Most years after our annual pilgrimage to BaselWorld, we look back at the watches we have seen, admired, laughed at or simply ignored and try to make head or tail of the effect these thousands of timepieces will have when they suddenly appear in retailers’ display windows, illustrated in the various specialized magazines or splashed across the pages of our local and national papers as eye-catching advertisements.
Also, we invariably underline the ‘optimism’ that we were informed reigned throughout the Swiss exhibitors and that there were ‘excellent results’ and ‘the order books are full’. Confirmation this year was underlined by François Thiébaud, the President of the Swiss Exhibitors Committee and member of the Swatch Group Executive Group Management Board responsible for
Tissot, Mido, Certina, Swatch Group Brazil and the Swiss market: “2011 appears to be following in the footsteps of 2008, the industry’s benchmark year for its remarkable results. The question no longer seems to be one of sales, but of keeping up with production over the year.” He concluded with, “This was an excellent show for us. We achieved splendid sales, and we feel a great sense of satisfaction. BaselWorld’s global reach has played a key role in this over the past few days.”
This year there were 627 watch brands exhibiting, 307 of them Swiss. These figures not only underline the international status and import-ance of BaselWorld but also emphasize the competition the Swiss brands are confronted with by 320 non-Swiss brands mainly in the lower and mid-price ranges. It also explains why, even with the best of intentions, it is impossible to write about each and every exhibitor.
Sifting through this year’s offering I tried to be selectively objective but quickly discovered that in the final analysis my selection is purely subjective: they were watches that I liked or admired for either their beauty, simplicity or their mechanical complications that I found meaningful and, importantly, could comprehend – not technically, but their raison d’être. Moreover, the people associated with the timepieces are inextricably a part of my selection.
Consequently, I haven’t been scathing about any of the myriad timepieces that I didn’t like or appreciate – why waste time and words. Having said that, I will admit to an horological aversion: I am not usually enamoured with skeleton watches no matter how clever or technically brilliant they are, espec-ially anything that appears to have been assembled from a re-usable Meccano set. I can handle models with a small aperture that shows the ‘heart’ of the watch as it has been dubbed and I love the sight of a tourbillon toiling to tranquilize the effects of gravity, but when it comes to trying to discern the hour, minute and seconds hands through a mass of nuts, bolts, trains and bridges instead of on, for example, a beautiful white enamel dial, there’s a stumbling block.
I probably need psychoanalysis.
Press Day
After the usual cup of coffee, croissant and innumerable handshakes at the BaselWorld Press Conference, the speeches began. Mainly self-congratulatory and heavily sprinkled with so-called meaningful statistics with more percentages and numbers than Fermat’s Last Theorem, journalists from around the world either began to nod, mumble amongst themselves or fiddle nervously with their headphones in the hope that one of the simultaneous language translation channels would tune in to a local FM music station.
Jacques Duchêne, Chairman of the Exhibitors’ Committee, rightly extolled the benefits of BaselWorld (more of that later) and Gaetano Cavalieri, the President of CIBJO, The World Jewellery Confederation, summed the industry’s situation up with the pertinent phrase, “… the only constant in our business is change.’
Antoine Martin
My first visit of the day was to the newly formed company Antoine Martin. Founded only in the autumn of last year it unites Martin Braun, a brilliant watchmaker who needs little or no introduction, Antoine Meier an entrepreneur who also provided the other part of the brand name and Bruno Jufer as CEO.
Jufer, who possesses an impressive curriculum vitae – Maurice Lacroix, Jaquet Droz, Zenith and Carl f. Bucherer – explained the company’s objectives. “Our watches are a distillation of all our expertise, the desire to create technically innovative movements and a passion for unique design. There was no question of purchasing a name from the past and renovating it since we have the know-how and talent to develop and create watches that are the products of our own watchmakers and we are not obliged to follow a pre-defined path. Our independence can already be seen in our first collection and will continue to be seen with all of our future products.”
Martin Braun was not around when I was visiting, but in a recent communiqué he stated, “We set out every day in search of new ideas and ways of incorporating them in watch movement design: we aim to go beyond existing boundaries and to give unconventional ideas a chance.”
The first offering, a Perpetual Calendar, is in either 18-carat rose or white gold, or in a black DLC-coated stainless steel. The powerful looking case fits very snugly on to the wrist and comprises 84 components and the dial combines a modern guilloché with applied numerals and day, month and leap year indications, all of which contribute to the watch having a three-dimensional appearance. The movement designed and produced entirely in-house, is a manual winding Calibre AM 30.001 with twin mainsprings to ensure a 6-day power reserve, with innovations such as aerodynamic amplitude stabilization, a newly developed silicium Swiss lever escapement and an eye-catching titanium balance measuring a full 17.5 mm in diameter.
With prices ranging from 48,000 Swiss francs for the stainless steel version and 72,000 for the 18-carat gold versions, Antoine Martin watches have daringly been launched directly into the upper echelons of Swiss timepieces. Although the price may be justified, one can’t help wondering whether or not the economic environment will be friendly enough, soon enough to ensure that the brand enjoys the success it merits. One can only hope.
QUANTIÈME PERPETUAL by Antoine Martin, BR 01 TOURBILLON AIRBORNE by
Bell & Ross
Bell & Ross
I like
Bell & Ross watches. I liked the Space 1 and 3 models, the Bomb Disposal Type and the Vintage 123 Heure, but I must admit having had doubts in 2005 when they first introduced the BR 01 model, not because of its audacious military-style design that was in keeping with the brand’s DNA, but because I wasn’t convinced that the watch public were ready for it’s imposing dimensions. How wrong can you be? Not only were they ready, but also it has taken on an iconic status within the industry to the point where the idiom ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’ can be applied.
