With the horological storm that is Baselworld slowing calming down, we thought this might be a quiet news week; however, it turned out to be busy with news from Rolex, Richard Mille, Audemars Piguet, Zenith, Montblanc, Antiquorum, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Hublot, Digital Luxury Group and F.P. Journe.
Welcome to the inaugural Quill & Pad Baselworld “awards,” in which we highlight a few of the watches and goings-on that caught our eyes at the world’s largest watch exhibition. Here’s what caught our eyes at Baselworld 2014 in no particular order.
* Quill & Pad has the honor of introducing Grieb & Benzinger’s latest bespoke creation: the Black Tulip Red Midnight. This masterfully skeletonized watch is the direct result of a customer’s desire: a watch connoisseur looking for a “stealth” watch that nonetheless portrays its value and rare handcrafts in a lower-key way, creating an eye-catching black-and-red look using unusual gemstones.
A happy Valentine’s Day to you!
* As we approach half-time at the Olympics, we’d like to direct your attention to the close of our first Olympic Week.
* Celebrating the 150th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Switzerland and Japan, the FHH presents an exhibition called The Mastery of Time, the first in a series of events honoring friendship between the two countries.
* BREAKING NEWS: At the upcoming SIHH, which opens on January 20, Jaeger-LeCoultre will introduce an ultra-thin, highly complicated masterpiece: the Master Ultra-Thin Minute Repeater Flying Tourbillon, the eleventh specialty in the Hybris Mechanica line. Its Caliber 362 capitalizes on eight separate patents, six of which are entirely new.