Moonmachines at Cara & Co

 

You may have already read my post about my afternoon of MB&F Machine Madness. Well this is the second part of my MB&F Marathon Friday, otherwise known as 'Max Büsser eats half of Australia’s coat of arms'.

But more about that later.

I, along with half a dozen others, had been fortunate to have been invited by Purist friend Sidneyc to join Max for a private dinner held at Cara&Co, a restaurant situated at the back of a boutique which sells everything from clothing and accessories to books and cameras.

We were in the middle of Sydney in a Russian owned restaurant eating from a menu devised by a Belgium based chef to meet a Swiss who had just collaborated with a Finn on a watch.

Having not seen the latest MB&F collaboration with the wonderful Stepan Sarpaneva when I met Max a few hours ealier, I was looking forward to seeing whether my initial uncertain response to the Moonmachine in photographs would be maintained. My problem is that I am a Sarpaneva purist of a number of years standing, and I adore his moon in its natural habitat.Would I like it in a HM3 Frog?

But I digress. First up, the food.

An amuse bouche to start : goats cheese (very mild) and mandarin lollipop

Plus some warm fresh bread rolls (which were constantly replenished) with some salted butter. Quite addictive bread and butter.

Max’s entrée of choice was ‘chicken oyster’.

Chicken Oyster - Chimay beer, potato, hazelnut, foie gras, coffee

What is ‘chicken oyster’?

They are the hidden-away sections of meat tucked under the chicken’s backbone. In this case, served in an oxtail jus with Chimay beer, topped with potato foam and, oddly, macadamia nuts with gold leaf.

My entrée was beef tartare, which was served with a 20 degree quail egg and a rather unexpected addition of some Avruga caviar. An unconventional tartare, but I really liked the saltiness of the caviar with the beef, and if beef tartare purists are aghast I’m sorry, but I really enjoyed this iteration.

Veal cheeks - Mustard, aioli, egg yolk, lettuce

For mains, Max had his first taste of national emblem, which I also ordered.

The kangaroo came two ways, including a cube of tartare with a parmesan marshmallow atop, black lentils, and artichoke cooked three ways - puree, baked and crisp. The meat looks rare but it wasn’t; and it was tender, yielding easily to my knife. I’d feared having a red meat overload, but this didn’t turn out to be the case.

Other mains were :

Rock Flathead with quinoa, cauliflower, silvered peanuts, peanut foam and gerkin juice

Australian wagyu rump with eggplant, miso, anchovy, baby carrot

Yellowfin tuna with tomato, cinnamon, white beans, watermelon

Accompanying side dishes were some random watches, including these :

Finally, time for some Moonmachines. The reconfigured HM3 Frog now comes with Sarpaneva’s poignant moonphase seen through a Korona shaped opening, with the winding rotor actually a blued 22k gold disc with a laser-pierced northern constellation.

They are available in three limited editions of 18 pieces each: titanium case with white gold moon faces in a light blue sky, black titanium case with white gold moon faces in a dark blue sky and red gold case with red gold moon faces in an anthracite sky.

What did we think? That they were quite different in the metal. Far more appealing. Even someone who has held the thought that Stepan Sarpaneva’s moon is “too depressing” found himself drawn to the titanium version. 

Below is the titanium on my wrist. For a size comparison, see my previous post with my wristshots with other MB&F Machines.

During the evening we learnt not just about the Moonmachines, his friendship with Stepan, thoughts about the watch industry and his career trajectory, but also about his childhood, his family, his passion for car racing (we should take him out to a racetrack on his next visit), and even his foray into learning to play a guitar.

I know that I sound like an old record (and I realise that I am dating myself by even saying that) when I say that meeting independent watchmakers is an honour, but it is. They are the best people to communicate about their own watches, and it really is only by hearing them in such a small intimate setting that you properly understand what they are about, and why people are so drawn not just to the watch, but also to the watchmaker.

 Max finally gets to try Vegemite (photo credit : RJW)

Many thanks to sidneyc for his kind invitation to this wonderful evening.

In closing, two final photos for the road.

During the week prior to the Sydney dinner, the following happened to Gaz :

"So I get a call from a fellow Hong Kong watch collector. "Are you in Hong Kong and are you wearing your Sarpaneva? You have to come to dinner tonight with your Sarpaneva". So off I go to dinner with my Sarpaneva...

 ... only to find that I was hanging out with Max. Stepan was there in spirit and well represented by his merry men on the moon. Gaz"

[AP]

A GTG at Scopri Italian Restaurant

Scopri
191 Nicholson Street
Carlton
VIC 3053
Ph : (03) 9347 8252

A week after having spent a few days in Melbourne, I found myself there again for the Melbourne Watchband’s end of year dinner last month, having been talked into the overnight visit by a watch friend in Perth who would also be there for the occasion.

They'd booked out the private room at the top of Scopri, an Italian restaurant in Carlton which, happily, is BYO, allowing the wine buffs to bring a bottle or two. Despite being a group of 15 in the private room (or floor, rather), there was no requirement to abide by a set group menu, so apart from some shared starters, we chose from the a la carte menu. 

First up were some shared primi piatti:

Insalata caprese

Simple sweet flavours of good tomatoes, plenty of basil, good buffalo mozzarella.

Affettato di Bresaola di Wagyu

Local air dried Wagyu beef Bresaola with rocket, parmesan & cherry tomato salad

Unfortunately, because I was so distracted by trying talking and watches, I only managed to get one slice of the bresaola. Suffice to say that I wish that there'd been more of this smooth, rich charcuterie.

