Thought I would add my extra ha'penny on the Broussard flight, which has taken me longer to get round to doing, so apologies.

Alistair and I travelled up from Brizzle yakking away about watch stuff and getting slightly concerned that traffic was at a standstill for a half hour on the way. Anyway, we got to White Waltham and met up with Matt, who was already there, and took in the lovely evening sky over their grass field, and the cigar smoke wafting out from Algie and crew in the bar. It wasn't hard to spot the Broussard, she was the largest bird on the apron, looking pleasingly sturdy (at least as far as Al was concerned - lol).

Somehow I think she looks better viewed like this

Anyway, Martin turned up having been stuck in the same traffic, followed by our Nick, rumbling into the carpark on his Harley Fatboy (?) and sporting his weathered flying jacket. Just as he should.

Greetings over, he handed us the EP120 and headed off to take the covers off the Broussard and do a few pre-flight checks.

Here it is

(Excuse the thumb prints, we all wanted a good look, as you can understand)

There is no doubt this is a very impressive watch, even if this one is still under development (the crowns, currently rubber, will be replaced with more lustrous black metal, for instance).

Some of the photos I had seen before handling the watch didn't really do it justice (no offence to the photographers). The hands just work so much better than I had anticipated, and the watch just looks "right".

The now familiar 3-piece case design takes the blackening very well indeed, and despite the sweaty-palmed handling by the assembled group, looked great. We understood there may be a bit more differential in the colour between the dial side of the case and the barrel, which would just add a final touch.

Here's another shot

And another with too many reflections (sorry again)

I do really love the constant-seconds-propellor, but failed to photograph the one on the rotor seen through the caseback, which looks fantastic. Have a look at Alistair's blog for a shot of that.

After much discussion over whether the strap (in our humble opinions) should be integrated or not, we were summoned out to the Broussard, for a very entertaining 40 or so minute tour of the area up to the Chilterns and round the Henley and Marlowe district, with a quick whizz over Matt's childhood home (as well as those of a Beatle and a few Lords). A few tight manoeuvres around some features and notable houses got a few hearts racing,

but otherwise the Broussard was the model of composure, even under Martin's control.......

As we headed back we were treated to a lovely sunset,

before landing, the solid strut landing gear flexing a little under the combined mass of a full load of blokes.

A quick look round the plane revealed some possible inspiration for the rotor decoration of the non-limited-edition Bremont watches

(9 cylinder radial push-rod engine), and we all adjourned to the bar in the fading light until we ran into realisation that it was a school night and time to head home.

As I said in an earlier post, very many thanks to Nick for his time, enthusiasm and skill, and to Alistair our host for enabling a very memorable and enjoyable trip out.

I have to say that it is hard to fault Nick's attitude to Bremont. They have successfully made some bold decisions and moves in the developing Bremont line-up, and they should be applauded for it. However it is clear from the discussions on the night that there will be no standing still with them, and they will continue to devlelop. I am looking forward to seeing it do so.

Cheers

DaveS