Patek Philippe Factory Tour With LK Boutique

Late September saw us jetting to Geneva, Switzerland for a tour of the Patek Philippe factory. We were invited by LK Boutique and Patek Philippe to visit the Patek Philippe factories and see behind the scenes of watch making. Unfortunately we were not able to take photos while in the factory but let me say it was a truly amazing experience.

We flew to Geneva on Emirates with a stopover in Dubai. Previous trips to Europe have  been after a week in New York so it was a novelty for Vikki to fly westward from Sydney. The flight is of course very long, nearly 14 hours to Dubai with 2 ½ hour layover and then a further 7 hours to Geneva. Of course First class lounges help. 

The first meal of our trip was dinner in the Qantas First Class lounge in Sydney. A glass of rose Champagne got the trip of to a nice start. I ordered minute steak with chips and salsa verde and Vikki ordered pork with kale and sweet potato.

For dessert we ordered the cheese selection and a fig, toasted hazelnut and honey tart with a rosemary infused cream, housemade ricotta whey sorbet. Great cheeses and the tart was delicious and light.

Flying First Class is a rare experience and when you can upgrade you really enjoy the treat.

We arrived in Dubai early in the morning and after going through all the barriers, we stumbled along to Emirates First Class lounge. I had been here earlier in the year so it was nice to see Vikki’s reaction to the Dubai First class lounge. She was impressed with the size and the fitout, water features, plenty of lounging areas, dining room, spa, business desks. The service was impeccable and the lounge very relaxing. 

The only thing missing from breakfast was some bacon but it is a small thing. The sausages that we had (veal or chicken) with our scrambled eggs were sensational.

Freshly squeezed juice and bakers basket.

Scrambled eggs, veal sausages, roesti and baked beans.

Back on to the plane for the second leg of the trip which saw us fly up through Iran, then across Turkey and the Balkans before crossing the northern parts of Italy, over the majestic Alps and then in to Geneva airport.

After landing we headed to our hotel, The Beau Rivage Geneva. Located across the road from Lake Geneva, it offers an old world touch of luxury that was very welcome.

Exterior Beau Rivage, Geneva.

Interior Beau Rivage.

Our room was one of several that had a balcony facing the lake and the Jet d’Eau, with views to the city centre, the Alps and Mont Blanc in the distance.

A few shots of our room.

After settling in we had a little time to ourselves and decided to take advantage of the sunshine to explore a little. Our group was given public transport vouchers for the duration of the stay. We decided to use ours to take one of the Mouettes Genevoise across the lake. The Mouettes Genevoise, are wooden boats that have a long history on Lake Geneva. There are three routes to choose from and we took the one that goes directly across the lake and offers good views of the Jet d’Eau fountain.

From our drop off wharf we walked back to the city centre, which took us around 10 minutes. Naturally, we had to find some watch boutiques. We were also successful in finding M.A.D. Gallery, where I was to catch up with Max Busser later in the week.

We also found the carousel/merry go round located in the street leading up to the cathedral.

A bit more walking found us at the Quai de l’Ile, historic headquarters of Vacheron Constantin. This building is now home to a Vacheron Constantin boutique as well as home to their heritage department.

At this point, Lake Geneva starts to narrow again and become the mighty Rhone River. We never realized that the Rhone River starts its 812 kilometer journey down from the Lepontine Alps in the canton of Valais to the Mediterranean Ocean. You can see the water starting to flow quite quickly in the photo above and below.

In the Jardin Anglais, near the lake, is the Flower Clock.

Peak hour traffic was a nightmare! We thought Sydney was bad, but the traffic in Geneva shocked us a bit. Although we were later told that the road in front of the Hotel is the main one people use to go around the bottom of Lake Geneva and there is only the one vehicular bridge at that point. 

Back at the hotel we had enough time for a quick freshen up before meeting the other members of our tour group at a welcome cocktail party. Only a few shots of the food but as it was dinner there was plenty of food and all delicious.

Tiredness was starting to catch up with us so we headed back to our room where we had this stunning view out the window.

