Prodigal Meetup in a Paris revitalised
By The Prodigal Fool, published on 26 July 2010
The inaugural Prodigal Meetup took place in Paris just over a week ago. Predictably, it was a slightly shambolic and very drunken affair. So, what follows is our best – if not totally accurate – recollection of a day which was surprising, enlightening and fun in equal measures.
We arrived at Paris’ Gare du Nord around 10:00 and were almost immediately struck by something we’d never felt in the French capital before. Maybe it was the glorious sunshine, maybe the excitement of what lay ahead, or maybe, just maybe, something really had changed. Whatever the reason, there was a pleasant, cool, confident buzz about Paris that was new to us. The French seemed to have got their groove back.
We jumped in a cab and made our way to ABP – a short drive through the sunny, elegant streets of a Paris still lazily waking from the night before. We arrived to find two strangers peering through the hallowed window of ABP. It was Ian and Guy, the first of – as it was to turn out – four new friends who joined us during the day.
Hands were shaken, jokes exchanged and we soon thought to ourselves how – mercifully – easy the transition between online and real-world friendship seemed to be. It turns out that if you get on online, you’ll probably get on in the real-world. Who knew?
We made our way inside and it wasn’t long before we were joined by a fifth member of the party: Mark, Straight-Six’s friend who had been on the original visit.
We’ve raved about ABP so much already that we won’t dwell on it again. Suffice to say that Straight-Six’s glowing report was reconfirmed: the staff were charming and patient, the collection of hides available unbelievable and the workmanship and skill that goes into making the straps was evident in both the activity going on in the atelier while we were there and the stunning finished product that Straight-Six and Mark collected.
We think it was Mark’s comment upon seeing his new strap fitted to his Master Compressor Geographic that summed it up best. After admiring the quality and look of his strap from ABP, he said that he felt “robbed” by what Jaeger-LeCoultre had charged him last year for one of their branded replacement straps. Are ABP’s straps cheap? No, but they’re no more expensive than what any of the big brands will charge you and yet the choice and quality is leagues ahead.
We were there for there for well over two hours, during which – with the help or, by the end, the passive complicity, of the ABP team – every drawer in the place was opened and reopened, its contents stroked, prodded, debated. Hides were taken out into the street for that all-important ‘natural’ light assessment. Watches were removed, exchanged, matched-up. And, slowly but surely, The Prodigal Fool narrowed his selection down to the two straps he eventually settled on for this vintage Omega Speedmaster. The result? We’ll report on that in due course (it will be at least a week before the straps are ready for collection) but suffice to say that the frog hide you see above didn’t make the final selection. It was a close call for a while though, a close call.
By the time we’d finished the paperwork and coughed up the 50% deposit, we were exhausted, excited and, eh, rather thirsty. No doubt about it, it was time to make our way to Chez Andre.
We pulled up outside this venerable institution expecting a typically frosty French welcome. How wrong we were. It seems the good folk of the 8th arrondisement got the same memo the Gare du Nord crowd were acting on: smiles all round.
“Nous sommes la!” shouted Straight-Six as we disembarked from our taxi.
“Vous etes la!” shouted back the owner with enthusiasm and good humour, keen to go along with the joke. “Installer vous ici…”
Wow. We never even bothered to mention our reservation. We were shown to a table right on the pavement outside. The perfect vantage point from which to enjoy our meal, observe the hot cars cruising by and get down to the all important business of debating watches, the watch industry and anything even remotely connected to it.
The food? Honestly, it was average at best. But it hardly seemed to matter. Our jovial host had selected some great wines for us (the Lalande-de-Pomerol turned out to be excellent value and particularly drinkable) and that soon led us to a fascinating little show and tell session.
The first watch to be removed and slapped on the table for us to admire was @UnderTheDial’s Jean Daniel Nicholas, a 2-minute tourbillon by Daniel Roth. This sort of ultra-rare, hand-built complication is not the sort of piece that would normally attract us. Handle one for the first time though – as we did that day – and your opinion starts to change. There really is nothing like a watch that’s been hand-made by one man. Roth builds no more than five pieces a year. Fancy ordering one? Sure, but be prepared to choose between that and a Porsche 911 Turbo. Yes, that’s right, this kind of exclusivity doesn’t come cheap, but once you’ve touched it, you might never be able to look at a mass-produced watch again.
While we were still admiring Roth’s handy work, @UnderTheDial’s second piece, a Urwerk UR-103 Mexican Fireleg, appeared on the table.
Then, as everyone was distracted by the two hot watches, we noticed @UnderTheDial reaching for his belt buckle and starting to undo it. We knew it! Oh sure, he’d seemed okay until then but now he was preparing to bare all in a public restaurant. Turns out our mothers were right all along: you should never meet up with strangers you meet on the internet; it’s more than likely they’ll be perverts and sexual predators. But just as we were sizing up the situation, working out whether we had the man-power to prevent him removing his trousers before we were banished from Chez Andre forever, the reality of the situation became apparent: he just wanted to show us his belt buckle.
Why would he think we’d be interested? Because this was a buckle, the likes of which you’ve never, ever seen before. Made by an outfit called Roland Iten, it was a mechanical marvel to match any timepiece. If you enjoy a mechanical wristwatch, chances are you’ll be fascinating by the firm’s products. They’re worth checking out.
