Post by Sam on Jul 8, 2007 14:36:21 GMT -6
While in Geneva, we were treated to an evening that included a very nice dinner and a presentation that was certainly different than anything else on our trip. I admit that I had never heard of Mermod Freres before, and I don't think I was alone as most of the people that attended the tour had little or no knowledge of this company. The Mermod Freres watch company was recently purchased by another company called Reuge, and both companies are known for their musical history.
Our evening started with a walk to the "Old Town" section of Geneva. This is the old part where the streets are narrow, made of stone, and the architecture is outstanding.
We made our way from the Hotel Tiffany, and these are some shots along our walk:
Here we are about to enter the Old Town:
Steep stone streets...cars can drive along here, but they can't be too wide and only one at a time.....
The gang hiking up the steep streets....
We arrived at the Restaurant Les Armurs.....it was a very nice place!
The inside of the restaurant was quite nice, and we were all in a great mood before dinner started.
Now the lighting inside was quite a challenge for picture and videos. I tried both with and without flash and I can't say I was terribly pleased with either, but I did get a few decent shots.
As the dinner was served, the presentation began. Reuge is a company that makes some very nice music boxes, and they presented two for us that night.....
www.reuge.com/
The first item passed around was a singing bird box. I have to say I was quite intrigued by this and if the price wasn't so high I would likely get one. Maybe not this particular one, but they have one that is integrated into an alarm clock that would be very nice to own. This box listed for 3,500 Swiss Francs I believe.
The small bird is made of real feathers, and when the box is activated it pops up, sings, and then zips back inside the box!
Although it was dark, I tried to get a video of it while Jacqui held the box up to one the wall sconces for some additional light.....pretty cool stuff!
media.putfile.com/Singing-Bird
Then we were able to view one of the real music boxes. This is a 72 pin version that plays 3 pieces of music....
So again I tried a video, but did not feel comfortable lifting this one up, so it's a bit dark sitting on the table. The sound is incredible in person. I didn't ask how much this one was. LOL
media.putfile.com/Music-Box-23
They do make larger versions with multiple sections of pins, so the next model up is 144 pins!
Finally we moved on to watches!
In keeping with the theme, we were shown the Primo 4 that had its debut at Basel this year. This is a world first! A musical watch that plays four separate tunes, using four disks with eight pins each. It was not a small watch at 45.5 mm!
Sorry - this was the best of the pictures I took.....
The watch was not loud at all, so a video was impossible. One thing I do regret is not getting a video of the disks changing. The entire upper portion of the movement spins in the case 90 degrees at a time as the watch selects the next tune. The disk moves to the 6 o'clock position in 2 steps. First the entire series of 4 disks rotate to bring the next disk to the 5 o'clock position, then the mechanism pauses. The disk that is going to be played next then rotates on it's own axis to a clear area on the disk with no pins on it. Once this clear area is in position, the whole set of disks continues its rotation to 6 o'clock, and the tune starts to play. A lot of research went into the case in order to provide the best quality and volume of sound, but in a noisy restaurant it was hard to hear.
The movement has 577 parts, so this is quite a complicated piece.
Pretty amazing!
I don't think anyone on the tour was going to rush out and buy this watch, but it was certainly something different than we saw anywhere else!
Mermod Freres is planning more musical watches in their line up, including one with 18 pins that will play 2 different tunes.
So after the products were all passed around, we were treated to a very nice crème Brule that was flavoured with lavender. Very tasty!
We then made our way back to the hotel. This is Jacqui with some great guys from the tour - Doug on the left and Steve on the right. We all had quite a good time that night with the wine and beer flowing freely!
It was very nice of Reuge and Mermod Freres to put on such an enjoyable evening for us.
I hope you enjoyed this unusual report and watch. Thanks for reading.
Our evening started with a walk to the "Old Town" section of Geneva. This is the old part where the streets are narrow, made of stone, and the architecture is outstanding.
We made our way from the Hotel Tiffany, and these are some shots along our walk:
Here we are about to enter the Old Town:
Steep stone streets...cars can drive along here, but they can't be too wide and only one at a time.....
The gang hiking up the steep streets....
We arrived at the Restaurant Les Armurs.....it was a very nice place!
The inside of the restaurant was quite nice, and we were all in a great mood before dinner started.
Now the lighting inside was quite a challenge for picture and videos. I tried both with and without flash and I can't say I was terribly pleased with either, but I did get a few decent shots.
As the dinner was served, the presentation began. Reuge is a company that makes some very nice music boxes, and they presented two for us that night.....
www.reuge.com/
The first item passed around was a singing bird box. I have to say I was quite intrigued by this and if the price wasn't so high I would likely get one. Maybe not this particular one, but they have one that is integrated into an alarm clock that would be very nice to own. This box listed for 3,500 Swiss Francs I believe.
The small bird is made of real feathers, and when the box is activated it pops up, sings, and then zips back inside the box!
Although it was dark, I tried to get a video of it while Jacqui held the box up to one the wall sconces for some additional light.....pretty cool stuff!
media.putfile.com/Singing-Bird
Then we were able to view one of the real music boxes. This is a 72 pin version that plays 3 pieces of music....
So again I tried a video, but did not feel comfortable lifting this one up, so it's a bit dark sitting on the table. The sound is incredible in person. I didn't ask how much this one was. LOL
media.putfile.com/Music-Box-23
They do make larger versions with multiple sections of pins, so the next model up is 144 pins!
Finally we moved on to watches!
In keeping with the theme, we were shown the Primo 4 that had its debut at Basel this year. This is a world first! A musical watch that plays four separate tunes, using four disks with eight pins each. It was not a small watch at 45.5 mm!
Sorry - this was the best of the pictures I took.....
The watch was not loud at all, so a video was impossible. One thing I do regret is not getting a video of the disks changing. The entire upper portion of the movement spins in the case 90 degrees at a time as the watch selects the next tune. The disk moves to the 6 o'clock position in 2 steps. First the entire series of 4 disks rotate to bring the next disk to the 5 o'clock position, then the mechanism pauses. The disk that is going to be played next then rotates on it's own axis to a clear area on the disk with no pins on it. Once this clear area is in position, the whole set of disks continues its rotation to 6 o'clock, and the tune starts to play. A lot of research went into the case in order to provide the best quality and volume of sound, but in a noisy restaurant it was hard to hear.
The movement has 577 parts, so this is quite a complicated piece.
Pretty amazing!
I don't think anyone on the tour was going to rush out and buy this watch, but it was certainly something different than we saw anywhere else!
Mermod Freres is planning more musical watches in their line up, including one with 18 pins that will play 2 different tunes.
So after the products were all passed around, we were treated to a very nice crème Brule that was flavoured with lavender. Very tasty!
We then made our way back to the hotel. This is Jacqui with some great guys from the tour - Doug on the left and Steve on the right. We all had quite a good time that night with the wine and beer flowing freely!
It was very nice of Reuge and Mermod Freres to put on such an enjoyable evening for us.
I hope you enjoyed this unusual report and watch. Thanks for reading.