From the various post-fair exhibitors’ remarks and the final press releases that have emerged from the organizers of BaselWorld and SIHH, it appears these two major events have enjoyed their most successful year ever. Participation and attendances were both up and that all-important bottom line in the watch companies’ accounts ledgers has seemingly leapt to record highs.
For example, Hublot, according to Jean-Claude Biver the brand’s CEO, made sales of 152 million Swiss francs, whilst TAG Heuer and Omega improved their sales by a massive 44% and 40% respectively.
Unlike Hublot, most companies are unwilling to reveal their sales figures, but there is, without question, an aura of invincibility hanging over the major players in the Swiss watch industry as worldwide sales continue to break all sorts of records. But will the bubble burst? On this showing, it’s not likely in the foreseeable future.

Press Day
Wednesday, April 11th is the day the press have a free run of the halls at BaselWorld. There are things to see, people to meet such as: Hublot where the energetic Jean-Claude Biver was awaiting to inform a gaggle of journalists that he had sold two of the latest Big Bang creation, the One Million $ BB (See Holy horology by Pierre Maillard) and by the end of the fair seven had been sold – with a production time of two pieces a year; Eterna introduced five new mechanical timepieces and Porsche Design produced the new World-timer P’6750, a powerful looking watch with an original second time zone indicator in an aperture at 3 o’clock and the appropriate hour in an aperture at 9 o’clock. Black and stealth-like in appearance (one of BaselWorld’s noticeable trends) the watch uses a special Eterna movement module mounted on an ETA Valgrange Calibre A 07 111; I’m sure there were things to see at the Chopard press conference, but I was refused entry by a very polite young lady who asked my name and then refused to let me attend, stating, “You’re not on the list. You can come back later.” “No I can’t,” I replied, vowing to remove at least one of Chopard’s Michelin stars.
Fortunately attitudes were different at Longines where I was greeted as if they were pleased to see me – whether it was true or not. Mathieu Baumgartner, the Public Relations Project Leader gave me an in-depth, hands-on showing of the brand’s latest models, which was followed by a meeting with Longines’ President, Walter von Känel.
As full of life and friendly as always, von Känel explained how the brand was now getting involved in the Short Track skating scene as well as sponsoring the French Open at Roland Garros. But the confession of the day came when he explained that as Omega were moving up-market in both price and product, Longines were moving into their slot with ‘The Longines Sport Collection’. Although von Känel has been successfully leading Longines for many years now, he admitted to me that this change of direction, or additional direction to be more precise, wasn’t his idea but that of his boss, Nick Hayek Jr.
This move clearly places Longines in direct competition with all other mid-priced leading sports watch brands and there was much mumbling within the fair as many people likened the massive photograph of the brand’s new GrandeVitesse around the Swatch Plaza to TAG Heuer’s Carrera.
Be that as it may, the Sport Collection offers a large selection of watches within the 1,000-2,500 franc range such as the rugged, self-winding mechanical HydroConquest in stainless steel, water-resistant to 300 metres, with its unidirectional turning bezel, and an integrated diving extension. There’s also a very handsome ‘Instrument pour Cavalier’, an automatic timepiece with the tachymeter in the centre of the dial that enables the measuring of ground speed of a horse up to 70 km/h. However, my personal favourite was in the Sports Legends Collection - the Longines Weems Second-Setting Watch. Equipped with a self-winding mechanical movement (L699) it is a 47.5 mm watch with a beautifully polished and rounded bezel. An engraved caseback opens to reveal the movement covered by a sapphire crystal. The dial is in white lacquer with black painted external double minute track, blued Breguet hands and a large ‘Louis XV’ crown. In addition to its aesthetic appeal and perhaps it’s real fascination, is the rotating central dial for synchronization to the second with a radio time signal.
Directly after that I met up with Ralph Chow, Director, Product Promotions, Hong Kong Trade and Development Council (HKTDC) this year’s official in attendance, accompanied by his Manager, Phoebe Leung and HKTDC’s imperturbable European contingent, Lore Buscher, Elke Brockmann and Daniela Konrad. The Council’s presence at BaselWorld with 326 exhibitors made it the largest international pavilion.
Ralph Chow said Hong Kong’s total exports of watches and clocks grew by 2% to an amazing US$ 6.025 billion in 2006 with 10 to 20% of the ‘exports’ now going to China where they are targeting 200 million ‘middle-class consumers’ and the reported ‘300,000 US dollar millionaires’ that live on the Chinese mainland. He also confirmed that the Hong Kong watch manufacturers are slowly moving up-market, focusing more on quality, design and speed of production. Manufacturers are also slowly accepting the fact that the ‘branding’ of their products is an important factor in their development.
At the TAG Heuer evening presentation at the Mercedes Café in Basel’s old town, I was a happy bunny because having missed lunch I discovered that not only was the company pushing the boat out on Champagne, but also they’d organized enough appetizing hors d’oeuvres to feed yours truly and the hungry horde of journalists in attendance.
As is his wont, Jean-Christophe Babin, CEO of TAG Heuer, made a brief welcome speech, spoke about the brand’s new stunning architectural booth in Hall 1 and then passed the technical baton to Stephane Linder for the presentation of the latest timepieces – which included, amongst others, the fabulous and innovative new Link Calibre S Chronograph (see 2007 – The year of the sports watch by Keith Strandberg) and the sporty, but oh so very dressy Link Calibre 5 with turning bezel.

