On March 23, the next Baselworld forum starts at the Messe exhibition complex, which will determine the main directions and trends of the watch industry for the next year. The first industrial exhibition in Basel, including a section dedicated to watches, took place exactly one hundred years ago, back in 1917, and only in 1931 it was transformed into a professional watch fair.
The main informational reason for brands is all kinds of round (or not so) dates: from the anniversary of the company to the anniversary of the launch of key collections and models. The current one was no exception. The Longines watch house, run by the permanent Walter von Kähnel for almost 30 years, celebrates its 185th anniversary: in 1832, Auguste Agassi organized a company for the production and sale of watches in Saint-Imier. The Flagship Heritage 60th Anniversary watch, dedicated to the original 1957 model, became the first anniversary “swallow”. Omegacelebrates 60 years of the famous Speedmaster chronograph. The rugged case construction, high-precision movement and tachymetric scale have made this watch a reliable tool for working in space: since 1965, the Speedmaster has been on the wrist of all Apollo astronauts. The new Speedmaster Racing Master Chronometer reminds of the connection to the world of motorsport - remember that the first "speedmasters" in 1957 were created for racers. The watch is distinguished by a “racing” minute scale and an automatic caliber with a Master Chronometer certificate.
Chanel marks the 30th anniversary of the watch business. The body of the first Premiere from 1987 was shaped like the Place Vendome and the cork of the legendary perfume bottle # 5. In a short time, the recognizable octagon has become a hallmark of Chanel's fine watchmaking skills: the Première Camélia Skeleton is powered by the first women's in-house caliber Caliber 2. The skeletonized mechanism has an openwork camellia shape.
All self-respecting watch brands formulate their style tenets, masterfully inscribing each new model in them. Bell & Ross was inspired by the Bauhaus association for the laconic design of the square aircraft watch. BR03-92 Horograph is reminiscent of clocks in airport terminals, while BR03-92 Horolum is inspired by the illuminated runway.
Famous waterproof chronograph Blancpain - Bathyscaphe Fifty Fathoms - appeared in version trehstrelochnika diameter of 38 mm with a proprietary blue dial and bezel color of the deep sea. The first diver's watch appeared in the Chopard Happy Sport collection. The 40-mm steel case of Happy Ocean is water-resistant up to 300 meters, the luminescent markings are clearly visible on the dark blue dial, and five "floating" diamonds resemble air bubbles. The iconic Dior VIII Montaigne line has been replenished with a “seasonal” model, completely inspired by the spring / summer collection of new Dior designer Maria-Grazia Chiuri.
The Jaquet Droz manufactory has prepared a new complex women's watch. Grande Seconde Tourbillon Mother-of-Pearl is a signature “eight” dial, in the upper of which there is not only a large second hand, but also a tourbillon. For the first time in the history of Jaquet Droz, the fork and coil are made of silicon. The main units of the Breguet Tradition Dame ladies watch movement are also made of silicon. The open movement is housed in a rose gold case. Tissot designers decorated the dials of the ladies' T-Wave models with diamond waves, while the Harry Winston watchmakers recreated a miniature of cherry blossoms from pink sapphires and diamonds on the Avenue Classic Cherry Blossom dial.
Bulgari develops the successful men's line Octo. The new version of the Octo Roma has a smoother faceted case (58 edges instead of 110), which houses the in-house Caliber BVL 191 Solotempo movement. A rose gold model with a brown sunburst dial looks really stylish and expensive. Rado ceramics are dyed with noble tones, so ultra-thin, less than 5 mm thick, True Thinline Colors watches appeared in a monochrome range of ink-blue, grass-green, ash-gray and chocolate shades. Following the resounding success of last year's Presage Automatic Chronograph with Seiko Enamel Dialcreated the entire Presage Enamel collection with delicate roman and numerals on a milky enamel background. The new fusion formula for the iconic Hublot Classic Fusion collection was created with the participation of Lapo Elkan and his company Italia Independent, as well as the Sartoria Rubinacci tailor atelier from Naples. The dials and straps of the chronographs were adorned with original costume fabrics with the "Houndstooth" and "Prince of Wales" designs. Pre-Basel Sixties Iconic Square chronographs are marked with unusually bright multicolored dials.
The Glashutte Original manufactory coincided with this premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, where the brand debuted as a main partner. Breitling continues the series of brutal men's chronographs Avenger Hurricane: the new "military model" Military with the in-house Breitling caliber B12 in the case of innovative Breitlight composite has been released in 1,000 pieces. Two years ago, TAG Heuer made a splash in Basel with the Carrera Heuer-01 skeletonized automatic chronograph, which costs less than CHF 5,000. The 12-piece steel modular case has now been reduced to 43 mm and all chronograph parts have been accented with red color accents.
Independent watchmaker Christophe Claret has created a new version of the X-TREM-1 watch, launched five years ago: two hollow spheres move inside transparent sapphire tubes under the influence of magnetic fields, the hour and minute scales are applied to the sides of the titanium case. The audience's favorite Max Büsser has prepared a new Legacy Machine for the exhibition. The LM2 Ti is made of titanium and has a lacquered navy-colored dial, over which symmetrically positioned balance wheels of two adjusters float.
Russian watchmaker and inventor Konstantin Chaikin investigated how emotional the classic watch with hands is: "they smile with restraint at 10:10 and 13:50 and moderately sad at 15:40 and 20:20." His new Joker watch with dial hours and minutes that serve as "eyes" is capable of demonstrating over 20 thousand different grimaces and grimaces!>
