If watch forums like The Rolex Forums, Timezone, ThePurists or Watchuseek had never existed, it is very likely that the boom of digital watch publications —like ours— would've never taken place and we probably would've not been around at all. Little to no credit is given to some of these most visited watch forums in the world regarding the significant amount of consumer generated content that is hosted by them nor the amazing knowledge and expertise that some of their members possess. Frankly, the world of watch collecting would be very different without guys like Craniotes, Howard Parr, Orchi, TSW, Tools or Kilyung to name a few handles and names.

Therefore, as a token of appreciation and with the purpose of honoring a place where we've spend a lot of time in the past, a few weeks ago, we decided to throw a small intimate get together for members of The Rolex Forums that live in the Chicago area or nearby states of the Midwest like Wisconsin or Indiana.

This small gathering brought in some long standing members of this fine online community while we shared stories and watchtalk over a casual lunch with salads, brick oven pizza, beer, wine and some delicious desserts at one of our favorite pizza spots in Chicago. A Chicago style watch get together wouldn't be possible without pizza or steaks. Maybe next time we'll head to Mastro's or Sullivan's.

In addition to the nice number of modern and vintage Rolex timepieces that made it to the luncheon —several GMT Masters, Datejusts and Submariners, we were also happily surrounded by a nice variety of watches from other brands that included Audemars Piguet, Blancpain, Bell & Ross, Breitling, Bulova, Frederique Constant, Glashütte Original, Heuer, Omega, Tudor and Zenith.

Thanks to everyone that was able to attend and a special thank you goes to all of you that drove from very far away just to meet some new watch collectors and put a face to the handles. We look forward to hosting you again soon and now enjoy the rest of the pictures. Stay tuned for the next luncheon we will be hosting in the next couple of months.