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Speedy Tuesday event Frankfurt May 28th Frankfurt

  1. wouter van wijk May 29, 2019

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    Dear OF,

    Yesterday I was fortunate to attend the Speedy Tuesday event in Frankfurt. It was really exciting.

    The day before I arrived coming from Amsterdam to attend at the cocktail meeting. That was soo cool to meet fellow enthousiasts. Meeting each other on the internet is cool but to talk to each other in the metal is way better! Everybody flashing speedy and double wristing like crazy.

    We had some nice drinks in this cocktail bar where we even drank a moonlanding cocktail that was invented in 69. Great speech by Michael Stockton and met several really cool people. It feels a bit like being a smurf and meeting other smurfs all geeking out about being smurfs!

    Next day we had an event in the center of Frankfurt in a really nice venue at the Main river. Everything was arranged and taken care of into the finest detail. Main event was a speech and a meet and greet with Charlie Duke.

    Charles Moss "Charlie" Duke Jr. (born October 3, 1935) is an American former astronaut, retired U.S. Air Force officer and test pilot. As Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 16 in 1972, he became the tenth and youngest person to walk on the Moon.

    Charlie was properly introduced by Robert Jan. Robert Jan is really passionate about the Speedmaster and the whole legacy as we all know here. He explained us a bit about Fratello and how Speedy Tuesday turned into a community. Always very nice to hear this story in person than rather reading it.
    Charlie went of telling about how he became fighter pilot turning into an astronaut and how the whole process went until lift off and the landing on the moon. It was amazing how vivid he could tell his whole story. It really grabbed you. As being Dutch we are quite no nonsense but I was completely caught by the stories of this 84 year old legend. Really impressive. It are stories from a bygone era, the space race. Told by one of the last remaining astronauts. It was funny, but completely understandable to see grown up men acting like little kids in the vicinity of Gran Duke ( the nick name of his grand children). He pulled of an impressive meet and greet, signing several Omega goodies, books and even the case of one of Mr Fratello RJ Boer his Snoopy watches!

    After this speech from out of space we had lunch. Good to have a time out to reflectand discuss. It was a really tasteful and classy lunch. Chapeau for that! It was soo nice to have a really cool conversation with guys from Omega, the Fratello team and several attendees. It made it a really memorable lunch one I will remember for a long time.

    During the after noon session no other than Jean-Claude Monachon who serves as Head of Product Development and Vice President at OMEGA SA did a presentation about the history of the Speedmaster models. This was to warm the crowd up for the 50 year anniversary model line up and the display of the 321 caliber. It is really nice when you get like all of the insights from the product king pin of Omega. It’s really cool that he takes the time and effort to talk to the potential clients and explains all the challenges and details of the new products. I think Omega collectors are really into this details and they love this particular info about the design process and the production challenges. He was very frank and open about some of the design decisions of the Apollo XI and phasing out of calibers. I was quite surprised about the openness and warmth of the Omega people. That was really impressive and they made everybody feel more than welcome.

    The watches. I think they hit a home run with the golden Apollo XI. It’s crazy good. It oozes quality and I forking love it. With the solid links it’s heavy and that adds an extra dimension on it since you not only visually experience it but you also feel the watch due to its weight on your wrist. The ceramic (!!) crater box is the first box I actually like to own since it’s small and durable. IMHO complete next level.

    The steel Apollo XI. In all honesty I was a bit reserved about it. Too much happening etc. But it changes and starts to grow on you when you wear it. Pictures don’t do justice since the different levels are impossible to capture in a flat frontal picture. The dial and case and bezel have different kind of fields of color that really work out darn good if you twist it into the light. The matte and glossy black parts combined with the different metal layers: brushed and polished steel and polished and matte moonshine gold are really refined and gentle. Its not so into your face as aneighties Datejust, it’s more complex and subtle.

    Then the last thing was the 321 caliber. They won’t limit it but there will be only capacity to build 1000 or 2000 pieces per year. So this will be a nice way to keep it really special. Jean Claude Monachon explained that they went to Breguet who have the rights of Lemania or are able to produce the Lemania caliber ( correct me if I am wrong) to ask if they could 10.000 pieces of the 321 caliber but they completely freaked out by that questions since they only produce 20.000 pieces themselves (please correct me if I am wrong here).

    It’s cool to see the movement. Especially when you compare it with the new co axial movementalong side each other. One step forward and one step back but still the same family sharing the same core. Jean Claude Monachon also told two interesting things. He considers the parts will be exchangeble with the older movements. And second the power reserve will be 63 hours instead of 55 hours (please correct me if I am wrong o did not take notes).