Thursday, April 12
The first official day of BaselWorld. It began with a group of acrobats doing things that only fools and horses would normally attempt, followed by the public launch of the Longines Sport Collection by Nick Hayek Jr., CEO, Swatch Group and Walter von Känel who stressed the Longines ‘Higher, Faster, Further, Deeper’ philosophy and that, “rather than looking back, we’re looking forward like our predecessors.”
Peter Stas, Managing Director of Frederique Constant and Alpina presented the latest creations at precisely midday. By far, the most exciting news was the introduction of a Limited Edition of the Frederique Constant HBM Silicium Moonphase-Date. What is so special about this model, in addition to the automatic Heart Beat Manufacture movement, is the creation of a silicium escapement wheel. Silicium is not magnetic, is highly resistant to corrosion and is harder than steel, but the real benefit is that it doesn’t require any lubricant, thus age-related thinning and drying of the lubrication oil used in most wristwatches will not occur.
The new Alpina watches are of another style, for another market and very bold, black and trendy. Robust with powerful all-black 48 mm cases and bold black rubber straps, the Alpina Avalanche Extreme Régulateur - Full Black is equipped with a mechanical manual-winding AL-650 movement with a 42-hour power reserve. The hour dial is at 10 o’clock, the small seconds are at 6 o’clock and there is a central hour hand, making the watch highly readable.
The Avalanche Extreme Automatic is another all-black timepiece equipped with, as the name suggests, an automatic AL525 movement. This model is available either with an all-black or a black and cream dial. Beautifully decorated on both the movement and the dial, it is water-resistant to 200 metres and has a lot of personality.
My next appointment was with Ice Link, a twenty-five year old jewellery company based in California that in recent years branched out into watches. With sparklers everywhere, which included a diamond-set three-spoke automobile wheel rim resting casually on the floor, it wasn’t surprising to discover the brand’s ‘Tribute to conspicuous luxury’ diamond-set ‘6Time Zone’ watch. As the brand claims, it is a ‘Symbol of no-complex’, but adds that although it defies conventional watchmaking, it is achieved with ‘due respect for the value of finishing perfection.’ The Ambassador, from the Presidential Collection, is a 62.7 mm stainless steel and gold watch set with an almost obscene number of diamonds and boasts six different adjustable time zones, each clearly marked by a city. Surprisingly, when worn it appears far less ostentatious than when photographed or placed in a showcase.
A stroll back across the very sunny Messe Platz, back though Hall 1, up an escalator and over a bridge saw me thoroughly exhausted but happily at my destination: Formex. The brand’s brothers Hanspeter and Ferdinand Grädel, President and Managing Director respectively, presented the latest bold, oversized iBoard collection. As Ferdinand Grädel, explains, “Prominent watches have become a mainstream trend and our new models definitely express our preference for ‘big is beautiful’ as well as our commitment to authenticity.”
And big and bold they are. 46 mm square in stainless steel and titanium with various coloured bezels – orange, blue, white, black and red – the watch is equipped with a Valjoux 7750 chronograph movement with a double sweep seconds hand, a signature crown at 12 o’clock with pushbuttons sitting either side and a tachymeter scale integrated on the bezel. The familiar tilted console featuring the advanced technology suspension system makes the watch comfortable to wear and gives it clear readability.
I have to admit that prior to my visit I was a little sceptical about the watch since photographically it appeared to be a copy of the Bell & Ross BR 01 Instrument, but I can happily assure anyone interested, that the two models are completely different and the Formex iboard is quite i-catching.

In the evening I managed to deviously get myself invited to a superb dinner with Franc Vila, his vivacious wife Lucilla and his team of Serge Aebischer, Mario Scotto and Vicente Puerto. As for his watches … more of that tomorrow.

