I’d like to say a massive thank you to Blancpain (a wonderful manufacture, who were the most generous of hosts in providing an expenses-paid two day trip to their factory in Switzerland) and Watches of Switzerland in Cardiff (who, through Martin Bond, made it possible). Thank you, also, to Andy Good – Blancpain’s brand director in the UK – for being great company.
The view from the hotel
All 744 movement pieces from the Blancpain 1735
Watchmakers working on the high-end pieces (Tourbillons, Carrousels and Minute Repeaters)
Some tuition on complications
And lunch at the local greasy spoon before heading back
All in all, a wonderful and memorable trip!
A history stretching back more than a thousand years, mentioned in the Domesday Book, and famous for the psychiatric hospital that used to occupy much of the Porters Park housing development (so famous, in fact, that “Shenley” became a generic term). Otherwise known as home!
Anyway, I wanted to try out the Olympus so it was just a quick walk in the bitter cold this morning to take some test shots.
I never quite got on with my Canon G11 as a walkaround camera, mainly because I’ve been brought up on traditional viewfinders. Anyway, after giving the matter my usual nanosecond of thought I decided to enter the world of Micro Four Thirds and the Olympus OM-D EM-5 is the result. I’m delighted with it, and it’s first major outing will be the forthcoming trip to Blancpain’s factory in Biel, Switzerland.
It’s very excited about it, too 🙂
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 37,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 9 Film Festivals
Half Past The Hour 