SIHH Behind the Scenes: The Diary, Day 1 in numbers

Andrew McUtchen

66 percent of this team has never been to SIHH, but that doesn’t mean the 33 percent that has (three times no less, oh god, should have worked this out by now) can really help with preparation. Day one is guaranteed to be these things: massively exhilarating until midday, frustrating at lunch (when you have to wait for a table) and then totally, utterly delirious in the afternoon – when you feel like someone’s slipped the bad acid into your 8th espresso. At some point in this supremely jetlagged (why does Australia have to be so damn far from everything) afternoon it was decided we should write a dear diary style daily post. Here goes with day one. **Those allergic to emojis should avoid.**

SIHH IN NUMBERS – DAY ONE

The precise time we all started Facebooking and What’s App-ing each other in the morning: 4am

Number of Watch Instagrammers we lunched with: 4

b1544351b4b19db6d888c1e4b366368d — All the young dudes: Clockwise from 9, @watchcollectinglifestyle, @timetidewatches, @whatchs, @timetidewatches, @paneracentral, @timetidewatches, @watchcollectinglifestyle

Number of total Instagram followers of the combined accounts: 500,000 and something

Percentage of those followers that belong to Whatchs: At least 90%

Number of hours we waited for a table: Only 1.

Number of glasses of sparking water throughout the day, in total: 34

Number of double espressos: MANY MORE THAN WAS A GOOD IDEA, STILL TOTALLY WIRED

Quote of the day: “I am a watchmaker first and a woman second.” – Carole Forestier-Kasapi, head of watchmaking and ‘Queen of Complications” at Cartier and mastermind behind this year’s extraordinary Cartier timepieces, including the skeletonised Crash (with a new custom-designed movement) and the Rotonde de Cartier Grande Complication, the most complicated watch ever produced by Cartier.

“I am a watchmaker first and a woman second.” – Carole Forestier-Kasapi, head of watchmaking and ‘Queen of Complications’ at Cartier

The maximum number of assistants KD managed to recruit for a shoot: 3. Felix and Andrew holding his light sabres, a bystander holding his light shield thing and the very obliging Isabelle from Cartier modeling the Crash. Well played everybody, that’s teamwork.

_KD13107 copy — The Crash is a perfect watch (made even more perfect by the new custom-designed movement in the 2015 model), and it’s how everything begins to look at 4pm on Day One #slightlymelty

The number of shots KD means when he says, “just one more”: “It actually means up to 10 more.” – KD

Stay tuned for Day Two….