November GTG

For the second year in a row, one of our group kindly opened up their house for a large GTG, so that we could bring in more watches than we'd normally do in a cafe or restaurant and, of course, have a dedicated watch viewing area.

The number of watches brought in by individuals varied between "what's on my wrist" and about two dozen.

Here is a photographic glance at our evening.

This foam box (as in the box itself) was quite exciting to some folks, who immediately wanted to know how they could obtain one.

What was in the box was pretty interesting too. Yes that's a gorgeous Jaeger LeCoultre Perpetual Calendar on the right.

One collector decided on a JLC and Rolex theme.

Pre P-Day 10

It was the week prior to P-Day 10, and some of the overseas guests were visiting Sydney before heading up to Hamilton Island, so we organised a GTG at the Bavarian Bier Cafe. It was nice to match faces to names and, for those of us unable to make it up to Hamilton Island for P-Day, to be able to at least share some of the pre-celebratory atmosphere.

Some of the two dozen of us who were there

Sam, Peter, Tony

Tasting platter - schnitzel, pork belly, sausages, sauerkraut, fried onions

Moules (the frites are there, somewhere)

Nicolas, Sam and Gary (Minnesota)

Bernie and Doreen from Honolulu

Wristshot!

Hagen (Germany), Tom (Sydney) and

Giulio (down from the Blue Mtns for his first Risti/ watch GTG)

Gary and his daughter

JLC Perpetual interloper

Who ordered salad at a bier cafe?

Special. 6152/1

One of the great things about P-Day this year was the number of families who attended

Taking a groupshot in a noisy bier cafe whilst standing on a chair and waving at everyone to get their attention was attempted, with err, variable success, but what's a Risti GTG without a groupshot?

Thank you to all our overseas friends for signing the Sydney Paneristi banner (which was subsequently taken to Hamilton Island, of course). It was a huge pleasure to be able to meet you, and we hope to see you again either in Australia or P-Day 11 or maybe in your home towns. For a great  video wrap-up of Hamilton Island by Amanda (Melbourne), click here.

[AP - photos by AP & ChrisL]

An evening with Bertrand Bourgeois of Manufacture Janvier

The village of St. Croix sits at an elevation of about 1,000 meters in the Jura region of Switzerland, and it is here that in an unprepossessing building, Manufacture Janvier produces about ten Vianney Halter watches a year.

Known as the man who introduced steampunk to high end watches, his watches not only have a very distinctive aesthetic, but also a very strong ability to evoke a sense of that genre, bring whimsy to "haute hologerie". The style may not be to everyone's tastes, but they are to mine, as I grew up with Jules Verne influenced daydreams, and have a desire to one day own a steampunk watch by cult Japanese steampunk watchmaker Haruo Suekichi, whose watches are somewhat more elaborate than Vianney Halter's.

The opportunity to see some Vianney Halter watches in the flesh was not one that I had really envisaged happening, much less in Sydney, but so it was that after a few days of uncertainty due to a Chilean volcanic ash cloud's disruption of Australian airspace, fifteen of us found ourselves at Fix St James with Mr. Bertrand Bourgeois, Export Manager at Manufacture Janvier, and his travelling trio of watches.

The photos, alas, are not as good as they could have been due to the dim lighting, but I hope that they give some sense of the evening, which was filled with good food, good wine and some amazing watches. 

The food for the evening we left in the hands of Stuart Knox, owner of Fix. Although I did not take photos of all the (shared) dishes, they were as follows :

1. Fennel, Strzelecki & Grape Salad
2. Scallop w/ Cauliflower Sformato
3. Southern Fried Chicken Livers w/ ‘slaw
4. House Terrine w/ Pickles (on the night, it was chicken, hare and pork)
5. Fritto Misto (school prawns on the night)
6. Kingfish Carpaccio
7. Blue Eye
8. Pork Belly with pumpkin, Puy lentils
9. Choc "Yogo" with Raspberry and Honeycomb

Scallops

Southern Fried Chicken Livers

Kingfish Carpaccio

Some randon photos from the evening.

Bertrand on the right

A Gerald Genta Gefica.

The Panerai PAM 341. A 60mm monster of a watch and not for most people's wrists, but it sits well on its owner's.

Two MIHs in the house. The one on the right is sporting an ABP strap.

This is the DeBethune DB15. Just a stunning elegant watch, and very popular on this evening.

As you can see, we had to use some supplementary lighting for better photos.

A very special Janvier that is spoken for. It was a privilege to be able to see this watch.

One thing which surprised not just me was that all of these watches are quite different in the flesh.  For example, I thought that the Antiqua would be quite a hefty clunky watch, but it is far more delicate than photos would lead you to believe, and far more light and thin. Very comfortable to wear as well, I might add. I had expected to like the Trio more than the Antiqua, but as soon as I saw this, my loyalties immediately switched.

An indication of the size of the Antiqua, next to this beast of a watch.

The Trio was thicker than I expected, but its clean sharp lines quite beautiful and minimalist. Less steampunk, perhaps.

A final shot of all three. I think I'd like the Antiqua in WG.

After Fix St James, it was one more for the road at Bambini Wine Room.

I'd like to thank the very engaging Bernard for coming all the way to Australia and to Sydney, and for giving us an opportunity to see Manufacture Janvier's stunning creations. Hopefully we will meet again, either here or in Switzerland.

Apart from the sheer pleasure of being able to handle these timepieces and to see the finishing and detailing close up, the evening confirmed two things for me. 

Firstly, that when it comes to the "Independents," one really has to see the watches in the flesh. You simply don't get an accurate enough representation of their watches in photos. Secondly, it made me realise that yes, there is something really quite special about watches from the Indies...

[AP]