Panaustraliana Tour - Celebrating 2014 Chinese New 'Horse' Year at Sanctuary Cove with the Davosa

Okay, here is my first non-PAM watch post.

In May last year, Panaustraliana Tour was kicked off by one of the most respected watchmaker in Sydney - Nick Hacko.

It is about sending a watch (Davosa) on an Australian Tour and we (the mailing list members) have given the opportunity to be part of the journey. Last week I received an email from Nick asking if there is anyone who are interested to host the watch for end of January/early February. I expressed my interest to host the watch for Chinese New Year celebration during the weekend and I got a prompt reply saying the watch is on its way to Brisbane - wohooo!! :)

Here is a quick snapshot of the Davosa! a Vintage looking watch :)

On CNY eve, I took the watch on a Brisbane city sightseeing tour with me as the tour guide :)

The Davosa beneath the red lantern stars at Queen St mall!

The main gate entrance of Queen Street mall in Brisbane CBD

Outside of the Conrad Treasury Casino heritage building

The watch met the recently upgraded Brisbane City Hall!

CNY eve dinner at Little Nyonya restaurant

On the CNY day, we (the watch and I) visited the lovely Sanctuary Cove Marine Village for a celebration and watch the famous lion dance.

Before the lion dance start - lion's head "helmet"

The yellow golden lion entertained guests at the Dragon Cove restaurant

The lion "jumped" and ate the cabbage

The lion was so hungry and tried to eat the davosa :P

The green lion turn to dance in front of the crowd

Green lion busting some moves!

The lion loves hong bao (red packet money - placed on the ground)

Full of energy!

The sleepy move!

Tandem dance - what a cool stance!

Both lions bow to the crowd to show respect and say thank you.

The famous Guan Yu's Guandao dance "Green Dragon Crescent Blade" (青龍偃月刀)"

Yes that is me! :)

The lion dance music crew

Lastly - The crowd!! So cheerful!

I really had good days with the watch and looking forward to spend more time with the Davosa in near future :)

Brissy Boys Last Minute Mini GTG at Crankstar - 30th January 2014

It has been quite a while since we (the Brisbane Ristis) get together and chat to one another about their life stories. So, thanks to Win and Wayne for organising today's lunch!

The lunch took place at a cool bicycle/coffee shop in Woollongabba called Crankstar. 

First off, the shop has some cool full-of-history bicycles displayed in the shop. Some of these custom bicycles costs more than $10,000 (easy!). 

Front entrance of the bike shop

I think the owner told me that one of these was used in the Olympics???

This bike tyres cost around $4000!

Bike apparel

2008 Beijing Paralympics BVI 4000m Pursuit Bronze

Crankstar t-shirt for sale! & custom bike frame

Okay I think that is enough for the shop tour! :) 

So the attendees for today's lunch: Winston, Wayne, Sunny, Hammer, Grant (short lunch no photo - next time?) and myself. Unfortunately Kevin W couldn't join us otherwise we'll be hearing some stories from his recent trip to SIHH 2014!

Wayne, Me, Hammer, Sunny - Winston was the photographer!

Oh there is Winston! :)

Look at Wayne with his exceptional camera awareness! :)

Okay, now into the watches!

I brought my regular 359, Wayne got his 104 on, Win wore the base 0, Sunny had his new second edition "FU" 498 and Hammer brought his 532 prototype, 140 and the ceramic sub 508!

The table shot - 532, 104, 498, 000, 140, 359, 508

508 - look at the very yellow patina dial! very gorgeous! I LIKE!!

140 - 18k yellow gold with carbon dial! sexy!

532, 359. 508 resting on a very good read book Vintage Panerai

We spent about 2.5 hours talked pretty much everything - the usual mates talk! we talked about watches (obviously), how to fix scratches on a plexi, watch restoration process, sport cars, bicycles, iphone cases with military grade material, Hammer's new bike, how Hammer got lost because of his new high-tech Sat-Nav in his car (hehehe lol), talked more about work, kids, family stuff and bunch of other random stuff that need to be rated :)

Overall, I think it was a great meet up. It was a good way to step out of the office, get fresh air and catchup with mates! Looking forward to another one soon!

Just want to share this story to all Ristis! Mates Gr8!

USA Trip (Day 0) Depart from Brisbane

November 8th, wifey and I are going to America for the first time ever!! 

Everything is checked ready to go.

Passport - check!

boarding pass - check!

$$ - check!

cigars - check!

Vintage P book to kill time during long haul flight - check!!!

359 - check!!

our first stop is LA (in about 13 hours) - will see heaps of hollywood celebrities around???

thanks for Hammer and the US Risti guys to make this trip even more exciting because they're all going to welcome me there - feel honored & blessed to have great bunch of mates!!

next post in 16 hours!

