CH24 Watch of the Year – 15th anniversary edition!
Already for the 15th consecutive time CH24 selects and awards the most interesting new timepieces form the past […]
Weekend spent by the Italian Lake Como, accompanied by parade of beautiful cars and mechanical watches from Glashütte – this is our experience from this year’s Concorso d’Eleganza.
Marketing and PR are two highly significant (somewhat unfortunately) elements of today’s strategy of every watchmaking brand that likes to have positive economical balance at the end of the year. This is unquestionable – the problem is, how does one creates and approaches marketing. There are many ways to do that – as many as watch brands – but the more frequent are ambassadors, friends-of-a-brand and numerous random events, sponsored by way of money donation and logo placement. Sometimes this marriage works, sometimes – most of the times – takes truly grotesque proportions, but very rarely it is so perfectly matched as with A.Lange & Söhne and Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este. When you’re a watchmaker with true class and respect for the long-lasting tradition, paring yourself with a famous football player or an American hip-hop artist with a strange name is not the most fortunate move you can make. It is a whole different story, when you combine your image with like-minded partner. Thanks to an amazing Lange & Söhne team I had an unforgettable pleasure to spend a lovely, sunny May weekend with top-quality watches, vintage cars and breathtaking scenery of Lago di Como. And I tell you – it was a weekend that’ll be very hard to bit.
Situated in the Italian Alps, Lago di Como (Lake Como) is a place everyone has to see, at least once in a lifetime. When I received an invitation from Lange and immediately browsed the internet for some info, there was so much very emotional and praising opinions, it almost seamed unreal. But it really exists. In one of the popular Top Gear show episodes Richard Hammond speaks about Como as “one of the most beautiful places in the world” – and this is true, what I quickly discovered myself after a short trip form Milanese Malpensa airport. Grand Hotel Tremezzo, our home for the days, offered a stunning view over what makes Como so special.
In brief – Lago di Como is a 46km long, over 400m deep reservoir with 146km² of blue, clear water surrounded by the picturesque landscape of green mountains. Number of many smaller and a bit bigger villages are joined by twisty, curvy and very narrow roads, that barely fit two passing cars. Picture this with a shimmering water and wooden Riva boats all over (our comfy transportation) and you’ll have a complete new definition of jaw-dropping Dolce Vita.
Como is full with tourists and crazy-luxury Villas with age-old gardens (some of the locals being George Clooney and Richard Branson), but at the same time serves as a venue for one of the more prestigious car shows in the world.
This year’s edition of the Cd’E traditionally took place in Cernobbio, in both Villa d’Este (closed event) and Villa Erba (open to public) on the banks of Lake Como.
Inaugurated good 85 years ago (Lange partners the event since 3 years) the Concorso is a collection and exposition of some very rare, very sought-after and very expensive cars (both old and some modern) from around the globe. Although the final pre-selection is very strict and only 51 cars (plus 36 motorbikes and 6 concept-cars) makes it to event, I bet every respectable collector dreams of presenting his shiny, engine-powered gem to the invited audience. And one is certain – even if you’re not a car enthusiast, this perfectly restored and preserved machines with their passionate owners will make you heart go faster. It is beauty in a clear form.
Last year’s big Concorso d’Eleganza winner was an incredibly rare and expensive 1938 Bugatti 57SC Atalantic, owned by Mr. Ralph Lauren. This time the 11 members international jury had quite a stronger task to fill, and the result surprised many. The public, somewhat expected choice, went to the white 1931 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 GS. The jury decision turned out to be far less predictable…
The lights went on, the fanfare, and there it was – the Trofeo BMW Group went to the navy-blue, two-sitter, racing 1956 Maserati 450 S.
Its happy and vividly moved owner – Mr. Albert Spiess – collected not only special Concorso trophy and all the glory, but also (or – from our point of view – most of all) a very special watch.
While beautiful cars and stunning views surly guarantee an unforgettable dose of memories from Como, it was the watches that led us to the Italian Riviera. Watches by A.Lange & Sohne, German manufacture from small town of Glashütte in Saxony. The brand is Concorso partner since 2012, and as already mentioned, the lucky winner receives one-of-a-kind timepiece – Lange 1 Time Zone Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este. The piece is equipped with Lange’s manufactured L031.1 manual-wound caliber with iconic “Lange 1” de-centric time display, big date and second time zone. Concorso version has a white gold case, silver dial and hunter-style closed caseback, engraved by hand with the “Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Eset” crest.
Besides this very special Lange we had a unique pleasure to see and try many of other great pieces, both in the small Lange boutique at the location and on the wrists of invited journalists. Each of us received his Lange piece to wear during the weekend (with a very unfortunate necessity to give back at the end), so there was plenty of time to take some nice pictures. All this to come in separate story, including the 1815 Chronograph I wore and the pretty special Datograph Perpetual with a gorgeous, grey dial.
If you’d like to think about the Lange-Como-Concorso d’Eleganza weekend as a purely marketing thing, you probably could, but it was so much more than that. Great cars, great mechanical watches, beautiful landscape and Italian way of life all work together as smooth as it gets. Huge thanks to the entire A.Lange & Söhne team for having us. La Vita e Bella!
More about the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este HERE.