Friday, April 13
Friday the thirteenth … no comment! I was expected at the Franc Vila press conference, so I went. With fewer journalists in attendance than he merits, Franc Vila set down his ground rules about watch creation. “I want to make contemporary watches,” he explained, “but I want to be on the classical side of the contemporary watch. Today luxury is not enough because the watch brands are producing much the same style of watch as before. That’s why I started creating watches four years ago, because I decided to make a watch that I actually wanted to own.
“I love chronographs, maybe because they can stop time. But the watch I’m wearing today is a tourbillon chronograph with monopoussoir and that feels as if it has its own life. With its skeleton movement you can see the chronograph working alongside the tourbillon. As to the future, I’m working on a tourbillon minute repeater with a cathedral gong and a power reserve model.”
I had already tried the tourbillon chronograph on the previous evening and although I marvelled at its fascinating technical proficiency I actually found the reading of the chronograph difficult, partially because of the skeleton movement and partially because all the parts, including the hands were of the same metallic colouring, which diminishes the readability. I mentioned this to Vila, who, in his inimitable style said, “Je m’en fous! (I don’t give a damn) I didn’t make this watch to actually time anything. I made it so that I could observe the wonderful mechanical process of measuring time, to see how the seconds, minutes and hours interweave and create the amazing visual of time passing.”
How do you follow that? Suffice it to say that the watch is big, bold, ultra-modern, highly technical and a marvel of mechanical watchmaking.
Pierre Maillard has explained about the Memoire 1 by Maurice Lacroix and having written in advance about two of its new stainless steel models in Maurice Lacroix underlines its technical and creative prowess (Europa Star 2/2007) I’ll introduce you to two new Maurice Lacroix chronographs: Pontos Chronographe Valgranges and the Pontos Rectangulaire Chronographe. The Valgranges model is a classic round 47 mm chronograph inspired by modern architecture and is equipped with an automatic ML 140 movement based on the Valgranges A07 Calibre. There are unique ‘tip-over’ pushers and an innovative dial design with a spherical 3-D effect. The second Pontos is rectangular (38.21 x 42.85 mm) and is equipped with a hand-decorated mechanical automatic ML 111 or 112 movement based on the Valjoux 7750 Calibre. There are two counters – 30-minutes and 12-hours and a central chronograph seconds hand, with a date indicator at 3 o’clock.
For the ladies there was the beautiful Divina Flower’s Caress. This magnificent jewel of a watch is in 18 carat white, yellow or pink gold set with pink sapphires and rubies highlighted by an in-laid mother-of-pearl dial with Roman numerals and a textile strap in various colours with a white gold folding clasp. A very satisfying visit and one that underlined how Maurice Lacroix has become a major player and even leader in both the technical and design spheres.
The afternoon passed quite quickly with a presentation of the new Ebel (see Europa Star 2/2007) collection by Suryia Hill of the Sparkle agency and then Michela Bressan of Alfex who introduced the Bernhard Russi Collection: the new Badus Collection – stainless steel models equipped with an excellent hand wound Unitas 6498-1 mechanical movement and the Lucendro Automatic Chronograph equipped with a Valjoux 7750 movement. Both collections are available at particularly interesting retail prices ranging from 990 to 2,500 Swiss francs.
Over in Hall 5 I met up with Paul Hill, Director of Business Development for Wolf Designs, an American company specialized in manufacturing watch rotators. Hill explained to me that with more and more automatic watches on the market – especially the perpetual calendar models – keeping your watch ticking over whilst you’re not wearing it has become important, consequently, both professionals and aficionados are turning more and more to watch rotators. Watch manufacturers anticipate that wristwatches will be worn somewhere between six to twelve hours a day and then have a ‘rest’ period, but many watch rotators work almost non-stop with the result that the mainspring loses resiliency over a period of time. Ideally there should be around 600 rotations of the watch a day.
Wolf Designs has a rotator (Module 3.0) that works on a 24-hour time cycle providing 600 rotations a day over a time-span of 80 minutes. The 80 minutes of rotation are spread over four 30-minute intervals during the first six hours of the day. The remaining 18 hours are a rest period that allows the mainspring to unwind. The company produce several models starting at US$ 195 through to US$ 495 (a collector’s rotator), most of which are what they term as ‘foolproof’.

10-DAY CHRONOMETER by Franc Vila, PONTOS RECTANGULAIRE CHRONOGRAPHE by Maurice Lacroix, ROTATOR by Wolf Designs

