Grand Seiko wrote: ↑Mon Apr 08, 2024 2:16 am I chatted with ajax87 and couldn't tell he wasn't an employee

I remember you from this morning! Good chatting in person

I mentioned to many people that I’m just a super fan helping out, but I definitely slipped a few times and said things like “we released this last year” as if I were an employee

I’ll post some pics and thoughts soon, but I’m pretty beat tonight. I will say that it was a great show, and it was awesome to meet @MikePearson55 in person! He was a wonderful host, and is clearly truly passionate about Christopher Ward. Many thanks again to Mike, CW, and Kip & the Forum for the opportunity.

I look forward to your report Alex. I am happy to hear it was a great show and I want to thank you for jumping in to help out.

I hope you found it to be a rewarding experience.

Well done, Alex! It sounds like you did a fantastic job.

And let's not forget to thank Mrs Alex for her part in facilitating your attendance!

I’ll start out by saying I’ve never been to a watch show before, and have never really gotten a chance to chat watches in person in depth like this. So I was LOVING this show the whole time, for that reason and many others. Selfishly, it was a great and rare opportunity for a CW enthusiast in America to handle and try on nearly the entire collection

I didn’t really know what to expect. I arrived and met Mike, and took cues from him on how to interact with the crowd. The CW booth was absolutely PACKED for nearly the entire first day. It was clearly very popular, for good reason!

I had to be corrected here and there because I was thinking and talking more like myself, as a critic and I was there to promote the brand as best I could. Luckily I’m very familiar with the models, specs, sizes etc… and could easily answer those questions.

I brought my own collection along and had my case on the table the second day. There were some guys ripping on my watches with the 9 o’clock logo (Lolol), a couple people very interested in looking at my old moonglow next to the new model, and several people impressed with the 2023 FLE. One guy went to the forum website right then to look it up, and see if any were possibly still available. I wonder if he ended up inquiring? There were several others I introduced the forum to, and I hope we generated some new traffic here!

Mike is THE guy for CW. His energy and enthusiasm drew people to the table as much as the watches. It was cool to watch him work the crowd. He 100% did most of the work, I just chipped in where I could because there were just so many people. Also, I was literally sick (not too sick to not come, or so sick that I’d endanger everyone…) and exhausted from just getting back from the family vacation the night before. To say I’m exhausted today is an extreme understatement, but it was WORTH IT.

A few thoughts on the watches now that I’ve actually been hands on with most everything:

-The 12 Ti is very impressive. Probably my next CW!
-The C60 concept is an absolutely beautiful beast!
-I’m in love with the C1 moonphase (that aventurine is a sight to behold in person).
-The C60 trident 300 blew me away in person
-Same with the Aquitaine. And Dune, especially the new Dune GMT.
-I can now say I fully understand what the Bel Canto is all about


I took all of 1 picture the first day but snapped a few more the next day. Here are some of mine along with a few from Mike.

If you stuck around this far, thanks for reading my novel. If not, enjoy the pics!