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.

Two New U-Boat Watches to Surface Soon

Two new Limited Edition U-Boat watches are about to break surface.  The  Golden Crown Arrow is a strikingly large timepiece coming in at a whopping 51mm in diameter and 19.6mm thick and looking more like a submarine gauge then ever. The Golden Crown arrow is about the classiest U-Boat watch yet, probably because its all done up in black and gold (can't go wrong there). The gold screw down cap, which fits above the crown, is a signature U-Boat component adding a ruggedness to the overall image of the watch. An automatic chronograph movement has a 44 hour power reserve and limited to 99 pieces. No word on the price yet.







The second watch is the Classico Titanium IPB Chronograph - the most streamlined U-Boat watch I have seen.  First of all I must admit - I love it.  I think it is the titanium case in a vacuum-deposited IP coating that does it for me. The watch case is not as thick as the Golden Crown Arrow coming in at a slender 16.6mm; however, if you like big,  the large dial 53mm makes up for what is lacking in girth.  The "black on black" hands accentuated by orange sub dial hands and chronograph indicator exude a bold discretion. A high quality Swiss automatic ETA caliber Valjoux 7750 movement provides utmost precision and extreme efficiency. This movement is the preferred choice for many watch brands such as MOMA Designs - which I blogged about last week.  The price for this watch is $5,750 and will be produced in a limited edition of 300.
Both these watches are definitely for people who like big watches which take command of the wrist.

U-Boat Luxury Watches from thousands of feet below to thousands of feet above.

So I am sure you are wondering what these two images have in common. Well the first image is just one of an amazing selection of watches crafted by the Italian Luxury Watch Company U-Boat. The watches looked familiar not because I recognized them, but because I recognized the rugged solid feel. The watches reminded me of beeping gauges, shrill sirens, soldiers urgent calls, and explosions. The watches are so set in their style These watches give me a sense of history. War History. Anyway I had no idea what a U-Boat was, so with a click of a mouse, I quickly discovered that it was a type of submarine the Germans had in World War I. U-Boat from the German word U-boot, which is a abbreviated form of Unterseeboot - Under sea boat i.e. Submarine. So now I have come to my second picture, the control room of a U-Boat. If you noticed on the far wall, there hang a couple of gauges, with a mounted face and thick bezel. The guage hands are stark and give a sharp contrast to the face so that they may be read with accuracy in times of imminent danger. Once I saw the gauges, I understood the U-Boat watches.

                                  U-Boat 45-AS-2 Classico Cream Dial Calf Leather with Steel Plate Men's Watch

Italo Fontano six U-Boat Collections, Flightdeck  ,Nightvision,Thousands of Feet,Classico ,Precious Metal and Eclipse, have become popular among countless celebrities. Tom Cruise,Sylvestor Stylone, Ralph Lauren, David Beckham, John Legend and the list goes on. U-Boat was started by Italo Fontana who was inspired by the work of his grandfather, Ilvo Fontana, who designed timepieces for the Italian navy. The company has only been around since the turn of the century (this century), the year 2000; however, it is forging ahead with its new historical designs and gaining a steady following.

U-Boat 55 CAB O Flight Deck Black Dial Calf Leather with Exclusive Aero Design Men's Automatic Chronograph Watch