Alongside Wolf Designs was Louis Erard and Alain Spinedi, the man behind the renaissance of the brand, took time out to explain that the brand has concentrated on both technical developments and improving certain details such as readability. There is a fine new, moderately priced Chronograph in the Heritage Collection, but the watch that caught my eye was the 1931 Classic GMT. In stainless steel (40 mm) equipped with an ETA 2892 with a TT651 module, it has a central small seconds hand, big date at 12 o’clock and a second time zone at 6 o’clock. The watch retails, amazingly, at under 2,000 Swiss francs.
Ten years ago I literally stumbled upon a tiny booth on the upper floor of Hall 1 and discovered some stainless steel and plastic watches decorated with diamonds. Amazed at the sight I chatted with their creator, Franck Dubarry, and wondered if this audacious watch designer would make it in this highly competitive industry. Today, the brand, TechnoMarine, is much more structured, Dubarry explained, and has increased business by 23% over last year. He also offered a few figures for thought: in the ten years TechnoMarine has been in business it has sold 2 million watches with a turnover of US$ 1 billion and used 500,000 carats of diamonds.
The brand’s main product remains watches, nevertheless, the brand now produces jewellery and leather goods. “We could have gone ‘bling’,” Franck Dubarry told me, “but that wasn’t us. We’ve come back to diamonds but its more in the jewellery sense than ‘bling’. We’re a lifestyle brand and we created a lifestyle market, so we have to be on top of the market. To do that we are also opening our own TechnoMarine shops in which there is a complete range of our products – which means producing around a 100 different references a year.”

Saturday, April 14
The British Masters booth is in Hall 4 and that’s where my day began … in the company of Carèle Giacobbo-Baudet of CGB-Communi-cation and Eric A. Loth, CEO of British Masters. British Masters is made up of the Graham and Arnold & Son brands, and Eric was made up in his specially made up jacket from the Union Jack flag. As he explained, “We only became a bona fide brand in 2001, prior to that we were more of a project. However, over the last three years sales have grown enormously - by 50% annually in our main markets of the USA, the U.K. and Italy.”
In the Graham Collection the Chronofighter collection dominates with the Oversize Overlord Mark III, the Oversize Diver and Commander and the superb 18 carat rose gold skeleton version. Other new models are the Grand Silverstone Luffield, a 44 mm stainless steel chronograph equipped with a Chronofighter bi-compax, flyback automatic Calibre G1721 movement, a carbon fibre bezel and a black rubber strap with a tyre-tread motif.
In the Arnold & Son Collection there’s the Hornet Worldtimer (47 mm) in rose gold, a complicated six-hands timepiece that not only indicates half-hour time zones, but also the mean solar time of any location according to the longitude. Another watch, the True Moon (46 mm) is powered by a world-first mechanism that is capable of keeping precise track of the true waxing and waning faces of the moon. This is achieved by calculating the exact synodal period corresponding to 29 days, 12 hours and 44 minutes. All that for only 14,850 Swiss francs in stainless steel and more or less double in 18 carat gold. As the man says, “It’s an astronomical achievement!”
The highlight, however, has to be the Grand Tourbillon Perpetual. This Limited Edition of 10 pieces in 18 carat rose gold (45 mm) is equipped with a hand-wound Calibre A1768 movement with a tourbillon at 6 o’clock, a perpetual calendar, equation of time, moon phases and leap year on the back of the watch. This comprehensive complication is available to the lucky few at a mere 240,000 Swiss francs.

At Fabergé, in the jewellery Hall of Visions, I kept my appointment to see their latest offerings. After shuffling around for a while I was placed at a little table just inside the entrance to the booth and a young lady carrying several platters of watches joined me. I managed to see the first watch but then a rather burly gentleman arrived saying, “Ich nehme diese …” and both he and the watches disappeared. I then did the same.
In the Hall of Dreams (Hall 1) the much-awaited Wyler Genève press conference opened with our friend and Australian correspondent Martin Foster acting as Master of Ceremonies. He introduced Marcello Binda who explained the 100-year old link between the Swiss watchmaker Paul Wyler and his grandfather Innocente Binda and then presented the new Wyler Genève collection. The Italian actress Maria Grazia Cucinotta, as bold and as well proportioned as the watch itself, then joined the presentation to the joy of all the red-blooded men in the audience.
After the press conference, Bruno Grande, the brand’s Sales and Marketing Director spent some time with me explaining the intricacies of the powerful looking Wyler Genève collection which included a very fine tourbillon in 18 carat red gold, a red gold chronograph (see Wyler Genève begins new era in Europa Star 2/2007) and a handsome Chronograph in titanium. However, it’s the unique sandwich protection system that gives the watch its sturdy look, a look vaguely reminiscent of both Bell & Ross and Formex models. Big and bold continues to have its admirers.
A couture company that has genuinely turned its attention to watchmaking, Dior once again presented some intriguing and fashionable timepieces. Accompanied by Carèle Giacobbo-Baudet again, we saw the brand’s evolution with the new Christal Chronograph in black and the La D de Dior Mitza, a jewellery watch in 18 carat yellow gold set with yellow sapphires on the bezel and black lacquered Mitza patterned dial. For the men there was the bold, uncluttered Chiffre Rouge model equipped with an automatic movement. The black grainy appearance of the case and bracelet is a specially developed Texin® by Bayer that is hypoallergenic and has a great resistance to heat and abrasion. Once again, black was the ‘in’ colour.
Tissot is big: 16,000 points of sale around the world with an estimated production of two million watches a year. So I spent at least an hour with Eric Tissot (sadly for him no relation) and Nicolas Clerc, the brand’s Product Manager, going through the vast 2007 collection of watches. This year, in addition to the obvious attention to sports watches (see 2007 – The year of the sports watch by Keith Strandberg) for which the brand is renowned, Tissot has paid a lot of attention to elegant mid-priced watches for the ladies. This year there are four new models of the Prince with its curved Art deco styling – but this time with the ladies in mind. The Generosi-T, an elegant rounded and curved ladies watch also caught my attention as did the T-Wave, the T-Touch Diamonds signed by Danica Patrick on the caseback, the T-Moments and the Nubya New Gold Collection. Although Tissot has always produced watches for the ladies, these models seem to indicate that the brand’s objectives are broadening.

