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.

BaselWorld Doors Open March 8th, 2012 and HYT H1 Hydro Mechanical Watch is on Display

 

Ok! Whose a running to BaselWorld Hall Palace Booth P05 A?  Run through the palace entrance. Race past the huge CASIO exhibits (lots of G-shocks on display - I assume).  Take note of the Urwerk and MB & F on your left ( a definite stop on your way out).  Hurry past the large P03 hall - yes the Haldimann un-watch is keeping its un-time as well as numerous ArtyA creations! Zoom past the Ikepod Hour Glasses and De Bethune on your right! Come to a screaming halt outside your destination at Booth P05 A- the HYT H1 Hydro Mechanical Watch on Display. Bend over! Place your hands on your knees and take a deep breath.  You have arrived to view the most talked about watch on the web - The HYT H1 Hydro Mechanical Watch... and once you have taken a good look at the Watch - please do me a favor and tell me all about it.

I know you have probably heard tons about this watch - Ariel Adams at  a blog to read - describes this watch better than anyone on the net.  Read his article for a full synopsis. 

And if Videos are your preferred source of information - I have provided that for you too.  

What is The Time on My Haldimann Reduction H9?

I must say I wrote this blog with a smile on my face for a watch maker with guts and gall. 
If someone would ask me, "What watch has a movement, but tells no time?"  I would say it would have to be the Haldimann Reduction H9 watch.   Looking at the watch with its opaque scratch resistant sapphire crystal - to protect the "un-dial" perhaps - one may assume there is nothing beyond its blackened void, but bringing the un-watch up to ones ear and hearing the gentle ticking emanating from the case, assures us that there is more than meets the eye. The manually wound movement is actually a really nice functional  hand engraved caliber H.Zen-1 sporting a triple barrel flying tourbillon  The movement is of magnificent craftsmanship with no purpose. 

About 2 years ago I did stick up for the Haldimann H8 praising the lone tourbillon's wondrous sculpture in motion - see here, but the new H9 leaves me wondering of the actual purpose of the platinum encased timepiece. The company uses a kind of philosophical stance to its creation saying "time can thus be imagined, dreamed, or invented."  The quote is wide open to opinion.


 But back to the practicality of the un-timepiece -

"How does one read this watch?"  Well you don't - as I have explained it is an un-watch. So what exactly is its function?  Hmm - It is a conversation piece - which can make you look pretty stupid when you glance at it and say, "Oh No its late - I'd better be going."

For 150,000 francs one purchases a 39mm or 42mm solid platinum case surrounding an exceptional caliber H.Zen-1 with triple barrel flying tourbillon shrouded in a completely opaque sapphire crystal.  

Haldimann Horology H8 Sculptura Defies Gravity and Reason

No this watch does not tell the time, but if it did, it would ensure gravity bears no effect on it.
In the stark blackness of the dial flutters a tourbillon - an hypnotic complication invented in 1795 by French watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet, a century after Newton defined gravity. Breguet reasoned that as a result of the constant position of the vertical position of the pocket watch, the balance spring is confounded by the effect of gravity effecting the accuracy of the watch. This error could be compensated with a tourbillion whereby the escapement, balance wheel, and balance spring is placed in a rotating carriage which turns once per minute on its own axis.

However, the H8 Sculptura does not display the time and thus has no need for precision. In addition, a tourbillon was designed for a pocket watch and thus gravity does not effect (if it ever did) the movement of a wrist watch.
Haldimann has introduced the H8 Sculptura for what it is, a mechanical work of art, for which there is no functional timekeeping purpose. A pragmatist would argue, if a tourbillon has no effect on precision then what use is it?
I would say, a tourbillon is a complication only achieved by exceptional watch makers, a right of passage if you will dividing the serious watch collectors from the novices. It has survived for hundreds of years as a complication unto itself, and I think Haldimann is unveiling this watch to display the magic of the tourbillon, and only the tourbillon, in its entirety.