IWC Ingenieur Event

Remember our give-away of tickets to the AMG and IWC event at the Zandvoort Racing Track in The Netherlands? The conditions to participate were quite strict, you needed to have an IWC Ingenieur already AND live in The Netherlands, Belgium or Luxemburg. We had to disappoint quite a few people who mailed us from Denmark, UK, Franc and even Italy. In the end, we had two people who met all requirements!

We have a Winner!

However, one of them needed to cancel the evening before due to an important business meeting. So, in the end, we only brought Maarten van Münster to the race track. Instead the other winner, there was suddenly some extra room for our photographer Bert Buijsrogge to join. This resulted in a lot of photographs of the whole event.

RJ on the left, Maarten van Münster on the right

The event started at 3pm in the Mercedes-Benz/AMG/IWC skybox at the Zandvoort Race Track. After a word of welcome and getting to know all the other guests, it was time to get some information about all the IWC Ingenieur novelties that were presented to the press and retailers at the SIHH in January (our SIHH report on IWC can be found here).

IWC Presentation And AMG Racing

Because of the weather, the schedule needed to be changed. So before we got to see the actual watches and get some explanation on the use of ceramics and carbon, we needed to head down to the pitbox first. In the pitbox, there was a 2004 Formula 1 car, a race car simulator and a set-up where tires can be changed. After getting a bit of explanation on the Formula 1 car, the wheel changing was explained to us. In fact, we could practice it ourselves. The Fratello team was able to do so within 7.21 seconds. However, we didn’t win. The two winners were invited to do a few laps on the track next to racing legend (F1, British Touring Car Championship, 24 hour of Lemans and Daytona) Jan Lammers.

Anyway, it was a great afternoon & evening, hosted by IWC and AMG. Enjoy the photos below and remember, you could have been there as well We will have more give-aways like this later on this year.

The IWC AMG Event In Pictures

A few words of introduction and about the programme of the afternoon and evening. Everyone was excited to see both the new IWC Ingenieur watches and the AMG cars. Below you see Robert Pennartz (General Manager IWC Benelux and Scandinavia) make us feel welcome!

Below, Anne Sanders-Conil (Marketing  & PR of IWC Benelux) going through the programme of the day with us.

Presentation of the IWC Ingenieur novelties was being done by Alexander Wijt of IWC (Sales Manager IWC).

After the presentation we quickly headed down stairs to the pitbox, as the clouds were getting darker outside, we needed to do the race track part of the programme before touching the actual Ingenieur timepieces.

In the pitbox, Jan Lammers did some explanation on race cars like this F1 car. He also explained the importance of having a good team of engineers. Actually, he shared with us that if it was without these engineers and their innovative ideas and tweaks to cars, he wouldn’t be the winner of Daytona. By doing some small tweaks to the car (like lowering the back with only a few millimeters), he was able to make that change with regards to lap times.

Outside, to the AMGs!

Race Car Simulator

In the meanwhile, there was also some room for games and trying to be a mechanic yourself. As written above, there was a little competition going on, in how fast you were able to changes tires. Did I already mention that we could do that in 7.21 seconds? If you ever need a tire change? Don’t hesitate to call us.

Also, the simulator was very popular. Race driver Jan Lammers told us that he never thought highly about these race car games and sims, but since he tried this one, he is hooked. The race sim set-up included a chair (as you can see) that was able to move around as well, making it as realistic as possible.

Dimer van Santen (former AceJewelers e-Business Manager, now moving on to Van Cleef & Arpels) giving it a try! Below, FW winner Maarten giving it a spin as well. Everyone had a great time and there was time enough to try all the stuff inside the pitbox and all the AMG models out there.

Wearing the Ingenieur 3227 model! What a superb watch!

After all gaming and racing was over, we said goodbye to the race drivers from Mercedes-Benz AMG and headed over to the skybox to see the new Ingenieur watches, get explanation about materials and finally, have a wonderful diner!

People getting all excited and perhaps a bit nervous to see all the new watches that IWC introduced during the SIHH in Geneva.

One of the guests of the day holding up a piece of woven carbon fiber. Just to get an idea of weight and how it eventually will become a watch case or part of a watch case.

All explanation was done by Christian Bresser, watchmaker at IWC in Schaffhausen. He explained everything using materials, watches and of course some slides on the screens. Very informative!

After the presentation, we moved up a Skybox to have a great diner! We were welcomed by the IWC & AMG hostesses offering drinks and some snacks to get in the mood.

Watches were being passed around the table. Above a Big Ingenieur 7-days of a few years ago.

Time for the so-called table shot! A tradition that is very common during these GetToGethers of watch enthusiasts. Only IWCs though!

Former F1 driver Jan Lammers didn’t believe his eyes and captured the moment on his iPhone as well. I think he will be more into watches since this moment on.

Below, an emotional moment. One of the guests had a limited Portuguese Perpetual Calendar with him (20 pieces only) and Christian Bresser immediately recognized it as being one of his babies. Together with one other colleague of IWC in Schaffhausen, he was responsible for these 20 pieces.

Robert Pennartz thanking everyone for this great day and expressing his sincere astonishment of all the knowledge and enthusiasm on IWC watches by all the guests. He also thanked his own team for organizing this great event for Ingenieur enthusiasts.

Below, yours truly and Alexander Wijt of IWC.