Jaquet Droz produces exquisite watches. Over the last few years I have developed an appreciation for the brand’s aesthetic and technically pleasing timepieces. The Ligne Noir Absolu is a collection of six stunningly beautiful watches with various complications: Grande Seconde Medium, Grande Seconde Décentrée, Chrono Monopoussoir, Grande Date, Quantième Perpétuel and the Grand Seconde Céramique – all of which use an enamel that is as ‘black as black’ can be. Another fine collection is the series rendering ‘Hommage’ to certain towns and cities such as Hommage La Chaux-de-Fonds 1738 with a GMT model with date, small seconds and a 24-hour dial at 9 o’clock; Genève 1784 has La Date Astrale, offering a reinterpretation of solar and lunar time; Londres 1774 with a Grande Heure Minute Medium and L’Origine, the brand’s first steel watch to appear in an unlimited edition; then there’s my personal favourite, Paris 1785 with La Fleur de Lotus, a fabulously ornate piece of jewellery that tells the time - very clearly within the lotus flower which is set with a combination of black diamonds, pink or blue sapphires, amethysts and tsavorites depending on the model.
For anyone with a collection of Jaquet Droz’ mechanical timepieces or thinking of developing one, the brand has created La Malle – a collector’s item made in conjunction with Pinel & Pinel, the Parisian trunk-maker. The trunk is 1.5 metres high and is covered with ebony leather and lined with white leather, with black nickel-plated fittings of watchmaker’s brass and, inside, eight Jaquet Droz watches enamelled in the Noir Absolu Black. The watches come with interchangeable straps and are placed into subtly lighted niches along with a rotating device to wind the automatic timepieces.
To complete the fittings of the Malle, there is additional storage place for watches, a small workbench that can be stored away after use and the very latest digital products – a 17” I-Mac, 80 Mo I-Pod and docking station and a Harman Kardon sound system. The Malle with all its contents, costs 400,000 Swiss francs, which is not so exorbitant when you consider that it includes eight mechanical watches – one of which is a perpetual calendar model. Entirely handcrafted, the Malle is a unique concept in both the luxury travel and watchmaking worlds – in short, it’s a magnificent, slightly bulky, watch and jewellery case. It is on wheels though.

Sunday, April 15
My first appointment of the day was with Eric Oppliger, the genial Managing Director of Paul Picot. ‘Noblesse de détail’ is the Paul Picot philosophy and each and every mechanical piece in the brand’s offer, is rich in detail, technical complexity, and quality. As the founder, Mario Boiocchi, decreed years ago, Paul Picot watches must combine tradition with the latest technology, be unfazed by vacillating trends and not offer timepieces for mass consumption, but patiently wait for the demanding clientele and watch connoisseur.
In keeping with this philosophy, Paul Picot launched the new, technically exciting Atelier Collection. The metamorphosis of the collection is emphasized with the introduction of two dials being superimposed, offering an interesting range of shapes, colours and surface decorations and contrasts. The new collection uses three COSC chronometer movements: the PP1100, an automatic movement with regulator display, power reserve indicator, circular calendar and small seconds hand; the PP1200, an automatic movement with power reserve indicator, circular calendar and central seconds; the Classic, an automatic movement with central hours, minutes and seconds hands and a big date at 3 o’clock. The 42 mm cases are, as always, hand-fluted.
One of the new watches is the intriguing Atelier Squelette ‘Open Face’. Equipped with the PP1100 Calibre movement it is available in either 18 carat rose or white gold. But the most impressive is the resplendent Atelier Tourbillon. This timepiece, Eric Oppliger explained, employs a mechanical two-barrel movement with a 5-day power reserve that is clearly displayed between 4 and 6 o’clock, a retrograde date display at 2 o’clock with its corresponding corrector pushbutton at 2 o’clock and a small seconds-hand on the 60-second tourbillon at 9 o’clock. The bridges and dial have the exclusive Paul Picot ‘Côtes visantes’ wave decoration and there is a sapphire crystal front and back. The Tourbillon is available in two Limited Editions of 25 pieces in 18 carat rose or white gold.
For lovers of the brand’s Technograph, launched two years ago at BaselWorld, there is now a magnificently bold gold and blackened steel version that will certainly appeal to lovers of original chronographs and enhance even the most savage of wrists.
Paul Picot constantly seeks to perfect its classical, elegant timepieces both aesthetically and mechanically using the finest technology and watchmakers. The result is that watch aficionados can now find the brand’s exports in exclusive retailers in 36 countries.