    After his speech the crowd dove on the watches as we all could try them on. The Speedy Tuesday event ended with saying goodby to each other after a memorable day and we all a really cool goodie bay with a great wooden souvenir with a super dope moon dial and case attached on it.

    Thank you Omega and Fratello for having me it was such a pleasure. And all of the attendees that I have spoken with, it was really nice meeting you!



    Best, Wouter van Wijk

    Please kindly correct me if I am wrong or if you mind sharing some of the pictures, so that I can change it
     
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  2. wouter van wijk May 29, 2019

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    And the goodies
     
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  3. queriver May 29, 2019

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    Thank you for the write-up, it looks like a great event. Did all the attendees get a goodie bag? I can't make out whether the "dial" on the plaque is just an image or somehow 3-dimensional with a real (or fake :eek:?) bezel and crystal. If possible, please post a close-up of it so we can see what it actually is.
     
  4. SpeedyPhill Founder Of Aussie Cricket Blog Mark Waugh Universe May 29, 2019

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    Sounds like another great event...
    Omega certainly got it 100% right with the Gold Apollo 11 Tribute Speedmaster, a superb looking watch in a classic cubic crater style box...
    The " steel " or " Metal Magic " version has a bit too much going on, again coming in a very large box... Have worn my couple of Speedmaster chronographs daily for the last 25 years, but it's certainly time to move on after everything I have learned here during the last three years...
    C U on the other side ;)
     
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  5. wouter van wijk May 29, 2019

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    Check Fratelo watches on insta. There they explain everything
     
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  6. Longbow May 29, 2019

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  7. Longbow May 31, 2019

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    @wouter van wijk thanks for a great write-up! I wish my memory was that good. You certainly captured a lot of details that I had forgotten about.

    This was my first Speedy Tuesday event so I had no idea what to expect, but it didn’t disappoint. The Organisation was excellent from start to finish, so a big thanks to @Robert-Jan and of course Omega management for running such an event.

    The speakers were interesting but so too were the guests (us), really watch nerd heaven. There were so many cool Speedmasters at the event brought by guests and such openness and trust shown towards one another. Note to self: bring more watches next time. It was so nice to be able to see many of the watches that I missed over the years (or be able to afford) up close and personal.

    I was expecting lots of guys from Germany but there were surprisingly many guests from other countries, especially the UK, all of whom seemed to be well prepared with various books that they had brought with them. That seemed a bit odd until it finally dawned on me that they were all after Charlie Duke’s signature. ::facepalm1:: I think a few must have also raided the goodies bag to use the Magazine. As I had left straight from work in Hamburg on Monday evening the only thing I could think of that I had with me that Charlie could sign was my special ID pass fabric neck band....which he managed to sign. What I found most valuable though was the chance to chat with both Charlie and his wife about their experiences and daily life during the Apollo program period; she was rather scathing about the accuracy (or lack of) in the film The First Man.

    That is also a point of credit to the whole event; all the speakers were accessible, not just on the stage and off to a private clique thereafter. I hadn’t expected for example to be taking lunch directly opposite Jean-Claude Monachon, nor to get such frank and open exchanges about product development challenges and directions. I went away with a strong impression that JCM thought there were way too many products in the Omega portfolio.

    I posted a whole bunch of photos of the Steel/Gold Speedy on a different thread but I suppose they properly belong to this thread so here is the link:-

    https://omegaforums.net/threads/bre...ary-apollo-11-in-steel-revealed.95246/page-18

    Anyway, enough of my waffle. If you have the chance to attend such an event in the future grasp it, you will surely enjoy it!
     
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  8. Longbow May 31, 2019

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  9. neilfrancis May 31, 2019

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    Outstanding.
     
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  10. wouter van wijk May 31, 2019

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    @Longbow indeed there was such an overflow of awesomeness during the whole day. I just started to tell the story for the second time to my watch loving neighbor.... I also kind of regret that I did not took once in a lifetime opportunity to take a picture with or let Charly mess up my Speedy case. I guess I am still a bit reserved for that kind of stuff.

    Besides the amazing Charly Duke, the people of Omega really surprised me. During the lunch I also had a really pleasant conversation with the German CEO of the Swatch group (I actually just found out, thought he was the sales director...), Jens Rempp, really an accessible and open kind of guy. Talking about watches, it was evident that he was really one of us. Also super enthusiastic about watches. I's just very impressive that Omega emphasizes on the importance of listening to their client base and that the top of the company actually goes to this kind events and not only lower management. I thinks that's makes them quite special. They now how important their heritage is, but they also look forward and try to improve their products by innovations.
     
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  11. DotOverNine Jun 2, 2019

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    Great post of the event! I need to sign up for some of the upcoming events! maybe in Scandinavia next year? "hint hint"