week or so ago, my wife and I had the good fortune to be given a tour of the AP Service Center in Clearwater, FL, by the Director, Gilles Vincent. An enthusiastic and charming man, he gave me permission to post the photos I took. He would pose for a photograph only with me, but he didn't say anything about cropping myself out of the photo, which I've done:

After gaining entry (which even those delivering our watches for service are not permitted to do), one meets the Customer Service staff, who are the very people who help us when we call. Mary, who has been kind to me more than once, arranged the visit on short notice. In the Customer Service area, the wall clock is just right for the setting:

For security reasons, I did not even attempt to photograph the vault, which probably holds more treasures than any Boutique. If I'd had the number with me, I could have visited one of my Offshores that was in for service.

Heavy equipment is on the first floor, where cases are polished:

On the second floor, one finds the watchmaker's room, where special booties must be worn, not unlike an operating room:

It is here that the meticulous work is carried out by highly skilled watchmakers:

When the movement has been reassembled, it receives some of it's testing on these winders:

I confess to not understanding much of what I was seeing, but being very happy just to be there. One of the watchmakers allowed me to examine the movement of an Offshore that had not yet been cleaned, and it was a joy to hold the beating heart that lies within these beautiful bodies.

My thanks to Gilles for providing this glimpse into their work and for allowing me to share these admittedly amateurish photographs with fellow PuristS. My thanks, too, to those who work at the Service Center, who do not often receive the praise and complements their work deserves.

To top off a good experience, I even received my Offshore, functioning perfectly, within days of the visit.

Park

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For link to Park's original post in AP forum, please CLICK HERE