The Marvin Watch Company, founded in 1850, has found a new lease of life as a part of the Time Avenue Group in the mid-priced segment and an impressive collection was shown in a venue outside the Fair. Dimitra Fréchelin, the brand’s Marketing Manager, explained how its watch designers picked out several of the details from the original Marvin watches and incorporated them into totally new designs in watches with jumping hours, retrograde displays etc. Made in Switzerland the watches have either quartz or mechanical movements with reminders of past glory such as the original three-pointed crown logo and leather straps bordered in Marvin red and the 8 o’clock hour marker always appears in the Marvin red.
I met up with Cindy Livingston, the power behind the throne of Guess Watches and the new President and CEO of Sequel, (based in Zug) the new Swiss company and licensee for jewellery. Cindy is also the CEO of the distribution arm based in Connecticut, USA. As Cindy explains, “We are now a Swiss based company and have recently been accepted into the Swiss federation with the Gc brand. I report to the Chairman of the Board of Olsen Industries and Sequel is a separate subsidiary of the Timex group.”
After seeing the presentation of the latest models over a delicious lunch on the Guess booth, I remain in awe at the speed with which the seasonal models are designed and put into production, sold and distributed.
At 6.30 the finals of the selection for Guess’s Faces took place, a rousing and high-spirited event in the special marquee set up outside the Fair. Hosted by Cindy Livingston and Paul Marciano, one of the Guess founders, the final was the conclusion to months of selecting faces from a cast of some 75,000 young men and women worldwide. Hundreds of people, mainly the male of the species, cheered the revealing shapes of the models – and I’m not talking watches here. Needless to say, for once the upper echelon of Europa Star were alongside me.

Monday, April 16
As always seems the case, de Grisogono was a bustling hive of industry. Magnificent watches and jewellery were being shown in every nook and cranny on the booth, so it was with some surprise that Michele Reichenbach and Laure Monney found time and space to show me the brand’s latest models. As expected the Instrumento Novantatre (see Europa Star 1/2007) was causing a sensation – especially the one set with baguette diamonds. The new Piccolina bangle watch in 18 carat white or rose gold set with pink sapphires or white and black diamonds, is also eye-catching. However, it was the latest ‘be eight’ model that had me drooling. In rose gold with its accompanying bracelet it is subtly set with white and brown diamonds and shimmers elegantly and brilliantly from every angle.
Before having a hurried lunch with Isabelle Corigny of Bell & Ross, I checked out the new BR01 models that we illustrated in Europa Star 2/2007. They are all powerful 46 mm watches and the Limited Edition Tourbillon and the BR01 Titanium Orange Chronograph are superb timepieces. The Phantom, with its ghostly black appearance is surprisingly readable – especially when its photo luminescent numerals and indices appear out of the darkness. Again, the powerful black look of the watches underline the fashion for black at BaselWorld.
After lunch, I headed into Hall 5 to meet up with Pierre Dubois, the CEO of Pierre DeRoche. Founded in 2004, Dubois faced quite a challenge in creating a new brand dedicated to high-end watchmaking. The watches are a mixture of creativity and watchmaking tradition with, from time to time, just a little provocation. Already in Japan with 11 points-of-sale, Hong Kong and Russia, Pierre Dubois is now discussing with representatives from the USA, Italy, France and Spain, although he says, “The Germans are not in sight!”
The Splitrock Collection, which includes the Concentric Chronograph, was an instant hit among watch aficionados and this year’s Big Numbers, with its large raised numerals, guilloché dial and exclusive self-winding Dubois Dépraz movement is superb. But the model that I found particularly appealing was the ladies’ Shiny Pebbles Waves. There are various diamond-set forms of waves on the dials, but the model illustrated is set with 94 diamonds and has a blue sapphire cabochon set into the crown. The watch is equipped with a quartz movement. After three years of solid development, Pierre DeRoche is now being taken seriously as an innovative and daring watchmaker.
I’d missed an appointment (part and parcel of BaselWorld’s rich pattern) with Vanessa Conde of Kriëger Chronomètres Suisses, but being a charming and very patient lady, all was forgiven when I finally got there. Founded by Ira Krieger and Lance Burstyn twenty years ago, the brand has attracted a very hip audience in the USA for its large, colourful and often bling-styled timepieces. The targeted audience is the 35 to 55 year old sportsmen and women, but as times and tastes change, their outsize products are catching on with the in-crowd.
Typical of the brand’s collections is the 43 mm Gigantium Automatic Chronograph. Powerfully black, equipped with an ETA A07 self-winding movement, the watch is made in Switzerland and meets all the requirements of a standard chronograph. A fun brand with quite a following amongst the sports and showbiz stars in the USA and one that could catch on in Europe’s ‘big’ climate.