This year I bumped into Carlos Rosillo going to his stand dressed in an elegant light grey flannel suit with a pocket watch in his top pocket attached to a chain running through the buttonhole of the lapel of his jacket. With a smile he lifted the Vintage PW1 (49 mm) from the pocket, as he proffered his wrist for me to see the Vintage WW1 Réserve de Marche (45 mm) wristwatch proclaiming, “ From the pocket to the wrist.”
The Vintage PW1 pocket or fob watch is in polished steel with a black dial and photoluminescent hands, indices and numerals and is equipped with a manual-winding mechanical ETA 6497 movement. The Vintage WW1 wristwatch has the same features with a power reserve indicator at 7 o’clock. Both timepieces are in keeping with the
Bell & Ross styling and philosophy representing in this case military neo-classicism.
Later on I met up with Christel Kadian,
Bell & Ross’s press relations lady, and was a little surprised by the innovative BR 01 Red Radar, a Limited Edition timepiece that was inspired by air traffic control radar screens. Using three independent concentric discs instead of hands, the time is read via luminous beams that indicate hours, minutes and seconds. With its mat-black dial and red discs it is reminiscent of a radar screen and is a technically interesting addition to the brand’s collections. Surprisingly, the time is easy to decipher.
Next came the BR 01 Tourbillon Airborne, an impressive timepiece that combines the expected military symbolism associated with the brand and genuine watchmaking prowess since it has a tourbillon set beneath the skull and crossbones, a precision indicator, a regulator and a power reserve indicator. The case is in ‘phantom black’ titanium and is equipped with a self-winding mechanical ETA 2892 movement visible through the sapphire caseback. It measures that characteristic 46 mm but is easy on the wrist.
The new Aviation BR S Heritage and BR S Steel are two new models that I predict will be a commercial success. The S in the reference refers to ‘smaller, sleeker and smarter’, and will appeal to a whole new generation of watch aficionados since the watches measure 39 mm but look deceptively larger. The Heritage model is in mat black ceramic inspired by the instrument panels in the cockpit, has sand-coloured hands, indices and numerals and a sand-coloured natural leather strap to maintain that desired military look.
The BR S Steel on the other hand is pure el-egance: polished satin-finish, black dial with photoluminescent white hands, indices and numerals and small seconds at 6 o’clock. The models I saw are equipped with a quartz ETA movement making them much slimmer and lighter for the wearer. It should be a very good year for the brand.
Official Opening Day
HD3 launched its Slyde claiming that the timepiece ‘was a revolution in universal time.’ So it was with a certain eagerness that I met up with Jorg Hysek who had already presented Slyde in Geneva in January and Pierre Maillard had mentioned it in his report on the week’s revelations in Europa Star 1/2011.
Slyde is a fascinating concept that brings all styles and mechanical complications to a single case using brilliant and very sophisticated technology that allows the user to surf through various watch applications by sliding one’s finger across the tactile screen either vertically or horizontally, much like you would do on an iphone or the various smartphones.
Basically what this means is that you can have a ‘watch computer’ on your wrist and change its appearance to suit your whim or the occasion. Additionally, via Internet you can recharge and download customized models.
I like Jorg Hysek. He is an original in the watch world and he has had to overcome many difficulties and disappointments over the last few years that would have destroyed a lesser man.
Having re-built his business and then faced yet another crisis when his movement manufacturer went bankrupt, Hysek turned to the avant-garde, the creation of a virtual watch – ‘whose only limits are the boundaries of the imagination.’
The illustrations here show the creative concept and the finished timepiece and I sincerely hope that it is successful – there’s certainly been great interest in Slyde. However, I can’t help feeling that watch aficionados want something mechanical rather than computerized. If the target audience is the younger generation of computer whiz kids, then I’m not sure that they will be prepared to spend the type of money that
HD3
is asking for Slyde when they have a similar styled tool that not only gives a visual reading of the time, but also acts as a telephone, a Global Positioning System (GPS) and encyclopaedia. So who’s left – overpaid bankers, millionaires, the man that already has everything? I can certainly see it being used at Wostep or other horological schools where it would have obvious educational advantages in training young watchmakers. But what worries me most of all is that by this time next year, someone in China will have come up with a clone that will be priced low enough to attract the kid next door.
Champagne and a sarnie
Lunchtime on the opening day means the annual press conference at the stands of Frederique Constant and Alpina with champagne (orange juice for the abstemious) and canapés during the presentation by Peter Stas, the brands’ CEO.
Frederique Constant is very much involved in various classic car events such as the Peking to Paris Motor Challenge, consequently it came as no real surprise that the brand introduced a Vintage Racing Chronograph (43 mm) in stainless steel with different dial options. Equipped with a Calibre FC-396 movement which is visible through the caseback, it has the Peking to Paris logo engraved on the watch’s rotor. A Junior Ladies Collection was also presented with very elegant 26 mm stainless steel watches with guilloché and mother-of-pearl dials, or even one with diamond-set indices.
The new Alpina Startimer Pilot Collection however, was what I personally found the most interesting. Inspired by the original Alpina designs from the 20s and 30s of the last century, the first model in the collection is a basic three-hand date with an automatic Calibre AL-525 movement; then there is a model with an off-centre date hand using an in-house Calibre AL-710 automatic movement; there’s an automatic chronograph model with a Calibre AL-860 movement and finally the watch that caught my eye, the Startimer Pilot Regulator (44 mm) with a circular date counter situated at 6 o’clock and the hour indicator between 9 and 11 o’clock. Equipped with an automatic Calibre AL-950 movement with a 42-hour power reserve, this handsome timepiece is destined to a great future – well at least to the 8,888 pieces of the Limited Edition.
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