With 160,000 square metres of floor space to cover at BaselWorld alone, not to mention the SIHH and exterior shows, I left my high heels in my suitcase and opted for more comfortable footwear – I had a lot of ground to cover.

Diamonds are a girl’s best friend
Like a magpie , I was first drawn to everything that sparkled. There were enough diamond watches to keep me captivated for days. It seemed like every brand had at least one diamond watch in their collection.
A friend once said to me “Once you wear diamonds, you can’t go back.” Not having ever owned a diamond watch, I felt it my duty to research this point and followed the twinkling lights all the way to the Harry Winston booth.
Each model that came out of the Harry Winston drawer sparkled more than the last, square diamonds, pear shaped diamonds, round ones, baguettes, watch after watch. But one timepiece that really caught my attention was the Duchesse. With 667 stones totalling 61.44 carats (331 baguette-cut / 34.58 carats and 336 round-cut / 26.68 carats) this piece really showcased the Harry Winston signature of overlapping stones and geometric settings. This is the first of a set of three watches in Harry Winston’s Ultimate Collection; two more will be unveiled later in the year. I left the stand quite dazzled and thinking that I really must play the lottery more often.
Another haute-joaillerie timepiece that left me dreaming of riches was the Van Cleef & Arpels Décolleté from their Couture Collection. This white gold jewellery timepiece with 11.38 carats of DEF VVS diamonds and an invisible clasp is made to look like a ribbon tied in an effortless knot, almost as if the diamond ribbon would untie at the slightest pull.




Duchesse by Harry Winston, Décolleté by Van Cleef & Arpels, Generosi-T by Tissot


Other brands that had some beautiful haute-joaillerie pieces included Cartier, Piaget and de Grisogono, who cleverly show off their gem-setting mastery in their watch collections.
Moving away from the fully-set diamond pieces, and down to earth slightly, an increasing number of brands are now offering their regular lines with diamond bezels, for both men and women. Although the addition of diamonds can, in some cases, dramatically increase the price, the addition of precious stones can add a touch of femininity that may be difficult for customers to decline once at the shop counter. (For more information on diamonds, refer to Keith W. Strandberg’s article ‘Diamonds are a retailer’s best friend… if you know what you are selling’ in Europa Star No.5/2006.) Here is a selection of my favourites:
Bédat & Co. has brought out a diamond edition of their 388 collection with the bezel, case and sides in white diamonds. The feminine effect is accentuated by the addition of a pink stingray strap. Equipped with a mechanical automatic movement, this timepiece has a central dual time zone display and a date at 6 o’clock for women who appreciate functionality as well as sparkle.
A. Lange & Söhne’s Arkade timepiece with its manually wound, mechanical Lange movement is framed with 40 diamonds on the bezel. The Arkade includes a patented big date at 12 o’clock and small seconds at 6 o’clock, both great functions to have in a ladies’ mechanical watch. In fact, there were a number of complications introduced for women this year, but more on that later.




388 by Bédat & Co., Arkade by A. Lange & Söhne, Doppia by Bertolucci


The Monte Cristo from Louis Moinet is paved with 405 VVS brilliant-cut diamonds, totalling 4.70 carats. But more interestingly, the Monte Cristo houses a rare original vintage movement from the 1950s that has a screw-balance. The collection will obviously be limited and only 10 lucky ladies will have the pleasure of owning this particular timepiece.
The sky has been a perpetual source of inspiration to watchmakers throughout time as they have observed the moon, the sun and the stars to make their calculations of time measurement. Audemars Piguet’s Millenary Starlit Sky Collection pays tribute to this fascination with the sky with two timepieces dedicated to the darkness of the night and a third devoted to the brightness of day. All three timepieces are set with diamonds on the dial, bezel and case and the Starlit Sky version didn’t look out of place on my wrist at all!
However, women don’t have to be lottery winners to be able to afford the diamond look – there are many timepieces with just a sprink-ling of small diamonds which don’t amount to huge carat counts and price tags.




