A Moment To Ride

Many of us realized many years ago that a garages can be some sort of Holy Grail but it’s equally important to keep in mind that cars are not the only types of wheels found in a garage as there are many that hold two-wheel rides.  Speaking of two-wheel rides here are some you won’t find in anyone’s garage. 

During the early 70’s while I was at Stanford in my spare time I found it relaxing to build little projects using various nut, bolts, rocker arms, spark plugs washers or what have you. All it required was an old parts bucket filled with odds and ends, an acetylene torch and a lot of imagination. I created some awesome little race cars, people’s faces, little men and women, a suit of armor and all sorts of things, one of my favorites being a little man flying a hang glider. All of which were displayed on my shelves until over the years I gave them all away whenever someone took a liking to them. What I got out of it was not only the satisfaction of creating something unique with my own hands and imagination but also the happiness that comes from within when you see someone else’s appreciation for what you have created.

 
Recently a friend sent me some photos of some amazing creations built in the same manner as the ones I created some 30 years ago except these creations are not made up of push rods, rocker arms or spark plugs. Instead they are built using old watch parts and we’re not talking about Timex mind you. Many of the parts used by this artist are from rare watches including Rolex, Cartier and Patek Philippe just to name a few. Unfortunately my friend did not know anything about the who created them but I was so impressed with these true works of art that I began researching to learn more about them.
 
I was able to learn the artist is Jose Geraldo Reis Pfau`s who was born and raised in Blumenau, Santa Catarina which is a state in southern Brazil with one of the highest standards of living in the country. (Obviously if they have this many rare watch parts laying around.) His passion for motorcycles began in the sixties when he had several types of motorcycles, and all of them modified and some inspired on the movie “Easy Rider”. Pfau makes the miniatures on the weekends.  Alexandre Ranieri Peters, a personal friend and the shop owner created a campaign where whoever wanted to buy a new watch or a pair of glasses could give their old ones as a first installment. It is a personal collection and they are not for sale yet, but he hopes to be able to sell them in the future. He owns more them 200 miniatures at the moment. In the beginning the pieces were applied on wood frames to be hung on walls.
 
What an amazing talent. Maybe I should go dig out my odd parts bucket again. God knows I’m not going to tear my Rolex’s apart.

 

 

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