Check back for more on our trip to Geneva

A. Lange & Söhne at Quay Restaurant, Sydney

Two days before our departure for Geneva we received an invitation to the A.Lange & Söhne 2015 Novelty Tour. This event, to be held at Quay in the Rocks, was organized by Watches of Switzerland and A. Lange & Söhne 

The day of the event was an early taste of summer with temperatures in the mid 30’s. As a matter of fact the first few days of October were more like summer than spring. 

We were a little disappointed when arrived at Circular Quay to see a cruise ship docked at the Overseas Passenger Terminal. Thankfully we soon learnt that it was due for departure around the same time as the event started.

As the boat backed out from the dock, the sun set giving a brilliant display of light over the Opera House.

The dinner was held in the Tower room of Quay which comfortably seated the 30 of us. The special guest for the evening was Mr. Wilhelm Schmid, CEO of A. Lange & Söhne was able to make the long flight down under to join us.  Our host for the evening was Mr Eric van der Griend, managing director of Watches of Switzerland, Australia.

Scattered around the perimeter of the room were several display boxes with the novelties for 2015.

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Butter was artfully presented, beats the standard square, triangle or round presentation.

Menus for the evening.

I chose the raw smoked Blackmoore wagyu, horseradish, soured cream, fermented rye crisps and raw funghi. Quay has a delightfully, unique way of preparing and presenting food. I was suitably impressed with my entrée and the flavours in it. Very much a modern reworking of steak tatare.

Vikki contemplated the Marron dish but wasn’t too sure about Dory caviar. So she decided to have the vegetarian entrée of spring ewe’s milk curd, broad beans, caper and freekah crumb, apple, nasturtium and purslane.

The roasted grass fed beef fillet, morel cream, braised mushroom, roasted ancient grains caught my eye. A nice tall fillet topped with all the extras. The flavours were great and the beef was nice and tender. A little bit healthy as well with the addition of the ancient grains.

Vikki has been wanting to try the pork jowl ever since she saw it on the menu when looking at Quay’s website. She was delighted to see it on our menu for the evening. Smoked and confit pig jowl, scallops, shiitake, Jerusalem artichoke crackling. The meat was so tender, the scallops really went well with the pork, a touch of mushroom flavor and the Jerusalem artichoke crackling was pleasing both visually and flavor wise. 

Of course we had some sides to share, mixed leaf salad, super creamy potato puree and fresh beans.

Prior to desserts being bought out we were able to try some of the watches on display. My Datograph Up/Down alongside the Datograph Perpetual.

For our final course, Vikki and I both chose one of Quay’s signature desserts, Quay’s  seven texture Valrhona chocolate cake. Yes the one that has appeared on MasterChef. So rich and tasty.

Inside the seven textures of chocolate.

Vikki got to try on the Little Lange 1. Avery elegant watch in either pink or white gold with mother of pearl dial.

Datograph Perpetual, Datograph Up/Down in pink gold and the Zeitwerk minute repeater.

Looking out of our tower to a fantastic views of the city and bridge.

We would like to thank Watches of Switzerland and A. Lange & Söhne for inviting us to be a part of this very special and fun evening.

J. Farren Price, Vacheron Constantin Harmony Presentation Dinner

We recently received an invitation to attend the Sydney launch of the 260^th Anniversary Harmony Collection watches from Vacheron-Constantin. The evening was to be held in the Kent Street Kitchen at The Langham, Sydney. Of course we couldn't say no!

The Langham, Sydney was formerly The Observatory Hotel, a hotel we had wanted to go to but for some reason never made it down to the Rocks to stay there. Upon walking through the front doors we were suitably impressed. Very luxurious! Cream walls, marble and wood floors, in some areas the rugs were recessed in to the marble. Beautiful soft pastel shades on the furnishings, wood, marble and glass topped tables, consoles and coffee tables abounded and everywhere gorgeous floral displays, polished brass highlighting everything. Vikki commented that she misses polishing brass sometimes.

We made our way into the Kent Street Kitchen, where we were met by the staff of J Farren-Price in a reception area decorated with historical images of some of the vintage watches used as inspiration for the Harmony Collection special editions. A video of the watches and components being constructed and designed was also playing. Very fascinating to see the level of craftsmanship and detail that goes into high end luxury watches.

