TimeOut

.. ... and to be clear: By "a trip" i actually mean a "journey" ... unlike any of you might be thinking ... . Going to Paris is always a nice experience, there is so much to see and experience ... the food is always amazing, the scenery is great, and although Paris is very touristic, it doesn't feel to crowded. The anonymity you can experience is quite unique, as for example: When you're wearing 5 fifty Fathoms on one arm, nobody will look at you like you're from Mars ... or from the dephts of the sea ... . So we left early in the morning by car and after a three hour drive we arrived at our destination in the Montmartre area.

A trip thru this amazing neighboorhood (maybe a bit too touristic) is a must see when visiting Paris. The view over the city is fabulous and everything is so pitoresque.

At the Montmartre square the artists will gladly make your portrait, but be a bit carefull because not all of them are that good. The atmosphere is prety cool though.

The main purpose(s) of our visit will follow in part 2 .... . Thanks for looking ... Filip

The real purpose for this visit was a dancing class for my beloved daughter to work a bit on classical-ballet techniques during the holidays .... what better place than Paris to do so ....

... and offcourse the "unofficial reason" (don't tell my wife) was meeting a good Purist-friend aka our beloved JLC-moderateur Nicolas ... We went to the adress he gave us and were a bit surprised at arrival, at least i had expected him to live in a 10,000 square foot appartment with a nice view over the river and the Eiffel-tower, but that seemed to be not so true ...

Nicolas wasn't there at the time of our arrival but left the key under the doormat .... and a note telling us to feel at home .... Now i have the impression our moderator has this strange hobby besides the watches .... a Barbie-kicker-table ????

Luckily we found the keys to Nicolas' car and left for some sightseeing in Paris ....

Jardin de Luxembourg ..

Traffic in Paris is also a "must-do-experience", be quick and bring a couple of extra eyes along ... LOL ....

Cathédrale de Notre-Dame ...

Famous tower at night (can't remeber the exact name ...) ....

The rest of the story continues in part 3: "Meeting the devil in person" ....

... so before meeting a fellow Purist we went to the famous "Berthillon" ice-cream thing everybody is talking about ... and .... indeed .... after a good taste now i know why they are so famous ...

After a short drive i finally arrived at "the centre of the world" (0°00'000'' at 0°00'000") ......

.... where i finally met our dear friend, being serious as always ... LOL ....

As always, we where warmly greated by the great JLC-team at the boutique ... and got to see some nice pieces .... a MMR with enamel dial ... which i dropped ... (Nicolas !!! it is almost repaired, i will send it in few days back to you ...) ...

A very nice gold diver watch ... though the big size seemed ... eerrrrr ... BIG !!!!! ... this one fitted perfectly on my small wrist ....

My favorite .. a very nice AMVOX in steel ...

for technical details and good photos we will have to await Nicolas' posts .... Many thanks again to the people of the JLC-boutique .... Filip Next: Part 4 (last one) with the rise of the fifty fathoms .....

g

. . . then I have the greatest Sympathy for him ;-) . . . cordially, Art

have the sympatico for ze devil ...
IMHO ... i think the devil is a bit crazy

Filiip

One evening we had a formal dinner in a very nice Vietnamese restaurant (the owner happened to be a watch-nut as well, what a coincidence ..) .... . If you want to have a great dining-experience in Paris, in this restaurant will give you one .... a royal dinner was served to us (a not so royal public) . How about a full Fifty-Fathoms plate ... delicious !!!!

The only men behaving where the WO-men ......

After Buddha dropped one of the Fifty Fathoms it was time for our master-watchmaker to show some skill ....

Helped by the staff of the restaurant we luckily managed to control the damage ....

I guess the only damage done, was to our brains .... .... So ... where did i left that phone-number of my psych ???? Cheers, and hope you all enjoyed the show ... guys .... Bim Beano

When did you want the car back Nicolas ????

... and the 5 50ies ?

;-)

What a lot of fun!

And to think I was stuck in stormy, brooding Scotland with another friend's car.  You guys should have told me of your mini-GTG; shooting down to Paris from UK wouldn't have taken that long if I don't care about speeding citations along the way...

Nicolas, you are proving to be the host non-pareil!

Cheers,

TM

A shame we didn'treally thaught about having a real Purist-gtg ...

We should do a world-gtg next time ...

Filip

Thanks for the great tour of Paris.

That's an impressive arm shot of five watches! Five 50-Fathoms watches.

That bloody French guy took off with it ... LOL ...
The 5 50ies where impressive indeed ...

Filip

Specially the fifty food one!

These watches are to die for...

Excellent work my friend!

Best

Emilio

the posts are always amazing

Cheers,

FF (Fast Filip)

Your company is source of Evilesque Inspiration!

Best,

Nicolas

Great pics. Thanks a bundle for sharing.

to share great moments ...

Filip

I loved reading about your adventure in France!  The pictures were so much fun too!  Why does it seem like noone has as much fun as you and Nicolas do when you're together?  I must get to France or Belgium one of these days soon!  I feel I'm missing out!

Cheers,
Daos

having Nicolas around is always (too uch) fun

Maybe we'll meet next year at the world-gtg ???? World-gtg ??? Now that would be something !!!!

Greetz,

filip

Looks like you guys had a lot of fun! I envy you for living so close to Paris and being able to enjoy this adventures quite often.

Sourire de Saigon is an excellent restaurant! Richard, the owner, is a great guy! Thanks for bringing back some great memories.

All the best,

Alex

An excellent restaurant by far !!! And indeed Richard proved to be a very nice host for the evening ... We had a great time together ...

If you're coming to Paris or Europe next time, let me know ...

filip

You boys are having too much fun! 

That Pro Geo looks great on your wrist.  But the steel AMVOX...that is the first photo I have seen thus far that has made me think twice about this new version.  It's brilliant! I was, perhaps, too hasty in my initial judgement. 

Very good to know that Nicolas is generous in loaning out his car...I'll keep that in mind for my next visit to Paris. LOL.

Thanks for posting a very entertaining report.

respo

The Geo was a real stunner, what a beast, i really liked it but i'm a bit concerned about the price ...
But my real favorite was the steel AMVOX II ... Brilliant all the way, the platinum version was as brilliant as the steel one, a bit nicer ....

Watch out for asking a car .... Nicolas will give you some 2CV with pedals instead of an engine in it .. LOL

Filip

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f

Hello Filip!

Thanks for sharing this adventure to Paris!  Berthillion IMO is the best tasting ice cream !  Which Ile St-Louis location did you sample?  Very fond memories of Paris, looking forward to go back.  Yeah, That Nicolas is fun to hang around with! 

-MW

Berthillon was brilliant , but in general the Italians are even more brilliant ... about the location, all i can give you is a pic of the building ... If you ever return to Paris, please let us know .... i'll make time to come over again ... Cheer Filip

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Glad you enjoyed your journey in Paris !



Fr.Xavier

A shame we didn't meet ... but meeting with Nicolas several times (and you know how busy he always is ... ), i barely had the time to favor my wife: "Are you going back to see that Devlish-French-lawyer again ????" LOLOLOL ... I'll let you know when i'm coming back, that will probably be next month already ... ... Oh yeah, and can you send this picture to Nicolas he requested me, i'll PM you the adress Filip

hihi