJ's, Chrono24 had a short presentation about the platform in general as well as some new features allowing you to add your watches to your C24 profile and have an instant insight on your collection value as well as the price trends related to your watches, based on C24 sales data. Both Chrono24 managers were at the event, following the presentations with attention. After the presentations, time for some fun and networking. Getting to a table where guys were already opening their watch pouches, I've been quite surprised to see an Ed White and a Holy Grail - the same watches than I brought - already lying on the table. I immediately had to add mines and make a group shot A couple of hours rather intense on drinks and talks. I've tried to surprise somebody talking anything else than watches... I failed. Eric brought a superb 145.012 Ultraman - unfortunately I haven't made any close-up pics. As usual a lot of Speedmasters. But also Flightmasters (thanks to @tyrantlizardrex and myself, I guess we've spread the word about Flighties with success ), Rolex, Heuers, you name them... For sure, no great event without a nice dinner with friends to extend the official part. Chrono24 booked a rather nice place for us in the evening. Eric Wind had plenty of time to wear my 145.013 Flightmaster during the dinner and I believe now he hates me because he needs one so hard. The day slowly got to its end at the hotel bar, together with Eric and Chris the Lizard, till late in the night... Perfect. Sunday morning, no trucks on the highway, rather low number of cars too... Cruise control @ 200 km/h, a fast and convenient way to head back home AUTOOOOBAAAAAAAHHHHN ! Huge thanks to the Chrono24 and Fratellowatches teams who worked on this event and made it happen. We've had a great day. Really !
Thanks @kov, for this nice write-up and images. It was a nice group of people, with some new and some familiar faces. We will share some more images on Fratello soon and I think Chrono24 had their own photographer there as well for a report. I was happy to bring my Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, to compensate a tiny bit for all the Omega and Rolex watches there
Was a great day, with a really nice group of people - huge thanks to everyone involved in making it happen. I managed to capture Eric Wind for an interview, which will be up on Friday.
Thanks @kov for your summary, we have had a nice day and thanks to the chrono24 and fratello people. Possibly I spotted not only one watch of mine, I must have been there, enjoying talks. cheers
Can you imagine?! Looking through my phone, I have no pictures of watches... but these two gems stand out... I have so many teeth!
Cool write-up and very nice photos, @Robert-Jan Hahah, that was me me spreading the Flightmaster frenzy