Quick Catch-Up With a Risti From The Great White North (Canada)

Wednesday October 30th at 12.00pm, Hammer and I welcomed a fellow Risti from Toronto, Canada who happened to be in Bris-Vegas for a conference. His name is Logan Donaldson and he is wearing a 312 :-)

It was a regular hectic day for all of us. However, as soon as we heard Logan is in Brisbane and wanting to catch up, BAAAM!! all of the sudden my calendar were free for about 2 hours. Amazingly, Hammer was also available around the same time. So, we all met at Wagamama restaurant at Wintergarden for lunch.

Logan, Hammer and Me

The "Watch Talk"

The watch talk begun when Hammer asked Logan, "What are you wearing big guy?" :-)

Logan was wearing 312 with a carbon fiber strap. I was wearing my regular 359 and Hammer wore his new 532 (awesome!) 

So here are some of photos that I took on the day and bit of my version of the watches' description. Enjoy!

PAM 532 "Paneristi Forever"

This 47mm cool-looking Radiomir is a new special edition release that is dedicated to Officine Panerai’s most loyal supporters - the "Paneristi"!. There are only 500 pieces! It is using a 1940 case with DLC-coating, and it sits lower than the 1950 case. The lugs are also a lot thinner as there is no screw-mechanism. I think it is a very cool watch especially with the patina colored dial and the pig logo. 532 is using the P.3000 hand-wound in house movement.

Not too long ago in Singapore, Mr. Angelo Bonati himself presented this particular watch to Hammer as a gift and token of appreciation for Hammer's passion in Panerai.  

PAM 532 on my wrist - feels very comfortable!

Vintage Panerai Ref. 6152/1 Angelus

Next up, is my most favorite piece!! The 6152/1 with Angelus Movement. From the moment I saw this on the table I was like "No..no..no way...are you serious..for real? 6152/1??". Some of you maybe think I was over reacting but to be honest I was like "a fat kid on a smartie". Anyway, I was lucky enough to put it on my wrist and tried it on for a while. If you want to know more about this watch, I recommend to buy a book called "Vintage Panerai The References".

Vintage 6152/1 with Angelus Movement - Stunning piece!

PAM 319 Luminor 1950 8 Days Rattrapante 18-ct Pink Gold.

Next in the bag is PAM 319. This watch is a rare breed. There were only 300 pieces made! It is one of the heaviest PAM i have ever tried on.

PAM 319 1950 Luminor 8 Days Rattrapante

The Group Table Shot

Top: 319, 532, 359, 6152/1 Angelus

Overall, it was a great mates and watch talk! I really enjoyed it. Plus, I have a new friend now who lives on the other part of the world :-)

I am looking forward to my US trip next month and the catch-up with the NYC Risti crew!! Boo-yah!!

Paneristi GTG (Get Together) at The Hour Glass Brisbane - 28 August 2013

In August 28th at 3.00pm, The Hour Glass Brisbane held an exclusive Panerai GTG event showcasing some of the most amazing Panerai vintage and modern collections. This is the so called Panerai Get-Together event where people share their collections, stories, knowledge and passion on Panerai watches. 

I was lucky enough to be invited to this event and met with so many passionate Ristis. There were about a dozen guests attended the event on that Saturday afternoon with some special guests from the famous forum Paneristi.com. 

Alan Bloore a.k.a Hammer is the key special guest of the event. He is the Paneristi.com moderator for Australia and a very passionate Risti who own amazing collections of Panerai watches. To mention a few, he brought the famous vintage watch reference 6154, also known as the “Egiziano Piccolo” created specially for the Egyptian Navy in the year 1954. I also spotted the first prototype watch shown to the Italian Navy “Kampfschwimmer” reference 3646 in his showcase glass box. Other rare watches such as PAM21 Platinum (60 pieces only), Mare Nostrum, 1950 Egyptian navy radiomir with Angelus movement, diver's depth gauge and compass are also being showcased.

Hammer gave us a quick Panerai history lesson from the first time Giovani Panerai opened his watch shop in 1860, the business with Italian Navy, the period when the Italian Navy used the watch in war, which watch the Italian Navy used whilst they riding the SLC (Siluro a Lenta Corsa) human torpedo, the watch's design evolution, the pre-Vendome era and the Richemont group era. He was like telling a bed time story (except i wasn't feeling sleepy! but excited instead!!) and using his watch collections as the "story book". One word, AMAZING!!!

Here are some photos that i took from the event (apologies for the iphone photo quality). 

(Yep, that's me in the pink shirt next to Hammer)

The guests didn't go home empty handed. We all received a goodie bag :) 

 

It was a great event. I cannot wait for the next one!