Tuesday, April 17
With Tuesday being my last day at BaselWorld, I was hoping to have some free time to simply wander the corridors and discover someone or something that somehow other journalists had overlooked. I was mistaken. But I did discover some fabulous timepieces that illustrated just how creative and technically brilliant watch companies are today: the superlative bold, black and gold DefyExtreme Gold Tourbillon from Zenith (see Holy horology by Pierre Maillard); the Patravi Chronograde (44 mm) from Carl F. Bucherer, a time machine of infinite technical beauty with its automatic chronograph with fly-back function, Big Date, annual calendar, power reserve indicator, and retrograde hours totalizer. A black dial and black leather strap makes it a member of the ever-enlarging ‘black is beautiful’ club; the TreRetrograde Seconds Skeleton from Milus, a notable mecha-nical automatic skeleton chronograph set with diamonds and its Apiana Chronograph, with its unusually-formed pushbuttons and elegantly ornate numerals that will have caught the attention of many a retailer.

Then there’s Rolex. Quietly going about their business of manufacturing and selling around 800,000 watches a year, we seldom see revolutionary additions to their collections, more a sedate evolution with the addition of new technical features or modified aesthetic details. And yet …
This year Rolex introduced its remarkable Yacht Master II, classified by the brand as ‘an indispensable tool at the starting of regattas’. In fact, it is the first mechanical regatta watch with a programmable countdown feature with a mechanical memory. This new Rolex complication stems from the brand’s horological expertise and benefits directly from the vertical integration the company has been pursuing over the last ten years.
The Yacht Master II is equipped with a new 4160 Calibre movement with a blue Parachrom® hairspring with a Breguet overcoil which makes it insensitive to magnetic fields and up to ten times more resistant to shock. The new mechanical programmable countdown function with its memory system makes it possible for the wearer to select, in advance and permanently, unless modified, the countdown time for the start of a regatta. Various minute starting sequences can be programmed.
The watch comes in either 18 carat yellow or white gold (42.6 mm) with a Ring Command bezel that rotates 90º and allows access to the programming of the countdown function and the locking of the program. The central red hand indicates the countdown seconds, the minute countdown counter is between 8 and 4 o’clock and small seconds appear at 6 o’clock. And so BaselWorld ended for me with a Rolex revolution. Now that’s something to be savoured.
The evening, however, offered another minor revolution: Europa Star, your favourite watch magazine, hosted an informal ‘do’ in Basel’s Safran Zunft to celebrate 80 years of continual publication … a remarkable feat in anybody’s language. From what I can remember, a great time was had by all, with food and drinks in abundance, dancing and a live band to drown out any business talk. For those of you curious enough to delve into the evening’s shenanigans, photos of the evening can be seen on www.europastar.com. Geneva, Wednesday April 18
After a three-hour train trip back to Geneva, I visited Gianmaria Buccellati, a brand founded 250 years ago that was exhibiting in one of the cities best hotels. Welcomed by Paolo Carrion, Managing Director and then joined by the elegant, erudite and charming Gianmaria Buccellati, I was given a presentation of the latest watch collection designed by Mr Buccellati himself, an intricate and delicately series of precious metal watches with gem-setting or engraved motifs. Generously Italian and Florentine in styling, these timeless timepieces pay tribute to man and his love of Italian craftsmanship and design.

SIHH, Thursday/Friday April 19-20
Probably the most important news concerning Panerai is the launch of not one, but four new ‘manufacture’ movements which were magnified and projected on models on the internal walls of the booth: the P2002 8 Days GMT – manual winding; the P2003 10 Days GMT – automatic; the P2004 8 Days GMT Chrono Monopoussoir – manual winding and the P2005 6 Days GMT Tourbillon – manual winding. These four movements will equip the future Panerai watches and to tempt Panerai aficionados, there’s the 45 mm Radiomir 10 Days GMT in pink gold. Also new was the Radiomir Black Seal – yet another bold, black timepiece.
Audemars Piguet, inextricably associated with Alinghi and the America’s Cup at the moment as a major sponsor of the team, also manufactures watches associated with the race such as the new Royal Oak Offshore Alinghi Team Chronograph. It’s a bit of a mouthful when asking for it at your local retailer, but this big, bold, black ‘forged carbon’ timepiece (44 mm) has for functions: hours, minutes, flyback chronograph with regatta start function (central red seconds hand) and regatta countdown aperture at 3 o’clock which turns progressively red. The watch is equipped with a hand-decorated Calibre 2326/2848 self-winding movement with a 40-hour power reserve.
Needless to say, there were other marvellous creations such as the Millenary with Deadbeat Seconds and the Millenary Starlit Sky Collection, but let’s save those for another occasion.