Millenary Starlit Sky by Audemars Piguet, Monte Cristo by Louis Moinet


One example is the Generosi-T by Tissot or the new Doppia by Bertolucci. Malcolm Lakin, Europa Star’s Senior Editor, insisted that I go and take a look at Bertolucci’s Doppia and I am glad I did. The Doppia has a sapphire crystal that covers the entire surface of the dial and reveals an appealing, colourful gem-set floral décor. A highly innovative idea that will certainly appeal to ladies looking for something different and refreshing in the way of a wristwatch.
Many fashion brands also use Swarovski crystals or semi precious stones instead of diamonds to obtain a similar effect. Citizen uses Swarovski crystals in many of their ladies’ lines, as do Bulova, Seiko and Timex to name a few. Swarovski itself has also launched its own watch line with some interesting pieces with a 50-facet clear crystal ring.

Jewellery that tells the time
The line between jewellery and watches can be hazy. There are jewellery watches and pieces of jewellery that tell the time. Whatever way you look at it, this is an expanding category, especially among the fashion brands. Watches with charms were very popular this year. Hamilton’s Sea Queen, Storm’s Funkicharm, Fendi’s ID, Esprit’s Charming and a rose gold coloured charm watch by Mango are just a few that caught my eye.
RSW or Rama, as it is also known, had some original ladies jewellery pieces. Their Tzarine watch has a case in the form of a lady’s purse that clips open to reveal the dial. New this year is the Lady Liberty that has a small watch inside a turning barrel that spins around – perfect for fiddling with.




Funkicharm by Storm, Mango, Id by Fendi


Another jewellery statement that I noticed this year was the cuff watch. Although the cuff watch has been popular in the men’s fashion category for a while now, there were quite a few examples for women this year. Zenith’s Baby Star Open Elite Wild with its brown spotted open dial and small seconds hand in the form of a red heart is completely transformed by the addition of a stamped leather cuff strap, although the strap can be removed for more formal occasions.




Tsarine and Lady Liberty by RSW, Baby Star Open Elite Wild by Zenith


Snow white and chocolate
There were two colours that really marked BaselWorld and SIHH this year, and they were white and chocolate brown. Both these colours were strong in 2006 and are still very much present in 2007. After a few days of looking at hundreds of white watches though, I was starting to feel the need for some colour. However, while talking with my friends at Tissot, they explained to me that the colours the journalists love don’t always coincide with what sells best at retail. Consumers still tend to prefer more conservative coloured dials such as silver and mother-of-pearl. Tissot had a selection of mother-of-pearl dials in their new collections, one of which changed colour like a chameleon, depending on what colour strap it was on so that really recharged my eyes!

Complications for women
The abundance of dual time watches at the fairs for women was quite remarkable. If I had to choose a complication, this would certainly be one of them; I am forever counting on my fingers like a primary school child when abroad. What is it about different time zones that turn us into mathematics remedials? Or is it just me? Well, there is a great selection to choose from this year - Ulysse Nardin’s Dual Time Lady was one of the easiest to read with a window at 9 o’clock with a 24h clock indication. Patek Philippe’s Calatrava Time and Girard-Perregaux’s WW-TC Lady would also avoid any embarrassing finger counting in public.




Dual Time Lady by Ulysse Nardin, Calatrava Time by Patek Philippe, WW-TC Lady by Girard Perregaux


Van Cleef & Arpels are really moving into the complications for women category. They presented a new bi-retrograde timepiece at the SIHH called the Lady Arpels Féerie, or Fairy in English, whose magic wand indicates the hours and whose wing shows the minutes. The company has also unveiled new versions of their Lady Arpels Saisons Collection, with dancing ballerinas and another version with fairies that does one full rotation in a year.

