Royal Exchange
We started our day at the Royal Exchange in the City, where we visited Watch Finder for the first time. As we entered we noticed a small window display featuring three Richard Mille watches! Inside we found a fantastic array of Hublots, Audemar Piguets, IWCs, Jaeger le Coultres, Rolexes, Panerais and a fairly small selection of TAG Heuers. I tried on a limited edition Monaco, but at £3600 it was still a bit pricey for me today.
We left Watchfinder and went outside to check out Lulu Guiness, then the rather small Watches of Switzerland, before heading over the road to the Pitcher and Piano for a nice burger (get there before the 12 O Clock rush!). After that we went back for another look at the Richard Milles, before checking out the Omega boutique where Rose tried on a Constellation.
We headed off to Covent Garden and quickly found Floral Street, and just off that we found the Kate Spade shop. We were looking for a bag for Rose and there was much pondering of bags, in particular the purple/pink/orange sparkly bags. It looked like a done deal until Rose spotted a green bag hidden in a corner with a sparkly top hap rabbit charm hanging off the handle.
KATE SPADE Mini Candace Glitter Satchel Pink
Turned out the charm was a separate item, but it looked really good on there and Rose was concerned about the glitter coming off the pink bag. We had a bit of a discussion with one of the ladies in there about the relative merits of the green bag and the pink bag and when Rose said she thought the green bag without the glitter was more suitable for everyday use I said 'But a sparkly top hot is perfectly fine for everyday use?' she rather hilariously asked if I had one.
KATE SPADE - Cameron Street Lane Emerald
In the end Rose went for the green bag (with the rabbit charm) and they packed it up in a box the size of a small car for us to carry around London, but at least it wasn't heavy. God knows what sort of box you get if you buy this amazing bag!
KATE SPADE - Rabbit in a Hat Shoulder Bag
We had a look in Radley too, but nothing really stood out.. then on to Kurt Geiger, which was an experience in itself! The place did your head in, there was mirrors on every surface creating a virtual infinity of shoes. In actual fact it was rather disorienting, but it was certainly impressive.
KURT GEIGER - An infinity of shoes!
After that we had a look in the Oakley shop, which had some cool new shades in stock which I had never seen before called the EVZero Prizm (although I can't remember which exact ones they were which is a bit annoying).
After a lot of wandering around aimlessly trying to find Lulu Guiness, we eventually stumbled across it... and Rose got a cat broach for her coat, and then we decided to walk to Picadilly Circus (which was the right decision because the Picadilly line was chaos today).
From there we cut back to Regent Street and found the flagship Watches of Switzerland store. Here Rose got to see the Tudor Clair de Rose watches for the first time (and tried a couple on) while I got to snag a Tudor catalogue. The selection of TAGs was reasonable, but there were plenty of cool watches to look at including IWCs, Ulysse Nardins, Hublots, Rolexes, Audemars Piguets, Vacheron Constantins, etc etc...
KATE SPADE - Regent Street
We crossed the road to the flagship Kate Spade store, where Rose got to see the blue bag with the seahorses on it, and then headed up the road to All Bar One (which was rammed). So then we decided to walk down Oxford Street to the other Watches of Switzerland store, but ended up stopping at Selfridges first. Their watch selection was shit, but then we realised that all the good watches were in the 'Wonder Room', and once again we were surrounded by Brietlings, Audmar Piguets, Hublots (including a £70,000 tourbillon), TAG Heuers, Panerais... I tried on a TAG McLaren 1974 Carrera, which is quite nice, but also quite pricey (£4150 and not much chance of a deal).
Selfridges - the Wonder Room
Leaving Selfridges we wandered further up Oxford Street until we realised we'd gone too far and that Watches of Switzerland was opposite but because we'd come out a different door of Selfridges we needed to go left not right. This W.O.S. was a bit of a disappointment, it was the only store with pre-owned watches (but there were only about 10 pieces) and no TAG Heuer display. They did have a Calibre 1887 Carrera which I tried on, but I wasn't sure if the price was a good deal or not (or if I liked it enough).
Our plan was to go down Bond Street next, but time was getting on and we decided maybe we should go straight to Kensington (principally to visit Harrods and another Watches of Switzerland). However, having taken the Jubilee line from Bond Street to Greene Park, it became clear that the Picadilly line was still in a right state, and since it is the only line which goes to Kensington that was a bit of a problem. We contemplated getting a taxi, but then realised that we'd probably have to get another taxi back as well...
So we started to look around for somewhere to have a drink and maybe something to eat. But like All Bar One, most places were rammed, or tiny places where people perch on stools to eat. I guess this is something you just learn to live with if you live or work in London, but we don't and we like a proper chair thank you very much.
Fortunately, we stumbled across a place on Picadilly (just up from The Ritz) called Richoux, which is a patisserie that also does food. It was a lovely place to sit down and relax and we had a splendid bowl of fries and a garlic baguette between us.
Richoux - Picadilly
After that it was time to head back to the station, where we discovered our train had been cancelled due to a death on the rails at Rugby. In the end the train was reinstated and we only lost about half an hour or so, and luckily we got a seat, where we could read our free copies of Grazia in relative comfort.
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