This is a story of a process leading to the acquisition of the following watch. The watch has indeed many faces.
Here it looks pretty light.
Turning the wrist just a little bit give a totally different color of the dial.
Last week just before Baselworld exhibition started, my beloved wife Darja and I visited London. We had an unexpected pleasure to meet some fellow Purists over a good dinner. The reason for the headline is that Darja introduced herself to these fine English gentlemen we met by saying: "I am The Bitch". With her sense of humor Darja will be a very good Finn when we one day move to Finland. I am sure that the fact that I call her Bitch has very little to do with the introduction...
After our visit to London we headed to Basel because Patek Philippe London Salon kindly invited us to visit Patek boot in Baselworld. However, there was also a plan to get my wife Darja out from balance but in a very positive way...
We married a little bit over two years ago in April. On first of May Darja will celebrate her 26th birthday and I wanted to give her a combined wedding anniversary and birthday present - this time something very special.
Since we went together, Darja got more and more interested about watches. Her first dream was a JLC Reverso and that watch she got as a Christmas present in 2009. After that Darja started to dream about Breguet Reine de Naples and this watch was her wedding present in 2011. After Breguet Darja got interested about Patek Philippe. We visited all three Patek Philippe Salons several times and Darja studied the history of the brand as well as the historical models. On the route we acquired two vintage Pateks for her. However, Darja's dream become to own one day a Patek Philippe Calatrava ref. 4897G-001.
It is not clever to make all dreams of a young woman to come true too fast. There must be some dreams left for the future because dreaming gives us power to go forward in our lives. At the same time it is fun to help a dear person to achieve her dreams. So I started to make a plan with the key persons of Patek Philippe London Salon, Director Ed Butland and Assistant Manager Ms. Eva Linn Fossheim. Our joint mission was to make Darja's dream to come true in an unforgettable way.
Our plan was quite complex. I knew that Darja loves this blue-dialed Calatrava but we had to give her an opportunity to play with the watch. So we were invited to visit Patek Philippe's factory in March. During the two-days factory visit Darja got an opportunity to see how Patek Philippe watches are actually made. Darja has visited also another watch factory of a top Brand but after our factory visit Darja's respect of Patek Philippe was on the highest possible level.
On the second day of the factory visit we got an hour in the conference room and also had an opportunity to handle the entire collection as it was known in March 2013. When Darja got for the second time in her life 4897G-001 into her hands and into her wrist, she could not say a word. We all know how it feels to love a specific watch - a Grail.
We were invited to see also the new 2013 collection to Patek's boot in Baselworld on Saturday 27th April. Ed Butland had organized us a private meeting room for a full hour to see and handle the entire new collection. That was fantastic! We could handle all new watches and there were also a couple of surprises.
On the last tray we were presented, there were two ladies' watches from the new collection and 4897G from the old collection. Naturally Darja had to try her dream watch into her wrist! This time the dream watch had a navy blue crocodile strap and the length was like custom made for Darja. In addition to that, there was also a slim 11 mm white gold folding clasp with Calatrava cross. Again something Darja wanted to see in "her" Calatrava. Darja could not believe that she was so lucky to try her dream watch just in such a configuration she dreamed to see this watch.
Darja could not say a word! Then Ed said: "It looks like you try to keep the watch." Darja said first "yes" but soon "No, no - I am not trying to steal your watch." Then Ed just replied calmly: "Why don't you keep it - it looks like you love that watch". Darja replied to Ed "NO; NO!" There was some confusion and it did not clarify the situation when Eva Linn brought the Certificate of Origin where Darja's name was hand written in a most beautiful way. The Certificate was also dated on our wedding anniversary date and Eva Linn said: It looks like you need to keep the watch. We can't sell it again because your name seems to be in the Certificate."
It took some time but finally Darja understood what was going on. Naturally, she behaved like one can expect a woman to behave: she started to cry. It was wonderful to see Tears of Happiness!
Many years ago I wondered why Brand Boutiques are needed. I always wanted to buy my watches from where I got those with the lowest possible prices.
I paid for Darja's 4897G the list price and that is the way it should be: no premiums, no rebates. Some sellers speak about "value", not about the price. The amount of work Patek's London Salon did for me was incredible. They organized the Geveva trip, found a discontinued folding clasp, ordered additional straps and conducted the whole show we had in Basel. In this occasion I understood that I paid the normal price but got tremendous value.
Darja told me afterwards that receiving her dream watch in an unexpected way was emotionally among the strongest experiences she ever had. It is very sure that Darja will never forget the hour when we discussed about the new Patek collection of 2013 and tried many of the new watches to our wrists. Suddenly Darja's dream was presented, equipped not with the satin strap but blue crocodile and folding clasp - just like Darja had been dreaming. And then, without any warning, her dream was reality.
Buying the watch from the Brand Boutique offered me an unforgettable buying experience. Ed and Eva Linn helped us to understand that getting a dream watch is, when everything goes right, a fantastic process. It means collecting information, understanding the watch and its manufacturer and finally the fantastic delivery experience.
In our case the way the buying process was conducted and how the watch was delivered was unique. Such an experience I cannot expect to get from anywhere else than from the Brand Boutique. I sincerely than the London Salon and especially Ed and Eva Linn.
I would like to share with you some pictures from the watch delivery process during Baselworld. I hope that you can catch at least a small part of the emotions and atmosphere we experienced.
Some new watches from the Gentlemen's collection. I am very focused but Darja does not see any reasons to handle the watches and wear the gloves.
Darja did not notice but Eva Linn delivered without request a glass of champagne next to Darja.
It looks like some interesting new Patek Philippe watches have arrived. They must be from Ladies' collection because Darja is already wearing the gloves, she has placed her own watch to the tray away from the wrist and also taken a good sip of champagne.
"Very nice. I like this a lot!"
"I like also this one a lot!"
Getting closer to the Dream.
I said: "Darling, you said that you like a lot the watch in my right hand. Which one you love more?"
Look where Darja's eyes are focused!
"I like it too. Look how nice the 11 mm folding clasp is and how a slim crocodile strap looks good."
It really feels and looks great on the wrist.
"YES, I love it! It is just like I told you a perfect blue-dialed Calatrava should look like: with dark blue crocodile strap and folding clasp with Calatrava cross."
Darja starts to understand after Eva Linn presented the Certificate.
Emotions...
More emotions...
The mandatory tears...
Naturally Patek Philippe London Salon's Director Ed Butland was needed to check that the new watch is correctly placed to the wrist of the new proud and happy owner.
Darja got also a beautiful Certificate of Origin together with some complimentary spare straps from the London Salon.
The common journey of Darja and Patek Calatrava ref. 4897G-001 has now started. I hope that it will last at least for 60 years after which the watch should go to the next generation. In order to make that dream true, I am working hard!
The first day of Darja's and Calatrava's common voyage was unforgettable.
I hope that you enjoyed a little bit our journey to Patek Philippe boot during Baselworld 2013.
Best, Kari
This message has been edited by small-luxury-world on 2013-04-29 08:20:12 
