There is a long forgotten, faded sign in chalky pastel shades on the side of the old Redfern bakery facing the railway into the city which used to amuse my father when we were children. The sign is a good advertisement for staple food but it is also a wider philosophical sentiment. It says “What You Eat Today Walks and Talks Tomorrow”.
From a ‘bread’ point of view it has immediate impact but it appeals to me because it also suggests the notion that there are consequences along the way for everything we do. In the simple case of bread perhaps it means literally walking and talking. But it has resonances reaching right through our lives – even to the top of the watch industry. Well, we might ponder, how can this be?
The Aussie view of Basel, on first acquaintance, is compellingly tinted by the ‘downunder’ culture of this country, what entertains, amuses us and how this is conditioned (shades of Redfern bakery) by what our parents taught us and their parents before them.
Aussies will spend freely on new 4WD cars, swimming pools, holiday houses by the sea, big-hearted wine cellars and other pursuits of a generally well-heeled altruistic, generous society (despite the unnatural perseverance of a small-minded prime minister to turn us into paranoid terrorism targets).
But watches? “Son, get a good stainless steel ‘Swiss Made’ watch – it will last you all your life” my father said to me (and his father before him). In the 40s and 50s there was no such thing as a ‘graduation watch’ – maybe you got a gold watch (always Omega) when you retired – but a good stainless steel watch would see you through anyway.
So, I for one, always get a thrill when I walk into Hall 1 at Basel each year and see the mind-blowing variety and quantity of mortgage-inducing watches. And it reminds me every year that different countries and their cultures have different priorities.
For some a 4WD is not so important. The climate is too cold for swimming and if we are drinking the best from the cellar with like-minded friends why not do it with a nice new watch from Patek – or perhaps a Zenith or Harry Winston’s latest Opus from Greubel Forsey – a double triple-axis tourbillon at about CHF 500,000.
In 1999 I was quite awestruck with the re-constructed Hall 1 for the Basel Fair. At that time my published reaction was “Patek Philippe gets the prize for position and dramatic effect with a white-walls-and-glass stand of three floors rising dramatically into the ‘dark city’ effect high above. . . . touch-sensitive interactive screens with the Patek collection allowing dreamers to enjoy themselves within the privacy of their own minds . . . . Rolex has its new stand right opposite Patek, IWC just to the left, Lange next to them - all creating a warm feeling that you are right amongst the heavies in the high end of town . . . . straight ahead down the centre, sprawling over the biggest floor area is Omega, Longines and the Swatch Group . . ”.
I was astonished then, as I am today, that so many genuinely expensive watches are mostly pre-sold to the full capacity of the available annual production of the makers.
Complications are still occupying inventive minds. However the designers are up against it with finding genuine new ideas and will shamelessly re-invent old ones. The chrono control pillar, out of favour for this last 20 years, is suddenly back in favour and being promoted as a feature. Tourbillons, split second chronos, up-down indicators, perpetual calendars, quartz auto-generators and crystal backs seem to form a staple part of the ranges of the major makers. And there are always complications of the complications.
These are the things which amaze me, not just as an Aussie – I suspect everyone is similarly taken regardless of coming from downunder or upover!
And at the end of the day take a seat in the square with the warm afternoon sun on your back, a beer in your hand, maybe some lovely Redfern-style bread with whatever and the live jazz band soothing your overwhelmed senses and tired feet.
It is simply a quite exceptional experience.


Source: Europa Star June-July 2006 Magazine Issue