Countdown to Baselworld 2014

A week from now Baselworld doors fling open unto an eager crowd of watch and jewelry enthusiasts, buyers, boutique owners, journalists and seekers. From March 27th to April 3rd, show goers will venture from hall to hall and event to event gathering information about new styles, prices and brands. Old friends will meet, new ones made, contacts forged, orders arranged and signed upon the dotted line. Seven informative Baselword Daily News issues ,available online and at the show itself,  keeps visitors abreast of "must-see", news and current trends. A Baselword App on your i-phone, i-pad, blackberry and android provides useful interactive information.

I have outlined a brief Pre-Baselworld Virtual Walk to Navigate the halls. Keep in mind, this is just a hint of what awaits you at the show.


Hall 1.0 is a given to go with highly popular prolific top notch brands such as Rolex, Breitling, Omega, Patek Phillipe, Tissot, Hublot, Tag Heuer - you get the gist.

Breitling for Bentley 6.75 Midnight carbon

Hall 1.1 houses a bejeweled assortment of high end brands - famous for gem encrusted watches and jewelry  such as House of Graff, Boucheron, Jacob &; Co. and of course de Grisigono.  Great Sporty brands such as Edox, U-Boat and Clerc are displayed among high end accessory brands such as Hermès, Dior and Chanel. Seiko holds a prominent place being in a category of its own.
Quite a few lessor known brands are within these walls, but favorites are found all around.  Europa Star spans one wall - an excellent watch news source.
 Hall 1.3 showcases affordable brands such as Invicta, Follie Follie, Guess and Casio.

Jacob & Co. Epic SF 24

International Brands
Hall 2.0, 2.1, 2.2 is abundant with jewelry - each booth displaying originality in design and expertise.
Eterna, Ball Watch USA holds command of Hall 5.0.
The Palace is by far my favorite Baselworld local, housing unparallelled watch making expertise.  HYT renowned for its hydro mechanical timepiece is at P03, while at P06, the edgy and daring Artya brand  rubs shoulders with the elusive Haldimann Horology.

HYT H2 Forged from Titanium & White Gold with Blue Fluid

 The Palace is abundant with complex complications perfected by MB &F, Konstantin Chaykin (genius in watch design) and Christophe Claret.  Badollet - keeper of my favorite design and De Bethune- creator of the finest blue  are found at P01 and P02 respectively.

Badollet Ivresse like a Painters Pallet

Hall 3.0 and 3.1 is abundant with jewelry and gem.
Hall 4U holds necessary tools for the trade and Hall 4.0 and 4.1 are National Pavilions.



Unlike the exclusive SIHH , where visitors must receive an invitation to attend, Baselworld is open to the public without prior registration.  Simply show up and purchase your ticket "on-the-spot" or online at www.baselworld.com. Prices are quite affordable at CHF   60.-for the day or CHF 150.-for the week.

Coming from far and away without a place to stay? Enjoy some Swiss Hospitality at the Mövenpick Hotel Egerkingen. If you wish to be a bit closer to the action, a room at the Hotel Alexander Basel is a stones throw away. Zürich is  a 90 minute train ride away with hotels galore ready to welcome a Baselword traveller. But whether you come by land or air, it is on the water you can stay.  Book a floating room on the "Hotel Ship" for the duration of your trip. A free shuttle bus will transport you to the show - just 15 minutes away. 

The show does not end at closing time, Baselworld Village is open from 6pm until 2am.  Restaurants and Bars provide prime places to seal a deal over some fine wine and delectable dine.  

For the best and most productive Baselworld experience planning is crucial, but  the most memorable moment may just be chance. Make a memory, a deal, a contract, a sale, a moment.  Come to Baselworld.

Hot or Not? Ball Trainmaster Celsius Watch.

Ball Trainmaster Celsius Watch Limited Edition: 310 pieces

It is the longest summer day here in the Northern Hemisphere, and if where I am its hot hot hot.  The sun baking the streets turning blacktop into shimmering hazes while people trudge sweat dripping down brow and back.  Yeah it's summer in the city, but you know how hot it is because you have a Ball Train master Celsius Watch. This watch, which was unveiled last year, is tribute to Anders Celsius, a Swedish astronomer, who proposed the Celsius thermometer scale in 1741.
The watch has two very cool (or should I say hot) aspects to this watch:
1.) The mechanical  thermometer module or "TMT" is patented by Ball and is located above the 6 'o' clock position.  It has an accuracy of 97%.
2) The watch utilizes Micro-tubes of 3H gas otherwise known as  Tritium (Tritium is the 3rd of Hydrogen's naturally occurring isotopes).  The micro tubes are  located on the hour, minute and second hand.  Tritium or H3 glows without the need for external light source and will glow for 25 years - double its half-life.  Most watches use Super-Luminova which require an external light source to glow. 
Click here for an in depth read on the difference between Tritium and Superluminova  

The 41mm stainless steel case houses an automatic movement with precision of a Train Master - and knowing the History of  the founding of Ball Watches - one must realize the vital importance of timing on the railway track. 

