The music of London, according to Vacheron Constantin
London It is not, a priori, a precisely exotic destination. It is only two hours from Madrid -a few more from other European capitals- and is one of the favorite cities to spend a weekend or a bridge given the great offer of affordable flights at almost all times of the year.
However, travel to London to live an extraordinary experience and visit places hitherto inaccessible, new or simply unknown , is from another division.
It is precisely to this category of honor that this trip belongs. And it is that the clockwork , in addition to being one of the most complex and fascinating trades that I know, offers these luxurious opportunities not translated into digits, but into unique experiences.
The bicentennial Swiss watchmaker Vacheron-Constantin is exceptional in more ways than one: it is the world's oldest exclusive watchmaker ( Geneva , 1755) ; produces watches so complicated -in the technical sense- and so desired, that they are among those that reach the highest prices at auctions. Besides, it's at the forefront of watch customization thanks to your department Les Cabinotiers , attended by the world's greatest fine watchmaking collectors. And another exceptional quality should be added: international product launches which he organizes very occasionally. Next we have the proof.
You will feel the elegance of music on your wrist
HOTEL CAFE ROYAL
The launch headquarters of the new Fiftysix Tourbillon (we open a long parenthesis: the youngest member of the line launched in January this year, which has meant the entry of steel into a classic-cut collection and whose box is inspired by the firm's logo: the Maltese Cross) is the Hotel Cafe Royal . Seems to be just one of many conveniently located luxury hotels in london , but what you don't realize, unless you read the British press every day or are a fan of good food and drink, is that you are staying at the epicenter of gastronomy with Spanish accents and musical cocktails.
Yes, it is in the public domain this emblematic luxury hotel -located in Regent Street , very close to Piccadilly , a site where it is combined the elegance of Mayfair, the energy of Soho and the sophistication of St. James - was designed by David Chipperfield and for more than 150 years has been the intellectual heart of london , through which personalities as recognized as Oscar Wilde, Muhammad Ali, Winston Churchill or David Bowie.
Two years ago, the Catalan chef Albert Adrià collaborated with the Hotel Café Royal , offering a gastronomic experience to its customers with the project called 50 Days by Albert Adrià at Café Royal , a pop-up that was very successful with some of the chef's most emblematic culinary creations , including cocktails.
Well, this same hotel proposed to the youngest of the Adrià brothers that open a permanent restaurant , and the decision of the chef-patissier has obviously been to opt for sweet cuisine, so on November 8 it was inaugurated Cakes & Bubbles by Albert Adrià , an offer of modern patisserie that makes you feel at home , although it is a sophisticated place. The dessert parade can be accompanied by cava, champagne and other sparkling wines, hence the name of 'cakes and bubbles'.
Sweets and bubbles in London
Of the sparkling to cocktails there is only one step , which also occurs within the hotel itself. The Ziggy's (name referring to alter ego of David Bowie born from the 1972 fifth concept album **The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars**) is a cocktail bar which will open its doors ten days after our stay, at the end of September, and that will stay permanently . The bar is born from the long night of 1973, nicknamed "The Last Supper" , in which the farewell of this alter ego was celebrated, which would become one of the wildest parties of the glam rock era.
The establishment is full of tributes to the deceased star , including a menu of themed cocktails named after the lyrics from his 1972 album. But mixed drinks aren't the only thing that reminds of Bowie; the bar is also decorated with never-before-seen personal photographs and with a series of images taken by Mick Rock, one of the singer's official photographers.
For the hotel, a place where great minds have met for a century and a half to discuss new ideas, Bowie was so important to his story that it was only fair to pay him homage.
Hotel Cafe Royal
LOULOU'S CLUB
But unfortunately, as I said, it was ten days before its opening, so we moved to Loulou ’s, an exclusive private club located in the heart of Mayfair, in number 5 of Hertford Street.
is the idea by robin birley , whose father, the late Mark Birley, was the man who reinvented the clubs of the 20th century , setting in the sober London Mark's, Harry's Bar and Annabel's (named after Robin's mother, Lady Annabel Goldsmith).
robin's new club it is called Loulou 's in honor of his aunt, Loulou de la Falaise, the fashion designer deceased in 2011. The place has bars and restaurants run by the Italian chef Alberico Penati . It serves breakfast and lunch, plus lunch, dinner, and tea, of course. It is located in an area known as Shepherd's Market , the red light district, fine and traditional to which the gentlemen go.
In honor of Loulou de la Falaise
Loulou's is a large free-standing building that used to be called Tiddy Dols and was apparently a meeting place for businessmen and their Scorts. That is precisely what another journalist colleague and I intuit when we walk around the second floor and literally go into the kitchen, from which we are kindly and phlegmatically invited. to go out
here the fashion designer Rifat Ozbek, who had never designed an interior before, has created a series of sublime and brilliant rooms, in praise of the exuberance of colors and patterns against the austere and industrial design preached by new generation cult establishments.
