VO'Clock Privé, all the Events for a Full Immersion in Contemporary Watchmaking

04 Sep 2024

Mechanisms and watch hands observed under the microscope, top international brands and stories of Italian manufacturing, historical brands and new independent companies. For a full immersion in contemporary watchmaking, the appointment is in Vicenza from 6th to 8th September with VO'Clock Privé, the free-of-charge, Italian Exhibition Group - IEG event, open to the public upon registration, entirely dedicated to watchmaking culture. Coinciding with the Vicenzaoro exhibition (6th – 10th September), Europe’s leading gold and jewellery trade show, VO'Clock Privé is the b2c event with a unique format held on the first floor of Vicenza Expo Centre, specifically devised for timepiece experts and collectors. An exclusive lounge in which to meet the sector’s key players, personally touch the products of 25 top watchmaking brands and interact with international watch companies and independent master watchmakers.

15 events have been scheduled, including talks with luxury brands, meet-ups with master watchmakers, seminars and courses. Italian watchmaking is the focus of the talk “Locman and Oisa present a great Italian victory: the first Made in Italy automatic movement”, moderated by Dodi Giussani, editor-in-chief of L'Orologio, with Marco Mantovani, president of Locman Spa, Benedetto Perrotta and Fausto Berizzi , sole director and technical director of Oisa 1937. Giussani will also moderate the meeting “Inceptum: the story of an Italian product” with Andrea Abeni and Alessandro Metelli, founders of the independent brand Inceptum, and Andrea Casalegno, populariser and consultant for haute horlogerie.

Opportunities for meeting the brands and discovering product features and company stories will be plentiful. These will include the talk with Andrea Furlan from Furlan Marri, conducted by watch editor Barbara Palumbo, as well as Wyler Vetta's centenary event “1924-2024: from the first Wyler watch to the new Tribute to Ermetico” with Beppe Ambrosini, senior advisor and partner at Wyler Vetta, Jacopo Giudici and Michele Mengoli, founder & creative director and editor-in-chief at Watch Insanity.

Expectations are also high for the event organised by Zenith, which will see watch enthusiast Giorgione (aka Bruno Bergamaschi) in conversation with Paolo Cappiello, Zenith regional brand director for South Europe. Moreover, the history and technique of the German brand Glashütte will be explored by Dodi Giussani with Karlo Burgmayer, international sales director at Tutima Glashütte, while the history of Alpina Watches, the Swiss sports brand, created 140 years ago for the mountaineering world and back in Italy with a selected network and distribution, will be celebrated with Oliver van Lanschot Hubrect, brand director Alpina Watches and Marcello Borsetti, commercial director for Citizen Watch Italia Spa. Speake Marine will be presenting the Ripples Skeleton model with Claudio Galliani, Italy market manager.

VO’Clock Privé is also experience. Master watchmakers will be demonstrating watchmaking techniques and technologies to the public of enthusiasts in the new Experience area created in collaboration with Bergeon, a prominent company that produces high-quality instruments for the watchmaking industry. Vincent Calabrese, a renowned independent master watchmaker, will guide the public on a microscopic journey through his most iconic creations, while Marco Guarino , the only self-taught Italian watchmaker to have created an astronomical complication, will demonstrate the workings of this fascinating complication guided by Enrico Zazzali, editor of Revolution Italia. Review techniques will also be explored with Irene Baiairdi, watchmaker at Baiardi Andrea, and Nicola Miconi, owner and technician at Laboratorio d'Orologeria Miconi; construction without numerical control machines or with manual machines with Cyrano Devanthey, independent watchmaker, and Andreas Federico Kammer, MilanoUltraWatches; the configuration of customised models by choosing from 3.5 million combinations in the talk organised by  Norqain with Patrizia Aste, managing director of Norqain Italia, and Valeria Verga , Verga Orologi. Instead, “How to photograph a watch” will be the theme of the workshop with cameras and mechanical Leica wristwatches with Kristian Dowling, global training.

Great attention will be paid to the educational programme which will provide the tools and preparation required to fully understand the secrets of watchmaking. One of the most eagerly-awaited appointments is the official, prestigious, Geneva-based FHH - Fondation Haute Horlogerie’s course organised by Professor Ugo Pancani on an in-depth analysis of diver's watches (Sunday 8th September from 11 am to 1 pm, subject to availability).

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Source: Vicenzaoro