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.

Christophe Claret X-TREM-1 Watch Use Magnets to Display Time

Most watch makers steer far away from magnets.  After all magnets can confound the precision of a watch; however Christophe Claret embraces magnetism and uses its properties to display time.
The futuristic proportions of the titanium three dimensional curvex main plate compliment the innovative technologies of the movement.  The flying tourbillon is at a 30 ° angle for more visibility, which in itself is quite a technological feat, except this tourbillon is straddled on either side by magnetic fields.  Tiny hollow steel spheres   encased in hollow Sapphire crystal tubes travel unaided to indicate the time on a retrograde display.  The spheres are not attached to any mechanical component, but move as a result of magnetism. 


The XTREM name of the watch summarizes its  impact in horology.
X - Experimental
T - Time
R - Research 
E - Engineering 
M - Mechanism


I am truly intrigued with Christophe Claret's use of magnetism - a natural phenomenon - which watch makers work to avoid by creating anti-magnetic watches, but its seems Christophe Claret wants to tame environmental adversaries and use it for his own devices -  almost like capturing a bolt of lightening to illuminate a city.  What wonders that would do to the natural resources of the world. 
Capturing a lightening flash may be far off in the future, but Christophe Claret's use of magnetism is now. 

 The 4mm diameter spheres weighing only 0.100 grams are precisely coaxed up and down the 23mm cylindrical hollowed tube by a uniform magnetic field created by tiny magnets.  The tiny magnets are attached to thin, strong, woven silk thread the likes of which are used in the medical field. - SOFSILK
The hours and minutes are coated in Super-LumiNova as well as Super-LumiNova graduations within the sapphire tubes.  This enables visibility of the time in the dark. 
Christophe Claret utilized the expertise of professor Besson at  the School of Business and Engineering Vaud (HEIG-VD), to ensure the magnets had absolutely no effects on the precision of the movement.  
The watch is hand wound - probably because an oscillating weight would be impossible due to the  magnetism.  However two barrels are used to store the energy - one  for the flying tourbillon (affixed with double ceramic bearings to increase resistance to shock) to ensure constant uniform timekeeping. The second barrel is dedicated to powering the  display gear train regulated by a unique escapement interacting with a timing gear train. A complex series of mechanical events  cause the movement of the magnets and consequently the attraction of the hollowed steel spheres.  The spheres themselves only react to magnetism and have no connection to any mechanical mechanisms. The timepiece is equipped with  more than 50 hour power reserve

The  movement is thoroughly tested and is provided with a certificate guaranteeing quality and precision.

The timepiece is available in three version , -  rose gold, white gold or platinum each accompanied by bead-blasted black PVD coated grade 5 titanium.  Only 8 pieces of each is available.  The cost of the white gold is 264,000 Swiss francs; rose gold is 268,000 Swiss Frans and Platinum is $288,000 Swiss Francs.

Source: www.ChristopheClaret.com