SWATCH
This year’s premiere product for Swatch is the Colour Codes in the Lady Collection, an interesting colourful collection of quartz timepieces in plastic with extra long Lady Double Tour straps. At 50 CHF, this is the kind of trendy, fashion watch that all ladies, young and not so young, can add to their collection, in many different colours.
Other new collections just launched include a selection of ‘Gents Originals’ and a fun, new ‘Chrono Plastic’ line. A Wild Animal collection (from the Gent Originals range) sports black and white zebra-striped straps in sporty silicon material, dials in a choice of fluorescent red, yellow, orange, blue or green, and a clear plastic case. A second series of Gents Originals includes a range of plastic straps and cases printed with brightly coloured snake skin motifs. And last, but not least, a Chrono Plastic collection with sporty black straps and dials with vividly coloured indexes and hands complete a fun and colourful selection for Swatch for BaselWorld.

ZEBRA and SNAKE LINE and CHRONO PLASTIC by Swatch

CERTINA
Bright and contemporary, the latest in the DS Podium series, the new DS Podium Lady, is a tribute to active ladies energetically dividing their life between office, home and social settings. With its bezel delicately embellished by one Top Wesselton/SI diamond for every hour of a woman’s busy day, the timepiece is finished in rose-gold PVD-coated stainless steel and is the ideal companion for every sporty occasion, day or night.
The big rose-gold PVD numerals and faceted indices mark time on an elegant mother-of-pearl dial, enclosed in a slanted rim for the seconds. Gently rounded horns add to the design’s overall harmony and femininity, and the watch is completed by a snake-finish leather strap in dark brown, joined by a rose-gold PVD-coated butterfly clasp.
The DS Podium Lady features the DS concept and is therefore water resistant up to 100 metres, and it boasts a sapphire crystal and protected crown. The stainless steel version, with its tasteful mother-of-pearl dial is set off by black nickelled indexes and Arabic numerals, carries either a black crocodile-finish strap or a three-row fully polished 316L stainless steel bracelet for a more rugged feel.

DS PODIUM LADY by Certina, OCEAN STAR CAPTAIN and BARONCELLI by Mido

MIDO
This year at BaselWorld, Mido reinterprets several watches that have been in their line for decades. The first is the Multifort Chronograph, based on the original which was first introduced in 1934. The new Multifort Chronograph features an ETA Valjoux 7750 movement and a diameter of 44 mm, a thickness of 14.50 mm and water-resistance up to 100 metres.
Mido debuted the Ocean Star collection in 1944, and this year Mido introduces an all-new model - the Ocean Star Captain. Robust and very reliable, this automatic watch features a sea-blue dial in monochrome relief that calls to mind the ocean waves.
Mido’s second-oldest collection, the Ocean Star quickly acquired a reputation as a pion-eer among water-resistant watches. Today, the new Ocean Star is water-resistant to 200 metres and includes a unidirectional rotating bezel and a screw-down crown, all attributes of serious water sports watches.
One other key introduction for Mido is the Baroncelli III Rose Gold, an exclusive COSC-certified chronometer in 18-carat rose gold, with an engine-turned silvered dial. Sized at an elegant 38mm, this timepiece is also available in a two-tone version with a gold bezel.

As you can see, the Swatch Group offering is as strong as ever and as diverse, with timepieces ranging from Swatch to Blancpain, and every price category in between. For the other Swatch brands not featured here see our full reports in our next issue 04/2011.

• Swatch Group – Part 1 : The group, the brands, BLANCPAIN and BREGUET
• Swatch Group – Part 2 : JAQUET DROZ and OMEGA
• Swatch Group – Part 3 : LONGINES and HAMILTON
• Swatch Group – Part 4 : TISSOT and RADO

Source: Europa Star April - May 2011 Magazine Issue