Baume & Mercier has been enjoying a genuine renaissance in the last couple of years and Alexander Wensky, Brand Manager, explained that there had been a 30% growth in retailer sell-out in Switzerland (sales to consumers) between January and April this year. Considered to be one of the world’s most difficult markets, Switzerland has rekindled its interest in the brand and whereas Baume & Mercier languished in tenth position just two years ago, it is now in fifth position.
Enjoying continuing success with its sporty Riviera collection, the brand presented the Hampton XL Magnum, measuring 45 x 34.1 mm, with a self-winding Soprod TT651 movement with dual time zone hour and minute display at 6 o’clock and a large date at 12 o’clock just below the Phi brand symbol. From the orders taken during the SIHH, this dominantly black stainless steel timepiece with its rubber strap and water-resistance to 200 metres, is destined for greatness.
Piaget, as always, offered a beautiful selection of watches that were as close to being jewellery as watches can get – in fact the brand’s Limelight Party watches are actually disguised as jewellery using either a swivel-over white gold and onyx cover or six diamond-set mobile rings. The watch that I found the most amusingly creative though was the Piaget Altiplano. A large elegant creation with an 18 carat white gold case set with 78 brilliant-cut diamonds (0.7 carats) on the bezel, it has a midnight blue dial set with luminescent smarties-like spangles of varying colours and a blue satin strap. The watch is equipped with an ultra-thin Manufacture Piaget 430P mechanical hand-wound movement with a 40-hour power reserve. A fun, jewelled timepiece for possible chocoholics.
Arnd Einhorn, the Press and Public Relations Director of Lange & Söhne, proudly showed me the brand’s latest masterpiece – the Lange 31. Unbelievably elegant with a large date, power reserve indicator and small seconds, this timepiece has a hitherto unheard of power reserve of 31 days. To store the huge amount of required power, there are two stacked mainspring barrels with an inside diameter of 25 millimetres and the two mainsprings (each 1.85 metres long) are five to ten times longer than in conventional movements. Winding with a normal crown is impossible, consequently, Lange’s watchmakers have used ‘key technology’ previously used in historic pocket watches, whereby a square key is inserted through an aperture in the sapphire crystal caseback. A torque limiter prevents over-winding. This timepiece requires a lengthier explanation, which, hopefully, we will be able to give you in a forthcoming issue of the magazine. Suffice it to say that the Lange 31 goes down in the annals of watchmaking history.
In the watch world, Cartier stands for tradition, innovation and style and this year’s selection was no different. Consequently it’s difficult to decide which watch to use to illustrate the brand’s savoir faire. The Rotonde Grande Complication with tourbillon, perpetual calendar, single-button pushbutton and 8-day power reserve or the deliciously miniature Art Deco Tank and Tonneau Cordons in 18 carat white gold set with princess-cut diamonds? Since the choice is mine, I’m going to plump for the Ronde Excentrée from the Cartier Libre Collection: a round 18 carat white gold case, with the hours and minutes in the lower segment of the case, a hole at 12 o’clock, liberally sprinkled with diamonds on all the surfaces (276 round diamonds weighing around 4.1 carats) with the exception of the silvered sunray dial – now that’s a typical Cartier tour de force.

Back in the office
Having covered the Basel show for twenty-eight years and the SIHH for the seventeen years since its founding, I have seen dramatic changes and multiple innovations in both the watch industry and the trade. Today, the brands constantly and brilliantly develop their products from both the technical and design standpoint. And yet, arguably, the most important evolution in that time has come from outside the professional enclave - the consumer - those invisible men and women who regularly put their hand forever deeper into their pockets in order to purchase a watch.
Of course, this brings us to that eternal question, what came first, the chicken or the egg? Would today’s consumer be ‘consuming’ at such a rate if the watches hadn’t been so technically innovative. Would they be changing watches on an almost daily basis if Swatch and the fashion brands hadn’t moved onto the scene with their inexpensive, trendy timepieces, thus stimulating the more conventional brands into greater attention to aesthetics? Or does it all boil down to the power of advertising and the fortunes spent on endorsements by James Bond-styled thespians, brilliant sports people, or faces that could launch a thousand ships like Maria Sharapova, Sharon Stone, George Clooney or Uma Thurman?
‘Whatever you please, my little dears: You pays your money and you takes your choice.
Your pays your money and what you see … is a cow or a donkey, just as you pleases.’

Source: Europa Star June - July 2007 Magazine Issue