Perpetually PuristS 2012 - Seattle

- Jon Zhang (Z3)

I always have a special, warm and fuzzy place in my heart reserved for the last day of February...

Why is that?

Watches with simple calendar date wheels (e.g. your typical Rolex) have calendars that go to the 31st for every month, and require the owners to pull out the crown and manually adjust the date setting at the end of every month that has less than 31 days. 

A notch above that is an annual calendar complication which can distinguish months with 30 days and 31st days, and requires an adjustment at the end of every February, when annual calendar would deficiently categorize it as a month with 30 days.

Sitting on the top of this date complication hierarchy is the perpetual calendar movement, which, with a set of additional gears, knows that February has 28 days. Not only that, a true perpetual calendar would have a leap year indicator and can figure out that every 4 years, the leap year February has 29 days.  Assuming that the watch is kept running all the time, the date on the perpetual calendar would only need to be set every 100 years (when years that are evenly divisible by 100, but not by 400, do not contain a leap day; thus 1900 did not contain a leap day while 2000 did, and 2100 will not contain a leap year... not that it really matters for us anyways...).

Hence, around midnight of February 29, while most layman watches would point to the imaginary February 30th, perpetual calendars would proudly jump to March 1st. This is a day that pays homage to perpetual calendars, high complication mechanical watches, and human ingenuity with regard to micromechanics. This is the day for Purists who appreciate these things.

What better excuse to to celebrate! Traditionally, on this day, I would partake in a get-together with a group of like-minded watch aficionados, have a fun time, and in our collective drunken stupor "watch" the date hand jump to March 1st!

Here's to the event in 2010, in New York City

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Here's to 2009, in NYC.

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And ahh... of course, the famous excess of the 2008 NYC event, in the cigar-smoke filled atmosphere of the Grand Havana Room.

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It is with utmost excitement that I report to you the event in 2012 in Seattle. It is a particulary exciting for me because it is our lovely Emerald City's first Perpetual event, and the first one that I organized, after I moved here from New York.

Without further ado, here's the event!

6:30pm, walking over to the venue. Here's a photo of two of Seattle's local brands - the flagship Nordstrom department store, and Starbucks.

The venue is set at Steelhead Diner - a famous restaurant situated at Seattle's historic Pike's Market - America's oldest fish market and a landmark of the city.

Even though it's a first event in Seattle, the mutual passion for high end mechanical watches made it feel just like home.

George admiring an IWC Portuguese perpetual in rose gold.

Trevor intensely examining the intricate inner workings of the Glashutte perpetual.

Curiosity and passion

Here's the line-up of the evening.

Langematik Perpetual in Rose Gold

IWC Portuguese Perpetual in RG

Glashutte Original Perpetual Navigator on a bracelet

Glashutte Perpetual Senator

Girard Perregaux Seahawk in YG

Moster Perpetual 1 - you don't see this every day

Beautifully finished movement, with a curved crystal on the backside for comfortable wearability.

On the wrist of the owner.

Roger Dubuis Golden Square in WG and Diamond Bezel.

Franc Vila Perpetual GMT with black carbon fiber dial - another rare bird in the wild. Limited edition of 48

Two drastically different styles of watches, but both with the curved crystal - an elegant design and comfortable curve yet very expensive to create.

Another Franc Vila perpetual GMT with the red carbon fiber dial

GP Perpetual Calendar Chronograph Moonphase - special Ferrari F50 edition in platinum

FP Journe Zodiaque in platinum - limited edition of 150

Svend Andersen

Beauties on the wrists of the ladies

Dinner is now served - a selection of the few dishes featuring local ingradients.

I just noticed the Pellegrino tonight is a special Bvlgari edition - how fitting for a watch dinner!

Lively conversations continue... Steve demonstrating setting the Glashutte perpetual calendar date mechanisms using a pushpin.

After the dinner, we set our perpetuals a few hours ahead, to observe the jump to March 1st.

Moser has the instantaneous "flash" jump. At 11:59, it still says Feb 29th...

At 12:00am, calendar moves to March 1st.

The other perpetuals have the more gradual shift from 10:30pm to 1am.

At 11:30pm, both the IWC and Franc Vila have the date displaying 31st...

Both successfully went over to March 1st, a little bit after 12am.

The family portrait.

Thank you guys, it's been a fun and fulfilling evening. The watch community in Seattle is getting bigger and it is my sincere hope that it will soon become a horological hot spot, brimming with watch enthusiasm, just like New York City, Los Angeles, Singapore, and Hong Kong=)

Cheers and good night, from Seattle!

Your Truly,

Jon Zhang (Z3)

This message has been edited by Z3 on 2012-03-02 01:26:49 This message has been edited by Z3 on 2012-03-02 10:39:59 This message has been edited by AndrewD on 2012-03-04 20:04:07

Hi all, 

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I sure do miss the NYC events!!!

Tony

you just have to come to Seattle next February=)

Hope you have a moment of horological reflection on the 29th of February.

 

Cheers,

 

Jon

Thanks for the show from a far flung outpost in PuristS-land.

 

It looks cold out there. maybe that's why you guys set the watches forward by a few hours.

Here in the tropics, we just like to sit past midnight, imbibing both our drinks and watches in the balmy 26 - 28 deg C night temperatures hehehe. 

MTF

Jealous of the tropics now.

you certainly wouldn't want to stay outdoors last Wednesday in Seattle's at midnight - it was cold and also quite windy.

Glad that you find it cool=)

Jon

 

How's the performance of the 2 German watches?

Regards

Ling

But Glashutte in general rarely fail on me when it comes to perpetual jumps.

Jon

NT

Hope all is well and that your Ulysse Nardin Perpetual GMT made the proper jump,

Jon

Got to go there one day soon!
Thanks for always capturing fun time.

Best,
Ken

You know me, I try to bring fun wherever I go=)

We will see each other soon I am sure - either in Japan or in Seattle.

Take care buddy!

Jon

thanks for sharing..looks like a fun night..

we love Seattle and the pacific northwest...

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And a very impressive collection of perpetuals too.  I hope you Seattle'ites (is that the correct word?) get together more often.

Cheers,
Anthony

Yes I just found out recently on Wikipedia, that people from Seattle are indeed referred to as Seattleites.

 

Seems like we are all set to build this event into an annual February tradition.

 

Jon

 

 

Thanks first for the pictures of Seattle ! I don't think I will be able to visit it one day so I appreciated them.

Secondly, thanks for the comprehensive report. An other impressive gathering of watches and a cool atmosphere. Surprised and happy to see Franc Vila watches!

And I have a question: what's this?



Fx

The dish you are referring to is "Buttermilk fried free range chicken" - a decadent delicacy that is crispy and flavorful on the outside, and extremely juicy and tender on the inside...ummmmmmmmmm~

 

Nice pieces on that table. 

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Yes, keep it up and soon you guys will be just like Singapore!

Cheers

Stephen

I've heard some great things about you from my friend Ken, hope to see you in Asia sometimes soon.

 

Jon

Without you, it would be too cold to take these Space needle and the fountain shots=)

We would definitely have more events well before Feb 2013.

 

Cheers my friend,

Jon

glad you guys had fun. Especially appreciated seeing some of the rarer pieces like the Vilas.

Best

Andreas

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Thanks for the report z3.  Looks cold, but doesn't matter since you had so many cool watches to play with.  I'm not familiar with the Franc Villa line and was interesting to see the perpetual calendar. 

Regards,
ED-209