I’ve been attending Baselworld for more than a quarter of a century now, so it is pretty hard to surprise me when I show up at a brand’s stand to see the new timepieces. But at Baselworld 2016 I was surprised by Seiko, de Grisogono, Chanel, and Romain Gauthier. Read on to find out what exactly these surprises were.
The age old themes of mortality and time comprise the starting point of Fiona Krüger’s Skulls. However, these are not your run-of-the-mill memento mori. The Petit Skulls are quirky, interesting, and beautiful in their own special way. And they do something that is very near and dear to my own heart: they highlight the beauty of the mechanical movement.
On March 25, 2016 the Rolling Stones will perform in Cuba for the very first time. And to celebrate this milestone in the history of the band (and history in general), Zenith presents the Christophe Colomb Tribute to The Rolling Stones. If you’re a fan of high watchmaking and a fan of this brand, you will love this colorful, complicated timepiece.
At Baselworld 2016, Corum presented the Golden Bridge Ronde designed by Italian jewelry designer Dino Modolo. Modolo was influenced by San Francisco’s Golden Gate: the suspension bridge’s tall towers, cables, crisscrossed railings, and rivets are immediately recognizable in the new version of the classic’s case.
At Baselworld 2016, Fabergé introduced a new men’s model with a freshly developed, highly imaginative movement: the Visionnaire DTZ. The Visionnaire DTZ is a GMT watch conceived to display two time zones. But it does that so neatly and concisely that you hardly notice that there are two time zones showing on the watch when you look at it.
Romain Gauthier, the independent watchmaker at home in Le Sentier, Switzerland and the French fashion icon Chanel, are bound by more than a passing working relationship: Chanel now reveals that it owns a “friendly” stake in Romain Gauthier. The seeds of this seemingly disparate partnership between Chanel and Romain Gauthier were sown during a meeting that took place at the 2011 edition of Baselworld. At Baselworld 2016 it comes full circle with the Monsieur de Chanel.
La Montre Hermès now creates top-of-the-line, aesthetically coherent, and mechanically interesting watches. And this statement is true in two watch categories: ultra-high-end, complicated haute horlogerie and daily wearer. At Baselworld 2016, Hermès returns to the beautiful Slim d’Hermès. And for me, the biggest launch among these is indubitably the exquisite Slim d’Hermès Email Grand Feu.
Look at this. Just look at it. If you’re anything like me, you were in awe when you first saw this watch – just the sheer technical look of it was enough to send my heart racing. And then the questions come. Why does it look this way? What kind of technology is behind it? Is this really just an instrument to tell the time? Spoiler alert: questions are answered inside.
Late in 2015 the news came through that A.H.C.I. co-founder Svend Andersen had sold his company. But how did Andersen get here? Let’s take a quick tour of 53 years’ worth of independent horology the Danish way to find out, which includes an extravaganza of worldtimers, unusual erotic watches, and even poker-playing dogs.
A tsuba is the hand guard of a traditional Japanese sword. “These eventually became elaborate pieces of art – far beyond their practical use,” says engraver Kees Engelbarts, whose fascination with Japanese handcrafts led him to use the Japanese metal alloying technique called mokume gane as the first one in watchmaking. It has now also led him to dedicate a watch to the tsuba theme, inspired in particular by a piece by Japanese swordsmith Hamano Masanobu.