Chronographs
Chronographs were also extremely popular for women throughout the shows. Women may not necessarily time the same events as their male counterparts, but measuring lapsed time is a fun complication for anyone. I personally use a chronograph to time my children getting dressed in the morning. They used to take so much time over this simple task (well they are only eight and five years old) that I started timing them and recording their times on a chart on the fridge – they haven’t been late for school since and the current record is 24 seconds – including socks!
Zenith’s Star Open Precious Pearl certainly makes my top chronograph selection, along with the Constellation Double Eagle Ladies by Omega, the J12 Chrono by Chanel, the Kalpa’graph Lilas by Parmigiani (one of my favourite non-white watches), the Libre Collection from Cartier, the Happy Sport Mark II Chrono by Chopard, the F1 Collection by Jacques Lemans and the Cool Collection by Lotus.




Open Precious Pearl by Zenith, Lady Arpels Saisons Collection by Van Cleef & Arpels, Constellation Double Eagle Ladies by Omega



J12 Chrono by Chanel, Kalpa’graph Lilas by Parmigiani, LIBRE by Cartier



Happy Sport Mark II Chrono by Chopard, F1by Jacques Lemans


His watch for her
When I look through the Europa Star archives and see the watches that our mothers and grandmother’s used to wear, it is hard to believe how big ladies’ watches have become. What may be a perfect sized watch for a woman in the West may also suit men in the East. Labelling watches ‘Ladies’ or ‘Men’s’ could be detrimental to sales in some countries. Ebel have given this problem particular thought and come up with ‘Men’s size, ladies execution’ for the more feminine dials, and ‘small’, ‘medium’ and ‘large’ for other sizing. My favourite example of Ebel’s ‘Men’s size, ladies’ execution’ is the colourful Caipirinha which leaves me dreaming of carnivals and cocktails. Zenith has also found a solution with its Class Open El Primero Collection, which it refers to simply as ‘His watch…for her’.
A man wearing a diamond watch or a woman wearing a man’s watch doesn’t shock anyone these days, at least not in the watch industry. Women can make a bold statement by wearing a man’s watch. Having ridiculously skinny wrists, I have always had a hard time pulling this off, but one watch which fitted my wrist perfectly was the Bell & Ross BR03 that didn’t look masculine at all – just cool.

Moments from the shows
BaselWorld is quite a maze to navigate and it is funny how it is always impossible to find the booth of your next appointment when you are running late – Murphy’s Law, I suppose. Anyway, during one of these particular moments, I became so frustrated that I decided that the only way would be to consult the BaselWorld map. So, there I was, in the middle of the hallway, looking at my map, when a gentleman approached me and asked, “Is that a Céline handbag you have there?” This really wasn’t the moment, I was shamefully late, but I politely informed him that, yes, indeed it was a Céline handbag. “I thought it was” he replied, obviously pleased to have correctly identified my handbag. I started to get suspicious, why was this young man interested in my bag? Well it turned out he was working with Céline on a watch collection and was interested in showing me the line to see what I thought as a Céline client. I was sworn to secrecy, but I have been promised photos for Europa Star later in the year.




Cool by Lotus, Caipirinha by Ebel, Portes du Temps by Tournaire


A brand I can talk about however is Tournaire. I had seen photographs of Tournaire’s timepieces and I have to admit, they looked rather colossal, but in reality they are intriguingly designed and surprisingly graceful on the wrist. The Portes du Temps collection is inspired by architecture through time with the sides of the cases representing doors and columns from different eras, going all the way back to the Ice Age with a dial made of fossilized mammoth ivory that adds just another fascinating element to these watches that are different from anything else I saw during the shows.

The list continues
There is so much to report, but alas, I am limited by these six pages. I could easily fill the whole magazine! My list is a bit like my children’s lists for Santa Claus - they just go on and on as there is so much on offer. More ladies’ models will be featured in Europa Star throughout the year, both in the magazine and on our website – www.europastar.com so stay tuned.


Source: Europa Star June-July 2007 Magazine Issue