Timely! : An Evening with FiveFortyFive Watches in Auckland

Late last year, I had a sudden (legally sourced) windfall of cash come my way. As a car enthusiast above all, I had to first look at the state of my garage. Everything was running fine, yes, even the Alfa! While significant, the amount wasn’t enough for me to consider buying another car. So, I turned to my second mechanical vice, watches.

Following the beginning of my friendship with a chap called Harry de Souza or Harry de ‘Enabler’ Souza as he should be called. The former name being familiar to the Tarmac Life faithful by now. Anyway, ever since meeting Harry, my interest in horology has been rekindled, motivating me to add new watches to my collection. Thanks in part to Harry, I wound up with a Seiko 5 x Rowing Blazers and then in pursuit of an Oris ProPilot X Kermit Edition, come late 2023. This pursuit led me to discover FiveFortyFive, a watch boutique based in Wellington and the nation’s only Oris dealer.

Short story long, I bought the second ‘Kermit’ that they received, before it had even been listed in fact! I’ve enjoyed wearing this watch regularly since then, not knowing where it would lead.

Fast forward to July 2024 and my email notification pinged as it does often, this time with an email from FiveFortyFive. Turns out, I’d received an invite to their Auckland VIP event in Orakei, an evening of trying on and learning about some interesting watches they would be bringing along. The invite also said I could bring a friend, we all know who that was going to be! With the invite rsvp’d to, Harry and I set off for Beach Club Oyster & Kitchen in Orakei on the Saturday night.

Neither of us had been to such an event before so both were intrigued to see how the evening would go. Arriving on time for once, Harry and I had a brief peruse through the array of watches before diving deeper into each watch roll to discover more. It was just as well that we did so because a Swatch Omega Snoopy Moonswatch was gone almost straight away!

The most pleasant surprise for us was the range of watches selected for the event which were just right. On one hand, you had Seikos aplenty, Liam from Seiko New Zealand brought a well respected range that included a few beauties from the Presage range and then the ‘Pogue’ which was lusted over by Harry and many of the event’s attendees. Being a watch event, we had to ask what everyone was wearing and Liam in particular rocked a classy Grand Seiko, true to his profession. Other wrist spots on the night included a Tudor Black Bay 58 Bronze, Grand Seiko Snowflake, Oris Aquis, Rolex Yacht Master 1, Breitling Navitimer 46 and a vintage Audemars Piguet amongst others. Harry was sporting a Tag Heuer Autavia in Bronze and I, the Oris ‘Kermit’ of course!

Following our visit to the Seiko table, we moved to the Oris display that FiveFortyFive had brought with them. While the range of Aquis was stellar, at least for Harry & I, it was the Big Crown ‘Hank Aaron’ edition that stole the show, the caseback in particular proving itself as a work of art! Kudos also to the maroon dial Big Crown with its excellent bracelet.

At this point, we got chatting to Luke from FiveFortyFive about Oris and collectively agreed that it is one of the most under-appreciated brands in the horology world. Though I’m sure a part of us would like this to remain because of which you can tell that an Oris wearer is a true watch enthusiast, not that I’m biased at all towards the brand!

From there, we got a chance to interact with a wide variety of watch brands. There were Tudors, IWCs, Breitlings, Omegas, Panerais and even a lone Unimatic! We first gravitated towards an intriguing trio that included an 8-Days Luminor Panerai, a vintage Omega and an Omega Speedmaster Moon to Mars. It was there that Harry and I had a discussion on the Speedy, agreeing that it was the Porsche 911 of the watch world. Appreciated everywhere, holds its value and has a variant for every enthusiast. We also then got a chance to appreciate the sheer size and complexity of that Panerai too.

From there, we shifted to a case that featured Grand Seikos. For the proper watch connoisseur, this is a brand that is almost unmatched for the level of detail and craft that their dials bring. We were able to closely inspect the famous Zaratsu Polishing in person which certainly lived up to its reputation. A Spring Drive powered GS was also present, allowing us to interact with this acclaimed movement. The Grand Seikos lived up to both of our expectations and has only grown our admiration for the marque.

It was at this point that a Girard Perregaux Laureato unexpectedly reared its head, offering me a segue to conclude this piece. Not knowing what lay ahead of us, FiveFortyFive’s Auckland VIP event offered an intimate setting for watch enthusiasts to interact with pieces both old and new, allowing many of us to develop new appreciations for brands that were previously unfamiliar to us. The drinks worked wonders for their sales and there were some nibbles served as well which Harry and I missed, probably because we were watching a needle sweep somewhere. All in all, a fun night out!

Thanks for reading! For more watch news and reviews, visit Tarmac Life.

Words by Matthew D’Souza, photos courtesy of Harry de Souza.

With thanks to Mal & Luke from FiveFortyFive and Liam from Seiko New Zealand.