Buying Guide – 10 Cool Chronographs of Baselworld 2018
After we had a closer look at the best Dive watches, the best GMT watches and the best Tourbillon watches of Baselworld 2018, it is time to focus on one of the most important categories. You name it: the chronographs. This edition of the Basel Watch Fair proved once again that the chronograph can be any kind of watch: elegant, sporty, modern, vintage, affordable, exclusive. So here is our very eclectic selection of 10 cool chronographs introduced at Baselworld 2018.
As the dust settles, we look back at the Baselworld 2018 fair with a more holistic lens. And, as the Time+Tide team saw more than 50 brands between them, we think we’re in a pretty excellent position to pull out a few common themes… Trend 1 – Two-tone First up, two-tone watches. Let me start this by saying — yes, I know two-tone watches have always been a ‘thing’, but lately we feel they’ve picked up momentum (something I put down to the fact that a lot of steel watches are hard to come by!). Tudor Black Bay S&G with champagne dial Tudor spiced up their existing Black Bay S&G model with a ‘champagne’ dial. In person, it’s much closer to gold, especially under natural light. This move from Tudor, a year after the original release of the S&G, shows that they’re backing the two-tone love. Omega Seamaster Diver 300M As part of Omega’s new 300M Diver collection, we saw several bi-metal releases. Omega backed the love for two-tone this year, releasing not one but three variations of the Diver — a Tantalum (Titanium) and Sedna (Gold), Steel and Sedna Gold, and Steel and Yellow Gold. Rolex GMT-Master II in Everose and…
Baselworld is over for another year and while we take a deep breath to compose ourselves and remind our respective families we still exist, it’s time to mentally unpack our time in Basel and compose the chaos into a list. Not just any list, but a Baselworld Top 10 List. Here we go. Hublot Classic Fusion Aerofusion Chronograph Orlinski All Black This updated Aerofusion ‘Orlinski’ — named for the French sculptor Richard Orlinski, who collaborated on the design — is all about the angles; the muted tones of the micro-blasted black ceramic catches all the light. With a self-winding skeleton chronograph movement and limited to 200 pieces, this model will quickly become a collectable. Rolex GMT-Master II ‘Root Beer” The early hype at the fair was the release of the first stainless steel GMT-Master II since the ‘Batman’ in 2014. While everyone was in a frenzy to get a glimpse of the ‘Pepsi’ on jubilee bracelet, Rolex had another GMT flying a little lower under the radar. The soft tones of the Everose gold is soft enough in colour to play off the stainless steel, and with the ceramic ‘root beer’ bezel, this one is a winner. Longines Legend Diver Black Just when…