More than 100 Maseratis from 1928 to the present day gathered in and around Montreux on 19 September for '99 Years of passion' - a celebration of the marque the year before its centenary.

Participants came from all over Europe and as far as Bermuda, Malaysia, Dubai and Australia to the historic Fairmont Le Montreux Palace hotel, facing Lake Geneva and the Alps, for a long weekend of glorious sunshine and perfect temperatures.

The oldest Maseratis to make the trip were a 1928 Tipo 26M and a 1933 8CM. Other notable cars included a 200Si, driven enthusiastically during the event and then 500 miles home to south-western France, plus a Tipo 5000GT, as well as dozens of classic GTs such as the 3500GT, Mistral, Sebring, Ghibli, Mexico, Indy, Khamsin and Bora.

The Friday's touring rally saw an impressive convoy head into the Jura, through picturesque towns such as St Cergue before lunch in Le Brassus, in the heart of watchmaking territory. A fascinating visit to the Blancpain watchmaking headquarters allowed a rare inspection of the precise standards for which Swiss watchmakers are so famous. Blancpain, a manufacturefounded in 1735 by Jehan-Jacques Blancpain, gave guests a presentation that compared the birth of a handmade watch to the preparation of a gourmet cuisine dish by a top chef.

After this, the touring rally continued along Lake de Joux and through the mountains with spectacular vistas. The road wound like a red carpet from high up in the hills all the way down to Lake Geneva again, and back to the Fairmont Le Montreux Palace, from where a Pullman bus took guests to cocktails and dinner at Ch΢teau de Chillon.

Saturday's tour was more dramatic, from Valais via countless hairpins to the tunnel of l'Hongrin at 1416m: a 1km rise in a distance of less than 12km. A regularity stage followed, won by Germans Timo Grunewalder and Torsten Brylla in a Mexico.

The day finished with a concours on Montreux's Place du March�, won by the 5000GT Allemano of Stephen Dowling from Australia, who keeps the car in the UK and is the only 5000GT owner to drive his car regularly. A well deserved triumph, in our book.