An Exploration of Saxony Watch making - Day 1: The flight and arrival to Dresden, Germany
March 12, 2008
In March of 2008, I was one of 30 journalists world wide that was invited by German watch manufacturer A. Lange & Shne to a special press conference in Dresden Germany association with their launching a very special new model. Of course, I happily accepted the invitation and took the opportunity to experience the Saxony watch making tradition first hand as well as explore historic Dresden.
I left Dayton, OH on Tuesday the 11th of March and flew to Washington DC for an 8 hour flight to Frankfurt, where I would connect to a one hour flight to Dresden. It was certainly a long journey, but the flight from DC to Frankfurt was most pleasant. Lufthansa airlines certainly has one of the most comfortable business class seating areas which I've had the opportunity to experience. They have plenty of legroom:
They also have impressive, and very hi-tech entertainment. Each passenger has their own "media server" with a selection of movies, TV episodes, music albums, even video games...all at the touch of a button:
The control pops out of the arm rest for easier use:
I was also quite impressed with the food aboard this Lufthansa flight:
The first course was grilled tuna, fruit & cheese, with a salad:
That was followed up by a nice steak:
After dinner I slept, and later awoke to breakfast being served before we landed in Frankfurt:
It's nice to be back in Germany!
I had a couple of hours layover in Frankfurt, and had arranged to meet up with my German friend Percy from the German Rolex Forum R-L-X (I'm a moderator in the English speaking forum, and Percy moderates the German speaking forums R-L-X). Percy lives only a few miles from the Frankfurt airport so we it made meeting up convenient. I haven't seen Percy since I was in Munich last year....I don't think he's cut hair since last we were together! :)
Percy brought his new Rolex GMT II "C" in stainless steel that he just got last week, which of course made me jealous! I was just there with a 38 year old "red" Submariner. ;)
After a short but pleasant meeting with Percy, I boarded my plane for the quick flight to Dresden. Clearly they are very proud of the fine watch companies which hail from this region as this was the first sign I saw in the Dresden airport:
Lange was kind enough to have a limo driver waiting for me when I got off the plane:
The car...a "stretched" version of the Volkswagen Phaeton:
It was a short drive to the hotel I'd be staying at the next few days - the QF Hotel:
The QF Hotel is quite newly built and opened just one year ago. You couldn't ask for a more centrally and conveniently located hotel in the heart of the historic region of downtown Dresden - right next to what is perhaps Dresden's most famous historical structure the "Frauenkirche" or "Church of Our Lady" which is a Lutheran church.
It was also next door to a vintage watch shop which had an eclectic collection of vintage Lange's, Patek's AP's, and even a couple of Rolex's:
The QF Hotel features a very contemporary glass elevator in the lobby:
I was up on the 5th floor:
The room was quite large by European standards....the biggest hotel room I've ever had while in Europe. It was also very well appointed:
It even had a small balcony from which to enjoy the view of Dresden:
At this point it was only about 10am Dresden time, so I unpacked and got a couple hours of sleep to help shake off the jet lag. :)
After some sleep and a hot shower, I was ready to to a bit of sight seeing. You'll see that quite a bit of construction is happening in these photos - to be more accurate, re-construction is happening. Dresden is in the Easter portion of Germany, and was under Russian communist rule for roughly 50 years after World War II. Only in the years following the fall of the Berlin wall as money enough been generated to repair the many buildings which were damaged by bombs from WWII.
The Lange boutique was just around the corner on the next block over from my hotel - it's currently the only Lange boutique in the world, but is soon to be joined by a Lange boutique in Shanghai, China.
I stumbled upon yet another fantastic vintage watch shop!
After all that sight seeing and watch shopping, I got hungry...fortunately, Dresden is filled with many marvelous restaurants and cafes.
Hmmm....this one looks good!
Yum! Grilled turkey and grilled prawn tapas!
Soon it was time to head back to the hotel and change for dinner - a representative from A. Lange & Shne was picked me up at 8pm and we had a very nice dinner. We had great dinner conversation filled with talk of watches and Dresden's history and culture. Then it was back to the hotel for a good night's sleep as a car would be picking me up at 9:0am to take me to the town of Glashtte Germany for a tour of Lange's headquarters and production facilities.