Next up was Guy, a Paris-based photographer who specializes in watches. He’s completed a number of books for some of the biggest brands in the business and so we were delighted when – completely unexpectedly – he reached into his bag and whipped out a couple of volumes of his portfolio. Fascinating to flick through: each photo after the next was a meticulously captured piece of horological heaven. Thanks Guy.
Just as we were thinking that the day couldn’t have been more random yet more fun. An even more random and fun thing happened: @MorrisonBrink, a long-time Twitter buddy of ours, appeared out of no where! “Hi there, I read you were here and just thought I’d drop by and say hello.” This, friends, is the power of social media. We’d never met the man before but he sat, we poured him a glass of wine and, guess what? Within minutes we were getting on like a house on fire.
@MorrisonBrink had also bought a couple of watches for our impromptu show and tell. First up was the piece he had on his wrist: a Tudor Prince Oysterdate, blue dial, auto, ref. 9101/0 with a Rolex Tudor solid stainless steel integrated bracelet ref.9585., mid to late 1970s. Nice.
While we were still baiting him about his reluctance to bite the bullet and admit that what he’d really like is a Rolex, he whipped out his coup de grace: a Casio Super Illuminator.
This watch was great. We’ll leave it to Ed of Ed’s Corner to sum it up:
Lume fans, listen up. If Super Luminova isn’t super enough, Indiglo doesn’t glow for you and tritium is too radioactive, this is your watch. The Super Illuminator has a pair of lights at the 12 and 6 o’clock positions on the face that activate when the second crown (at the 2 o’clock position) is pressed. We are talking flashlight style light here folks. If you can’t see the face of the Super Illuminator, you should probably check out the review of the Braille watch I did a while back. This Casio is that well lit.
As we were all admiring the Casio and The Prodigal Fool was trying in vain to photograph its illuminated dial, our waitress come to our table, not to rush us but rather to bid us goodbye. She was finishing her shift and just wanted to wish us a pleasant afternoon before she left. How charming. How thoughtful. How unlike the Paris we had known. Her intervention reminded us though that we’d been at the table for far too long. Regrettably, we had trains home to catch.
As we made our way back to the Gare du Nord, we were genuinely sad to see the event come to an end. In a day that had been jam-packed full of surprises – we’d learnt that you can make a watch strap out of a dead frog, we’d met new friends, we’d discovered new avenues to explore in our watch fanaticism (not least a penchant for complications) – the biggest surprise of all was the Parisians themselves: each more pleasant, confident and laid-back than the last. This was not the Paris we remembered. No grumpiness, no pretensions, just smiles and a good sense of humour.
Paris, it would seem, is revitalised.
P.S. In an interesting and slightly ironic twist: revitalised is pretty much the opposite of how we felt when we woke up the following day. We put it down to having too many snails at lunch.
Prodigal Meetup in a Paris revitalised
The inaugural Prodigal Meetup took place in Paris just over a week ago. Predictably, it was a slightly shambolic and very drunken affair. So, what follows is our best – if not totally accurate – recollection of a day which was surprising, enlightening and fun in equal measures. We arrived at Paris’ Gare du Nord [...]
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15 Responses to “Prodigal Meetup in a Paris revitalised”
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Next time indeed! London perhaps?
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Ian Skellern
26 July 2010
A truly memorable day thanks in no small part by those present and the good mood of the locals.
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…and their excellent wine!
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Wow, fantastic post!
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Thanks!
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Straight-Six
27 July 2010
Folks,
It was all as the Fool says it was: toe-curling charm from the Parisians; ABP a sheer delight; the toads friendly and ready to kiss and the food decent, aided by lashings of wine and good company.
I concur that we should all hit London next!
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Roland is pleased that his craft was mentioned in such good company and by such experts. Thanks Underthedial, The Prodigal Fool and Straight-Six. Anytime you are in Lausanne, the offer stands for more good wine and non-grumpy hospitality chez notre showroom. P.S. @MorrisonBrink you’re invited too….
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Carol, with invitations like that, you’ll have the Prodigal crowd beating down your door before you know it. Sounds great.
We’ve long been talking about doing a Swiss tour: we’d love to include you. Would you mind dropping us an email with your contact details? TheProdigalGuide at me.com
Thanks!
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An entirely civilised afternoon, somewhere between seminar and session. My thanks to our prodigal hosts and to Carol for your kind invitation. I look forward to London, Lausanne, New York, ….. Brussels?
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If you think it was an entirely civilised afternoon, you clearly were not in my Eurostar carriage on the way back to London.
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Straight-Six
29 July 2010
Were your fellow male passengers gentle with you?
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[...] what about using some of Roland Iten’s incredible designs? We first came across the brand at the Prodigal Meetup last month and have been enamoured ever since. Q could easily adapt one of the firm’s buckles to [...]
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I’m in a New York state of conscious being « The Prodigal Guide
13 September 2010
[...] fans amongst you will already now him. Those of you who don’t, be warned. We first met Ian at the Prodigal Meetup in Paris. On that fateful afternoon, he conclusively demonstrated one thing beyond the shadow of a doubt: [...]
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Prodigal Meetup: Join us in London on 15 October « The Prodigal Guide
15 September 2010
[...] 0 When we announced our first Meetup in Paris back in June, we honestly didn’t know what to expect. Oh sure, our two readers seem pleasant enough in the comments, from behind the safety of our MacBook’s screen, but what would they be like in the real world? Well, it turns out you were great. We had a blast. [...]
Noodlefish
26 July 2010
I’m so sorry to have missed this, although not sure I would have been able to compete with the Roth and MexiFireLeg. hey ho. Next time?