Baselworld

BASELWORLD, held in Basel Switzerland, is an annual watchmakers and jewelers exhibition where over 100,000 buyers from all over the world descend to check out the coming year's new product. Literally hundreds of new watches are launched at the fair from dozens of manufacturers including big-hitters Rolex, Hublot, Breitling, Patek Phillipe, Tissot and Glashutte. We've assembled a gallery of the most notable releases in 2012, which includes the most innovative, most beautiful, most expensive and most ugly ... and the last two categories are embodied by the same watch!  Read More

In November 2011, Swiss luxury watchmaker Hublot announced a partnership with Ferrari that saw it become the official timekeeper for the Italian marque. The agreement also included the production of a “Ferrari Official Watch,” and that watch was revealed at Baselworld earlier this month. The Big Bang Ferrari marks the first evolution of Hublot’s Big Bang design – which can be seen in the US$5 million diamond-encrusted Big Bang - since it was launched in 2005 and features a new scratch-resistant “Magic Gold” material developed by Hublot.  Read More

Seiko has unveiled a new E-Ink watch which features a high-res active matrix display. Building upon the ultra-thin, high contrast, wide viewing angle and low power consumption properties of the world’s first "Electronic Ink" watch showcased at Baselworld 2005, Seiko says its new technology "allows figures, text and graphics to appear on the dial in a much soother and infinitely programmable way."  Read More

Selling watches is no doubt getting harder these days as their primary function, keeping track of time, is duplicated by another technological item that is becoming ubiquitous – the mobile telephone. In recent times we've seen watches given a point-of-difference by including artifacts from the Titanic and the Moon, and the Louis Moinet Jurassic Tourbillon will feature at Basel in Switzerland this month. The Jurassic Tourbillon's dial contains fragments of authentic fossilized dinosaur bones around 130 million years ago.  Read More

Just a few weeks back, we wrote about an exhibition celebrating the Blancpain 50 fathoms watch, one of the most desirable technological boys' toys of the last half century. Now, on the eve of the Baselworld 2009 watch show, Blancpain has released details of the new 500 Fathoms watch. That's right, it's water-resistant to ten times the depth of the 50 fathoms and will now take you safely to 1000 metres depth and back. Quite appropriately, it comes equipped with a helium decompression valve which is vital when diving in a closed environment.  Read More

When Romain Jerome decided to differentiate itself from the other 600 Swiss watchmakers by creating a series of watches with "Titanic-DNA" containing steel from the Titanic, we speculated the undisclosed future "DNA of Famous Legends" series might contain inaccessible materials such as bits from the Space Shuttle, the Concorde, famous guns such as the AK-47 or perhaps famous warships.” Bingo! The second legend in the series will incorporate moon dust as well as fragments of the Apollo XI and Soyuz space shuttles and the International Space Station ISS.  Read More

April 2, 2006 The world's leading Watch and Jewellery Show is held in Basel, Switzerland in March each year and this year BaselWorld kicked off on March 30 showing some of the most outrageous concepts and limited edition watches ever seen. This year one of the masterpieces on display was available for purchase for the first time – in a limited edition of just 25 pieces. The Academia Differential Tourbillon concept was awarded the Premier Prix Innovation at the 2005 Grand Prix de l'Horlogerie de Geneve in December – the highest award for innovation in the industry. Spurred on by this recognition, the De Witt Manufactory set the exceptional limited edition piece in titanium with sparkling semi-precious stones, a first of its kind. Avant-garde in its combination of titanium, rubber and red gold, it attracts attention with its refined setting and a movement equipped with a patented differential system.  Read More

April 17, 2005 Seiko Watch Corporation demonstrated the world's first watch to utilize an electronic paper display for the first time at the Baselworld Watch and Jewelry Show held in Basel, Switzerland. The design incorporates an easy-to-read, ultra-thin, low-power display integrated into a curved band. The unique electronic paper display module in this Seiko watch is the result of a joint development effort, bringing together E Ink's 'electronic ink' technology and Seiko Epson's advanced display manufacturing and electronic circuitry techniques. When combined, these technologies offer a wide range of display design possibilities - including flexibility!  Read More

April 17, 2005 TAG Heuer released another first at the Baselworld 2005 global watch mecca - the most accurate mechanical timepiece ever crafted, the “Calibre 360” Concept Chronograph. The “Calibre 360” Concept Chronograph is the first mechanical wrist chronograph to measure and display time to 1/100th of a second, thanks to the exceptionally high frequency of its balance wheel, which oscillates at 360,000 beats per hour, 10 times faster than any other chronograph—a rate that until now was considered impossible.  Read More