Earlier this year in Geneva watch retailers at SIHH debuted the finest five- and six-figure mechanical timepieces in the world.
We saw the world’s thinnest mechanical watch from Piaget, the first diving watch from Cartier, Breva fascinations that foretold weather and measured barometric pressure, and a once-in-a-lifetime Midnight Planetarium from Van Cleef that held an entire galaxy under its dome.
It was a good year for navy and rose gold, for perpetual calendars, and for things made especially with women in mind.
But there’s more to see for the rest of the year, and now the party’s in Basel.
BaselWorld 2014 is different from the SIHH show in that it is (1) open to the public and (2) welcoming to rather more mass luxury brands (SIHH is open only to those brands owned by
More 150,000 people will fill the conference halls over the course of the week, plus high-profile buyers from, most notably, Japan, Dubai, Qatar, Mexico and Hong Kong. Plus hundreds of journalists and editors of note. Last year Benjamin Clymer, the young watch-world rockstar editor of Hodinkee, drove there from Paris with a Mercedes 250 CLS
There are meetings all day before extravagant and/or intimate dinners at night (Hermes,
Ah yes, the watches. This year in Basel expect to see a new Seamaster Co-Axial Master Chronometer from Omega, a racing-inspired chronograph from indie darling Pita Barcelona, plenty of ladies’ watches from Hermes and Christophe Claret, mysteriously thin pieces form Bulgari, lots of monochrome from Tudor, and plenty of new interesting complications (see: Arnold & Son). There’s also some hype about what Harry Winston will bring to show after its recent purchase by Swatch Group.
It’s going to be fun. Stay tuned.
Click on the slideshow above for photos.
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