I just returned from the 2005 Midwest Regional, held in Merrillville, Ind. It was a good show for me. I didn't sell a thing, but then I didn't bring a whole lot of stuff. I only stayed one day, which I realize is a "no-no" with show organizers when you have a table. But in my defense, the people handling the table assignments screwed up and double-booked my table. I ended up "squeezing in" with another fellow and, frankly, neither one of us was happy with the arrangements. At the end of the show on Friday, I told the other tableholder I wasn't returning on Saturday, and that he could spread his stuff out. Show officials did not offer either one of us any compensation, so I am not feeling too awfully guilty about my early exit. I did acquire some nice pieces, which I'll get to in a minute. The location was nice, if a bit difficult to get to coming from the west. The Radisson is right off the I-65 at Highway 30. It was great for people coming from the east, since it was on the extreme eastern side of Chicago, through all that nasty construction along I-90/80 south and east. So I feel the show did attract quite a few people from Indiana and Ohio and other points east and south who might not otherwise have come if they had to trudge through that awful construction. The location was also a vast improvement over last year's "last-minute" show thrown together at a rather ratty VFW Hall (no offense to our fine veterans) in northern Illinois after the Sheraton Four Points in Milwaukee uniltaterally booted the show out of its hotel because a better offer came along for that particular weekend! From what I could see, there were about 300 tables, which was about double the number from last year. I don't know that this show will ever recover to its former "glory days" when it was one of the finest regionals in the country, even surpassing at times the number in attendance at the National. But many thanks to the individuals involved who keep trying! I didn't attend either of the two educational sessions (one on clocks, the other on pocketwatches) so I can't speak about those. The watches I acquired, left to right, are: Wittnauer with cool sunburst dial; Bulova 23 jewel in a neat flared lug case that closely resembles the Hamilton "Sir Echo"; a reto-modern era Lord Elgin; a Buren with their early "rocker" automatic movement (the caliber 525 detailed in the Schiffer book by Hampel); an NOS "Venus" with dramatic dial (yes, if you look closely, she has nipples -- gasp, keep the young 'uns away); a Bulova Ambassador with Buren super-thin micro-rotor movement; and a super-clean GP Gyromatic with date. My prize piece, shown below the others, is a Favre-Leuba "Bivouac", the only watch I am aware of that has a mechanical barometer (altimeter) built into the watch. It is mint, with original bracelet. And the cherry on this little sundae is the engraving on the back -- to a pilot from the Watchmakers of Switzerland. Some of these will be going into my private stash; others will be coming soon to an online venue near you. Others have shown their acquisitions here; I hope you will indulge me as well. Anyway, good show, and thanks to those who did the organizing.

Here's the Favre Leuba