In recent years, the word “skeletonization” as it is used in the world of watches has shifted slightly in meaning to include movements designed from the outset as skeletonized. Let’s take a look at a few different types of skeletonization, both modern and traditional, as seen on five different timepieces at Baselworld 2017.
Clocks may seem old-fashioned – until you get a load of what L’Epée 1839 is capable of. And as a watch enthusiast, you have probably also already seen a few of this company’s clock co-productions with MB&F’s wild robots and other personality-laden timepieces. L’Epée 1839 has a surprising history as a supplier of escapements, too, as The Watches TV’s Marc-André Deschoux found out. Sit back and watch!
Chronographs are very difficult movements to master in a reliable, interesting, and original way, even if these wrist timers constitute what is most likely the most popular complication in wearable horology. And this makes the variety of in-house chronographs introduced at Baselworld 2017 a real treat. Here are five of the most interesting specimens we found at the world’s largest watch fair.
Imagine you wake up tomorrow and that in-your-wildest-dreams watch now only costs 10 percent of what it did yesterday. Admittedly that’s still very expensive, but now it’s within reach. You might have to tighten your belt for a while, but you can now own that fantasy watch you have long dreamed of. My bet is that you will not be happy for long, and here’s why.
At Baselworld 2017 Breguet presented the Marine Équation Marchante Reference 5887, a fantastic implementation of a running equation of time combined with a perpetual calendar and the company’s signature tourbillon, making for a very impressive mechanical specialty watch.
Why is this timepiece important from a holistic view of horological history? The reasons are manifold and include the unheard-of technology nestled within its movement, the audacity of a German newcomer in challenging Swiss status quo, and the symbolic value for A. Lange & Söhne’s rebirth as well as the golden age of mechanical timepieces.
While in my day job I’m rumored to be a moderately creative guy, and in my youth I was a bit of an instrumentalist, suffice it to say that when it came to drawing and sculpting I never really showed any aptitude. That hasn’t kept me from admiring the works of visual artists, though, and over the past several years my attention has been drawn to the works of one painter in particular: Alexa Meade. You may imagine my surprise when I found her staging an art installation for Maurice Lacroix at Baselworld 2017!
In its brief existence, the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie (FHH) awards in homage to passion and talent have already managed to reward some of the greatest personalities in the world of watches for their “passion” and “talent.” In 2016, the awards deservedly went to Ludwig Oechslin and François-Paul Journe.
Watch brands sharing movements wasn’t always such big news. In fact, until recently it was absolutely the norm. But today, to keep their movements exclusive, watch brands don’t share with each other as often as they used to. And that makes the new arrangement between Breitling and Tudor particularly interesting.
If you’ve attended Baselworld over the last few years, you’ve likely heard tell of an “Eric Singer sighting” – catching a quick glimpse of the watch-crazy rock drummer who plays with Kiss as he hurries from booth to booth checking out the new watch offerings. I had a chance to catch up with the horophile musician after Baselworld 2017 to get his personal list of the top ten watches he saw at the fair.