The Ball Trainmaster Celsius Watch is Limited to 310 pieces. 
Watch the Mercury Rise and Keep Hydrated!
Happy Summer Solstice!

 

A Company Founded from The Great Kipton Train Wreck of 1891

The Ball Watch Company is dedicated to timekeeping precision. Precision not just founded on its dedication to excellent timekeeping, but founded to save lives.

The US in the mid 1800's saw an exorbitant growth of industry overtaking many European nations in the manufacturing of goods.
 Coal, iron ore, copper, lead, steel, timber and oil industries burgeoned.
Hard times in Europe - like the Irish Potato Famine - and promise of a golden future had huge amount of immigrants rushing to the shores of the America.
This was a time of extreme innovation and creativity.  From 1860 to 1890 an astounding 440,000 patents were submitted to the US Government. 
The biggest expansion was the railroad system as Congress granted land to lay tracks bringing people and goods from coast to coast.  Miles upon miles of railroad tracks were laid snaking across the country from end to end. Tiny hamlets became small towns as coal mines and steel foundries employed thousands of people. (Now  these places in States like Pennsylvania and Ohio are a desolate display of a teeming past).  Passenger trains limped from tiny station to station while fast mail trains hurtled across the country in a frantic race against time sending  plumes of acrid black smoke high into cloudless skies. Freight trains piled with coal lumbered on for miles.  Engineering advancements increased the power and speed of the locomotives which easily reaching speeds up to 50 and 60 mph.   By the end of the 1800's, the US had five transcontinental rail lines.
Accurate scheduling was crucial and timing errors were fatal.   This fact was made all the more pertinent  at the site of  "THE GREAT KIPTON TRAIN WRECK OF 1891 where nine people (six postal workers, two engineers, a fireman)  tragically lost their lives.
On April 19th, 1891 a fast mail train No. 14  bound east barreled without slowing past the Lake Shore Railroad at Kipton Station and slammed into the accommodation train, the No.21 Toledo Express, as the No. 21 was pulling into the siding in order to let the fast mail train pass. A line of freight cars had partially obstructed the Fast Mail Train's view and by the time the Train's Engineer applied the air breaks, it was too late. The violent wreck turned both engines, three mail cars and one baggage car into a smoldering pile of debris.   It was a custom for the Toledo Express to pull to the siding and let the fast mail train pass, but this time the Toledo Express was four minutes late, with disastrous results. 

Rescuers rushing to assist the victims of the wreck found the mangled body of Engineer,Charles Topiff. His charred hands still clinging to the throttle. The Postal Clerks sorting mail in  cages had no chance of escape and died trapped.

Why was the Toledo Express four minutes late? The engineer's pocket watch stopped for four minutes making him believe he had seven minutes before reaching the  Kipton Station when in fact he had only three.  The Conductor believed the engineers watch was accurate.  From the time the train left Elyria until the train reached Kipton, he did not consult his own watch.  For if he had, he would have noticed a discrepancy of four minutes.

After some investigation, The General Superintendent of Lakeshore lines realized a proper timekeeping system was crucial and appointed Webb C. Ball, an Ohio native and the first jeweler to use time signals after the 1883 Standard Time was adopted,  as Chief Inspector of the Lines. He was appointed to determine Time and Watch Conditions throughout the Lakeshore Lines.  Every two weeks Ball had all the watches of the railroad workers checked by approved watchmakers. This was done to ensure no watch varied more than 30 seconds. Thus the watches adhered within thirty seconds of Standard Time, and were the most accurate timepieces of the day.    Webb C. Ball implemented an inspection system which covered 75% of the railroad lines amounting to 175,000 miles of railroad even crossing the border into Canada and Mexico.

The foundation of the Ball Watch Company is based on an unwavering dedication to precision and efficiency sprung forth from a train wreck. All the Ball Watch Collections reference railroad personnel and their commitment to precision timekeeping.