BARTITSU MASTER CLASS
The next day promises stay away from interiors and cocktails (or so we think). The guests divided into different groups to practice one of the activities previously chosen by ourselves . Mine -and that of a few other Orientals- is a Bartitsu master class.
I have to confess that I had to read about the Bartitsu before deciding on this activity . Is he martial art practiced by Sherlock Holmes and the gentlemen in Victorian England who, after a century in oblivion, it is being practiced again . The word 'Bartitsu' is derived from a combination of the surname of the man who created it, Edward William Barton-Wright , with jiu-jitsu.
Bartitsu, the nineteenth-century English 'jiu-jisu'
Barton-Wright had lived three years in japan , working as an engineer, and there he had the opportunity to learn and practice martial arts . He was especially interested in judo and jiu-jitsu, a type of fight without weapons based on the technique that classical bushi warriors had invented to face armored samurai with all his skills: instead of limiting himself to punches and kicks he also incorporated locks, strangulations and the use of any everyday object if necessary.
The master class takes place in the Dr. Williams Library, a small research library located in Gordon Square , in Bloomsbury , where the instructors in period dress They place us in front of mats, canes and bowler hats. Founded in 1716, it was established on Red Cross Street, cripplegate , to finally end up at its current address; is known as the bookstore of protestant dissidence.
MANCHESTER SQUARE PARK
After learn some techniques to take down a would-be attacker with a cane or a trip and the consequent push, we deserve a good lunch. He's waiting for us the private garden in manchester square park , in the neighborhood Marylebone . An 18th century garden with one of the smallest Georgian squares, but better preserved, from the center of London . According to the organizers of the trip, the cover photo of **Please Please Me, the Beatles' first LP**, was made by Angus McBean in 1963 and featured the group looking down the staircase inside EMI House in Manchester Square , EMI's London headquarters at the time, now demolished. And it is that the music, in a subtle way, has accompanied us so far on the journey , to, we'll see, collect its true magnitude during the evening.
An 18th century garden under your feet
ROCK TOUR THROUGH SOHO
My second activity of the day is a **Rock tour of Soho**, a London classic. In reality, the walk is limited to contemplating the commemorative plaques or the doors and windows of buildings that on another day they housed the emerging figures of rock and punk . That does not prevent us from enjoying the neighborhood, with its always quaint and inviting shops and cafes.
Fortunately, at the end of the visit we enter the mythical club 100 , the concert hall located at 100 Oxford Street. It was inaugurated in 1942 as restaurant with live performances , and Louis Armstrong passed through it.
After getting involved in the boom of traditional music (Trad), the British beat scene and rhythm and blues , the club became famous in the years of punk rock. In 1976 they played at the International Punk Festival bands like Sex Pistols, Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Clash, Buzzcocks, The Jam and The Damned.
The legendary Club 100 poster
The Rolling Stones performed a surprise concert there on May 31, 1982 as a warm-up for his European tour, and returned on February 23, 1986 to offer a tribute concert to his recently deceased pianist, Ian Stewart, being that his only concert between 1982 and 1989.
The 100 Club is still active, with the same decoration since the 1970s , decadent and full of photos of musicians and celebrities whose shadows paraded projected on its red walls. Punk is far away; instead there is a schedule prepared well in advance , in addition to the "secret" concerts of big bands that manage to gather around 350 people, the capacity of the room.
For the curious, Fred Perry and the Ditto publishing house have published Historias del 100 Club, which celebrates its 75th anniversary with some of the most special anecdotes and stories of his long career.
Club 100 continues as then
ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS
From nostalgia to nostalgia we arrive to the highlight of the trip : the private gala dinner at Abbey Road Studios enlivened by a concert of Benjamin Clementine . The unique singer-songwriter and composer sang covers in exchange for some loose change in the Parisian metro station Place de Clichy until it was discovered by electronic music producer Matthieu Gazier, who hired him for a series of concerts in small venues and trendy hotels. Clementine is one of the talents of the new Vacheron Constantin campaign and he has recorded a new song initiated and co-produced by Vacheron Constantin and Abbey Road Studios, who celebrate their partnership tonight, Eternity.
The Abbey Road Studios recording studios , called EMI Studios until 1970, were founded in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company , a predecessor of the British music company EMI. Some of the albums and soundtracks have been created, mastered or arranged in its rooms. most important in the history of music.
The privilege of live music by Benjamin Clementine
The Beatles they recorded almost all their albums and hits there between 1962 and 1970 and put their 1969 album the name of the street where they are located, Abbey Road , a name adopted by the studio in 1985 after the Beatles album made it famous. Needless to say that some of us immortalize the moment with a photo on the famous zebra crossing from the album cover of the band Liverpool .
Perhaps the final touch was the only thing that put us on the same level as the millions of nostalgic visitors of those musical awakenings, because of the rest of the trip we can only say that it was as unexpected as it was unique, and what we did in the footsteps of music , sometimes consciously, others driven by the rhythm that - like those catchy songs that we only hear in our minds - floats through the corners of the London streets.
Abbey Road Studios