Now that Baselworld 2018 is over, it is time for the MONOCHROME team to look at the best watches of the show. One category that usually appears to be highly disputed is the dive watch and 2018 has again been a productive year. From vintage-inspired pieces to proper instruments, here are 10 of the best dive watches we have discovered at Baselworld 2018.
We’ve come to associate Fifty Fathoms with minimalistic dials, so this Day Date model – one of three new pieces released at Baselworld 2018 to mark the 65th anniversary of the original diving watch – is a real shift in style. This doesn’t mean that Blancpain are suddenly getting all decorative, though; rather, they have looked to their 1970s archive for the design cues. Vital Statistics While the aesthetic is retro, everything else is bang-up to the minute, with all of the technical advances that Blancpain have brought to their dive watches in recent years. The movement is based on the acclaimed calibre 1315: the balance is non-magnetic silicium and the three barrels deliver a mighty five-day power reserve. The Day Date 70s comes in the same 43mm brushed steel case and its unidirectional bezel has a ceramic insert and markers filled with Liquidmetal – a scratch-proof alloy developed by Swatch Group and used by several of its brands, notably Omega. There’s a choice of four different wristbands: vintage-style antiqued leather, sail-canvas or NATO straps, or a steel bracelet. On the wrist Three years after launching the original Fifty Fathoms, Blancpain introduced the Bathyscaphe explicitly for civilian, rather than professional…
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Creating a watch that can accurately tell the date of Easter every year may be watchmaking’s final, possibly unsolvable problem.
During our meeting with Breguet at Baselworld 2018, the brand pointed out that Breguet’s women’s watches account for a full 40% of the brand’s sales and that one of the current best-sellers worldwide is the Reine de Naples Ref. 8918 of 2017. The goose that lays the golden eggs at Breguet is the Reine de Naples watch, the distinctive egg-shaped watch that has appeared in countless jewellery variations since its debut in 2002. Revisited this year with Ref. 8908, this Reine de Naples automatic ladies’ model is housed in an 18k rose gold case set with diamonds and features a dreamy Tahitian mother-of-pearl dial, a moon phase complication, and a power reserve indicator.
A little public service announcement from our standards-setting friends in Geneva.
Finally, the wait is over, stylish ninja’s with a good taste for watches now have their own Grand Seiko with a practical built-in Shuriken. From now on, no mission with the Grand Seiko SBGA211G Spring Drive Ninja ‘Shuriken’ Edition or the fully mechanical Kunoichi model for the ladies. Ordinary mechanical watches, and quartz watches alike, …
Affectionately named for its tuna-can-for-the-wrist design, the Seiko Tuna collection holds many “firsts” in the dive watch world. From being the first to feature a dual layer construction with a one-piece inner case, to introducing the accordion-style rubber strap. In 1978, it also welcomed Seiko’s – and the world’s – first foray into professional quartz dive watches, with the addition of the 600m “Golden Tuna”. Which you might have already noticed (if you’re any good at maths) is celebrating its 40th birthday at Basel 2018. Vital statistics Seiko have marked this special occasion with the release of a limited-edition re-creation that hits all the familiar notes starting with a 7C46 quartz movement ticking away at its heart. On the outside is a 49.4mm zirconia ceramic shroud that protects the golden-coated titanium inner case. And a screw-down crown that helps secure the 1000m water resistance rating of the 15.4mm thick case. There’s also a separate commemorative limited-edition version that swaps the black ceramic shroud for a golden Cermet protector, and the golden-coloured inner case for a hard-coated black one. Both are of course available with Seiko’s classic accordion-style silicone strap. On the wrist The Seiko Tuna is no shrinking violet; however,…
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A good watch doesn’t have to break the bank. As Baselworld 2018 just ended, we have put together a selection of wallet-friendly watches proving that great things can come in affordable packages. Vintage-inspired, sporty, modern, complicated or just nicely designed… We have selected 6 different watches, all with a strong personality and mainly, great value for the money.
Hublot have made big strides in recent years to establish watchmaking credibility as a counterweight to its heavy-hitting celebrity power. Regular nominations in various GPHG categories – across womens and mens watches – have been a meaningful benchmark for progress, and new crowd-pleasers, such as the delightful movement architecture of the Meca-10, have opened up a fresh conversation with watch lovers about what wearing a Hublot actually means in the modern day. To this end, when we were invited to the manufacture in Nyon to better get to know the brand, we were immediately interested in the High Complication Department and thought we might use its expertise to get inside the cases of some of the most popular, desirable and useful complications that Hublot offer. So, prepare yourself, we have a little three-part miniseries coming your way – each honing in on a complication. But rather than telling the story from A-Z, we get quickly down to business and isolate each complication’s idiosyncrasies. In this video, it’s the tourbillon cage itself on a watch that takes roughly 10 times longer than a Hublot Unico chronograph to construct.
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In the opening scene of this video, which was shot on the final day of Baselworld 2018, I say to Felix, “We’re doing a list?!” with a type of delirious, high-pitched Seinfeldian disbelief. What I meant was, seriously, how could we be? We just arrived at Basel! How is it that we are distilling our fancied from the flock, already? What’s interesting is that the first impression favourites are usually quite accurate. When I look back at 2017 and 2016, the lists are still pretty spot on for my tastes. I even now own a few of them. However, what’s different this year is that I knew I’d picked one wrong watch almost as soon as we were out of my list and into Felix’s. I’ll get straight to it. The Tudor. I should have gone with my instincts and chosen the Fifty-Eight. The decision to go with the GMT though was not a frivolous one. It was a mental tussle that raged over the five days before we finally committed to our 10. It went something like this, with the angel being the Fifty-Eight, and devil being the GMT. Like always, the devil won, but it shouldn’t have. …
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