It’s been exactly 64 days since I first held the new Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Frosted Gold, and it’s now been exactly 52 days of me missing it. This watch is everything I want and more. It’s sporty, cool, classic, sparkly, too much, too little, and, most of all, I need it. Like, a lot. But before getting into my effusive feelings on this beauty, let’s get into the story behind this awesome timepiece and how it came to be in the first place.
After a welcomed surprise in 2014, the Meistersinger Circularis with the the Brand’s first own movement, followed by an automatic version at Baselworld 2016, this year the mono-aiguille brand continues the development of its most complex watch, by adding to the package a new complication, the power reserve, alongside new colors for the dial. Here is the Meistersinger Circularis Power Reserve.
If there’s a field of watchmaking that Bremont dominates, it’s custom pilot watches. Bremont says 20% of its customers are in the military, and the watches they wear are typically large and their dials are filled with iconography relating to the types of aircraft their squadrons fly. In fact, Giles English, one of the company’s two founders, recently told me that quite a few watches in the core collection borrow elements that first appeared during these special military projects.
While we are mainly focussing on the major watches introduced during this 2017 edition of Baselworld, with our usual focus on high-end watches, one watch in a much more accessible price range pleasantly surprised us: the Alpina Startimer Pilot Automatic. Nothing too fancy, nothing to renew the concept of a pilot watch, yet, what we have here is a highly qualitative automatic offer, with a very competitive price… Alpina obliges. Here’s Alpina’s new take on its best seller, the Startimer Pilot, and it comes for less than Euro 900.
TAG Heuer is a brand with the pedal to the metal – which is appropriate given their motorsports heritage. Having said that, TAG Heuer’s Baselworld 2017 releases have been both diverse and prolific. There’s the heritage hotness of the Autavia, but there’s also the slimmed down and blinged up versions of the aggressively modern and technical modular Carrera. But the real surprise is a completely revamped and reimagined Link – what was once bold and chunky is now sleek and dressy…
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Some of the most important, exciting watches are those made by watchmakers who push the barriers of what’s possible. The deepest, the most complicated, or in the case of this Bulgari, the thinnest. Bulgari has a proven record when it comes to high-end, ultra thin horology. They hold the record for the thinnest tourbillon and the thinnest minute repeater. Now they can add the thinnest automatic movement to the list. The movement in the new Bulgari Octo Finissimo Automatic is a mere 2.23mm thick, 0.7mm thinner than Piaget’s legendary 12P. On top of that the whole watch comes in at a mere 5.15mm thick. This extremely slight movement, paired with the lightweight titanium case means that the Octo really is a feather on the wrist. The real trick to making a thin movement is to make one that is robust enough to stand up to regular daily wear, and on that front the Octo certainly delivers. Beating at 3hz, and with a platinum micro-rotor that’s able to generate an impressive 60 hours of power reserve, the Finissimo is no delicate dress-only piece. On top of that the Caliber BVL 138 has been designed to very tight tolerances, with many elements…
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Seiko, for a long time, has been away from the trend of vintage and reissues. This was simply not their thing, the brand simply emphasized on evolution and modern designs. Yet, since a few years now, and mainly with the arrival of the Presage collection, the Japanese brand now looks at its rich history. For Baselworld 2017, the focus will be on the recreation of the first Grand Seiko, launched for Japan only in 1960 (while the international launch of Grand Seiko took place in 2010), with three limited editions (SBGW251 – SBGW252 – SBGW253). And for those who prefer present days, there will also be a modern reissue, the SBGR305.
You asked and you shall receive! On the first day of Baselworld, Arthur and I talked through some of the new watches from Rolex, but we didn’t get to the new pair of Sky-Dwellers, references 326934 and 326933. The Sky-Dweller is big, bold, and certainly a little polarizing. Now we’ve got a stainless steel version and a two-tone steel and yellow gold version, making this watch more approachable than ever.
Since now over a decade, Bell & Ross have had in their collection “another” watch, rather different at first from the sporty or military-oriented pieces, such as the iconic square BR01. This watch is the Vintage, a watch made to be more classic, more elegant and cleverly using 1960s elements. Don’t think that it is not 100% Bell & Ross though, as it has taken its inspiration from the history of aviation. For Baselworld 2017, the Bell & Ross Vintage Collection is slightly revamped and now comes in a smaller, slimmer and more elegant design.
According to Eberhard, last year was a good year for the Italy-based watchmaker, with sales up 13% worldwide. Eberhard attributes this to it’s Scafograf 300 diver, which picked up a major win last year when the GPHG jury awarded it the Sports Watch of the year prize. And now there’s a new watch being added to the family.