The watchmaking mecca was held in early spring at Baselworld. For 2019, the great watchmakers are banking on beautiful, accessible, vintage and colorful watches. Overview.
By Olivier Müller
March 26: Baselworld, the world’s leading watch fair, bows out for 2019. Sometimes adulated (for its completeness), sometimes hated (for its authoritarianism), it remains the nerve center of an industry torn between tradition and modernity, between vintage and innovation. The market has been brutally reminded that the “normal” price of a watch for a “normal” person is not six figures, and often not even five. In the end, sanity seems to have (almost) returned: beautiful watches, emotion, prices back to human levels. Watchmakers have never been as good as they are under duress!
The proof comes first from Maurice Lacroix. The brand, not very well known in France, searched for a long time before finding a strong model, a style, a positioning. Its Aikon Venturer is a model that aims right, with a modern and lively style, for an active and urban collector. With its interchangeable strap, it has nothing to envy to competitors offered at triple the price. The same will be true for Seiko. The brand is once again reminding us that it is a true manufacture, 100% integrated, with technical and finishing standards that equal – or even exceed – those of Switzerland. The new Presage Arita is a model whose dial is made of porcelain, an ancient Japanese art. From a distance, what would pass for a simple white lacquered dial reveals, up close, all the beauty of its grain, its imperfect reflections, the delicate painting of its indexes. A true aesthete’s pleasure, handmade and affordable.
The “full black” trend seems to have disappeared. Two notable exceptions: Breitling and Chanel. The first one reissues a true copy of one of the models of its Navitimer, the famous Ref. 806 of 1959. Why this particular model? Already, for the anniversary date – 60 years round. Then, for its particularity: this 1959 “Navi” is one of the very first 100% black models at a time when, for questions of readability, the counters were white on a black dial, or the opposite – the famous “panda” design that made the Rolex Daytona’s heyday. In its dark livery, the Navitimer proves once again that it is timeless, as beautiful in 1959 as in 2019.
For its part, Chanel unveiled a limited edition of 55 pieces of its Monsieur, its first 100% manufactured men’s watch. Created in 2016, this young startup on the rue Cambon is now asserting its dark identity. A powerful, racy, modern model, a coup d’éclat that many watchmakers envy to a fashion house. The dark side of watchmaking has never been so elegant.
Fortunately, they are also there! The independent watchmakers are the spurs of the watchmaking industry. Creative, disruptive, irreverent. Max Büsser, head of the MB&F collective, is an example of this: the man created his first women’s watch, a UFO under sapphire glass, equipped with a tourbillon attached to a vertical movement. Totally improbable, the piece imposes itself, eccentric but delicate.
At ArtyA, we like complications and originality. Yvan Arpa, for 10 years, has been exploring ways that were often criticized before, a few years later, everyone adopted them! This is true of his hand-engraved boxes, which are true miniature masterpieces. The brand’s sumptuous Minute Repeater combines baroque and rock, classic and modern. It tells the time and even rings it, but at this level of finishing, it has almost become secondary: the hand-chiseled case is enough on its own.
Finally, Strom unveiled its Nethuns II “Colorum” collection not far from there. We imagine it inspired by a diving watch, even a diving suit. However, its bright colors betray its offbeat orientation, in the measure of a hand-engraved case that Jules Verne would not have denied. We don’t really know if it’s for men or women, if it’s a diving watch or not, nor in what circumstances we should wear it, but in the end, it doesn’t matter: we love it – or the other way around, depending on our affinities!
