Gold & Pioneer Event Venice 2009

part 2: Walking through Venice and CreArt press conference

The next morning, it was time to discover Venice.  The buses took us to Piazzale Roma and from there, we had about two hours to stroll through the little streets of Venice and to find Piazza San Marco...


...not easy to get lost...


Midway through Venice, we had some time for pictures at the famous Ponte di Rialto:


a very busy Canal Grande

Finally, around noon, we arrived at the Piazza San Marco and the Basilica di San Marco a Venezia:


On the other end of Piazza San Marco, the huge stage was already set up for the CreArt performance in the evening.  We were able to catch a few snippets from the soundcheck.


Our meeting point was the Caffè Aurora, beautifully located on the Piazza San Marco.  It was great to have a reserved space with free refreshments and snack.  VIP treatment with Swatch :-)


We then headed towards the Teatro La Fenice, the place of the press conference for the launch of the CreArt Swatch collection.


We had to wait a few minutes outside of the theatre because the press conference for the journalists was still going on. 


After the journalists had left the press conference, our collectors group was lead to the room with (from left to right):  Billy The Artist [not on the picture below], Laurent Berthonneau (head of 'Marketing Project Management'), Arlette-Elsa Emch (Swatch Brand Manager since May 2009), Nicolas G. Hayek, Nick Hayek, Ted Scapa, and Matthew Langille.


So they were holding a special press conference for us collectors!  It lasted about one hour and everyone was in a real good mood as this was probably the most relaxed press conference of the day (in the afternoon, there was a third press conference for the sales people).  Especially Nick Hayek gave some really funny answers to our questions.


Later, the three artists and Nicolas G. Hayek took a lot of time to patiently sign stuff, posing for pictures etc.  It was really an enjoyable atmosphere and I am sure that many of these signed items will find a central place in the respective Swatch collections...


Billy The Artist

At around 1.30pm, the press conference was over and we entered the great hall of the theatre where the artist watches were on display.


The CreArt collection consists of the following twelve watches (10 gents and 2 Jelly In Jelly): 

When we left the theatre, each collector received a goodie bag with the CreArt by Swatch press special (GZ204-1):



It is the black and white Billy The Artist special Afterdark, packaged in a special paper sleeve, not numbered. Limitation is 900 pcs.

Click here to read part 3 of my Venice report ("Dragon boat race in Venice and CreArt performance").

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