After canapes and a couple of glasses of Dom Perignon, we were taken through to the dining room where a display table with the Vacheron Constantin 260^th Anniversary Harmony Collection was set close to the dining table.

A long communal table was dressed elegantly in a crisp black cloth, white linen serviettes, a variety of white flowers and foliage in sparkly crystal and gleaming silver ware.

A relaxed seating/lounging area was also adjacent to the dining area.

Looking at the menu, we saw an interesting and delicious array of food planned for our dinner, with some French wines that we were eager to sample. 

First course was smoked ocean trout, escabeche, rocket, lemon pearls, pumpernickel. A very light yet flavoursome entree. The pumpernickel was done as crumbs, rocket presented as a puree with little crispy bits of skin served like crackling. This was served with a Domaine Christian Salmon Sancerre from the Loire Valley in France, a nice crisp wine that matched the fish perfectly.

Two main courses were offered with the first being butter poached West Australian marron, burnt onion and shellfish risotto. Vikki was a bit unsure about the risotto as she said that sometimes a seafood stock can be quite strong, however she was very pleasantly surprised as it was a gentle seafood flavor. The nasturtium leaves gave a nice peppery hit to the dish. Our wine with this course was Domaine Tempier Bandol Rose from Provence, France. The Bandol Rose was a blend of Mouverdre, Grenache, Cinsault and Carignan, some varieties that we aren’t too familiar with here in Australia.  

During dinner there was ample time to chat away with those near you or to examine up close the Vacheron Constantin 260^th Anniversary Harmony Collection. I love the contemporary cushion shape of the whole collection. We were fortunate to see most of the collection including:

• the Harmony Chronograph Tourbillon Calibre 3200 – which combines a manual winding chronograph with a tourbillon regulator
• the Harmony Chronograph Calibre 3300 – with a brand new in-house chronograph movement
• the Harmony Chronograph small size Calibre 1142 – the ladies edition with the old Lemania-based chronograph movement
• the Harmony Dual Time Calibre 2460DT – the simplest edition of the collection with a second time-zone indication. The engraved rotor is just divine

My absolute favourite is the Harmony Mono-pusher Chronograph Calibre 3300 as has a very classic (but marvelous) design which took its inspiration from a historical Vacheron Doctor's chronograph from 1928.

This is the first Vacheron to have an in-house chronograph movement. It was time for Vacheron to have its in-house chronograph movement, replacing the Lemania-based movements used up to now. This Calibre 3300 will certainly not only be seen in this 260-piece limited edition of the Harmony but serve as a base for the new standard manually-wound chronograph calibres. For the 260th anniversary limited edition the balance cock is hand-engraved with a floral fleurisanne motif that will be absent on the regular production Harmony to be launched in 2016. This makes this current watch even more special and important in the evolution of Vacheron. 

We were told that the conception of the Calibre 3300 started in 2008. Developing a chronograph movement is long as it is certainly one of the most complicated architectures possible, as multiple gears, levers, brakes, clutches and wheels have to be designed and assembled very precisely.

In my view this reconfirms the place of VC amongst the top which includes Lange and it’s more obvious rival Patek .

Second main course was a twice cooked beef short rib, marrow gelee, parsnip puree, Brussels sprouts. The beef ribs were so tender, the parsnip puree very smooth and creamy, and the Brussels sprouts cooked but still firm, several of the Brussels sprout leaves were nicely crisped, and the bone filled with a herbed crumb. Really a delicious course! Our wine was of course a very nice red, Chateau St. Georges, St. Georges-St. Emilion, France. At 80% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cabernet Franc it was a great pairing with the richness of the rib.

Dessert was apple mousse, honey cremeux and chocolate crumble. Very cute dessert and it was a shame to eat it. Tasted delicious, the green outer glaze concealed the apple mousse, so when you put your spoon in to it, it looked like a Granny Smith apple.

It was a truly wonderful event, in very elegant surroundings, with wonderful food and wine. We would like to thank J. Farren-Price and Vacheron Constantin for inviting us to be part of the night.