Dear fellow forum members,
I had an enjoyable trip to Europe, having been to Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris and finally crowning it at the SIHH in Geneva in the last 12 days. It has been enjoyable even though the weather was unbearably cold at times.
I want to thank Michael and Oliver for inviting me to the SIHH for the second time in a row. It was an honour to be at the show and I sneaked in for a photo with Oliver.
Apart from watches, there were also quite a number of celebrities who came and graced the event. I didn't have a DSLR so I had to contain my excitement with just my lumix. Below are shots of Boris Becker, Zizou, and also Arsene Wenger, manager of the Arsenal football club.
Zidane in the background and I had George Kern staring in my camera. 
I was having a conversation with Michael at the booth and shortly a very familiar forum member showed up. He was accompanied by Ronie So from IWC in HK. He is none other than Jun jun's owner, SC Fong. I thought I was tall but I was dwarfed by his height. He's quite a big man.
Michael, myself, SC and Ronie
On Thursday, I had a shot with my fellow forum members Skule(from Norway) who was attending SIHH for the first time and of course, Mark(from Holland) who extended his hospitality when I was in Netherlands a week ago.
Top Gun Collection:
I had the chance to try out the watches and took some wrist shots.
You will realize although the 48mm ceramic case is not as big as it looks, the lugs do extend out a little more than the traditional 46mm case. My wrist is quite small hence the lugs do not hug my wrist fully.
Having seen the Top Gun ceramic collection, I moved on to the Miramar. The cases are ceramic and polished.
I didn't like the straps. It felt like a thick nato strap. The polished ceramic case didn't help. I was told the straps for the miramar were not finalized as IWC will continue to work on getting the right straps.
The Classics collection:
With reworked cases and dials, I must say the classics collection is much nicer and like what Alan pointed out in the earlier posts, if you like bigger watches, this classics collection is a good choice.
The New Spitfire Collection is among the members' favourite. I, too like the fact that dials are now more visible in ardoise when compared to its predecessor. Paired with a new reworked 89000 calibre movement, this collection will be a hot seller. The highlight is the Spitfire Digital Date perpetual calendar. The red gold case with the Ardoise dial is simply stunning. The case is somewhat thick. But if someone likes the digital date complication with a sporty look in red gold, this is the piece! It does come at a hefty price tag though.
I started my collection with a big pilot and I never had an chronographs. But if I were to pick one, I will go for the Spitfire chronograph in red gold. It does sit better on my wrist than the 48mm case.
There were other light hearted moments during the event. I had Skule's perpetual calendar on my wrist and took a shot.
And after the Siderale presentation, I spotted a two gentlemen(Larry and Roberto) with a nice lady in uniform and I requested for a photo to be taken for them. She's a nice lady who served Budweiser beers at the IWC booth and champagne. I thought this photo was a nice one.
Thanks for reading. It has been a wonderful 12 days for me in Europe. The watches are great and the friends whom I have met, both old and new even better. The people made the event a huge success.
See you guys soon!
