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Baselworld IN-DEPTH info from the man on the spot--Tim Temple  Rate Topic 
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 Posted: Thu Apr 13th, 2006 11:53 am
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tny795
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Greetings fellow watch enthusiasts!

I went to the Basel Watch Fair. The birds and the beasts were there.

Okay, so the birds weren’t there in actuality, but the watch beasts came out in full force for Basel 2006, a fact that was easy to spot as the ShoppingSource team discovered upon disembarking the Screaming-Baby Express.

This show was a cacophony of watch enthusiasts, collectors, dealers, manufacturers and more and there was so much activity at this show, we actually extended our stay to meet with certain manufacturers and designers who wanted to talk about their products for possible inclusion in the Lines of Time program.

It was incredibly gratifying to be met with such optimism and enthusiasm from such heralded members of the watch industry. Speaking of which, I would like to extend a personal and special hello and thank you to all the viewers and well-wishers we encountered during our week at Basel. It truly was wonderful to have the opportunity to meet and converse with so many passionate people.

Basel 2006: After-Show Thoughts, Trends and Predictions

On with the show!

I thought I would give you a brief overview of the show, as well as answer some of the frequently asked questions I get post-Basel.

TRENDS: Big is Still Big

As I observed the exhibits and the attendees at Basel, there is no doubt in my mind that the large watch (and getting larger, it seems) is a huge deal and will continue to be a trend that shapes the industry.

However, I think we might want to brand Basel 2006 as Year of the Woman.

The reason for this is that as I have discussed in previous issues of Lines of Time, women are changing the entire watch industry. Women now buy multiple watches, are better educated on complications and manufacture and officially are a force in the world of time.

The effect of this is everywhere especially when it comes to case size. The larger cases are now being marketed to and purchased by women. This is no longer a male-dominated segment. Yes, it has been fashionable in the past for some women to wear large-case watches, but mostly those models were men's watches.

The watch manufacturers are now making oversized cases strictly for women and to me, this will be incredibly interesting to see develop. At the show, it was common to see women wearing a watch with a case measuring 42mm or larger, with men wearing around a 48mm.

As a case in point, the beautiful and elaborate Hublot(tm) booth featured many watches at 44mm (and well north of that size). Continuing that theme were such notable brands as Breitling(tm), Sinn(tm), RSW(tm), Jean Marcel(tm), Von Berg(tm) and Blu.

That the watch cases are getting so large has pushed perceptions to the point where you would have to be wearing something larger than 50mm to be considered anywhere near outlandish these days.

TRENDS: Shapes

While we’re on cases, I should mention case shapes. Round is prevalent, but so are cases inspired by airplane cockpit dials and controls. Going forward, large rectangles are going to be a huge player in the marketplace.

As well, you're going to see elongated east-west cases gain ground with designers, which in keeping with the female influence that has gripped the industry, will be lead by the esteemed Patek Philippe(tm), via very exciting new designs created specifically for and marketed to women.

TRENDS: Warming Up to Color

Another development is that color is again everywhere. Albeit divided distinctively between sport and dress ideas.

In dress, tobacco brown is a major player right now and will be throughout the year. Patek Philippe(tm) is again at the fore by combining their brown hues with rose gold (absolutely gorgeous) and is followed by other high-end brands.

From what I have seen, there is little doubt that warm browns will be a predominant influence in this year's upscale look. I also would suggest watching for cream and white in women's designs.

As for sport watches, one of the biggest segments in the industry, there were a ton of blacks (matte and shiny) and charcoal colors to mark classic designs, but there were a lot of oranges and yellows, too.

While this is not surprising, I expect to see bright blue and bright green make a serious impact in the sport watch segment. You'll still see a lot of orange and blue, but not quite in the same way.

Look to brands to offer entire watches – just about every element - in one color. Yes, it's an interesting look, but one that depending upon the design elements of the watch and the execution, can be visually quite compelling.

Additionally, there is now a luminous material available that reflects the increased interest in color in watch designs that is being used to aid on color ;morphing, which truly changes the watch's appearance every time you move your wrist and reflects light. It's pretty amazing stuff and the best execution I saw of it was by a brand called Urwerk(tm).

NEWS: No Big Buzz

One thing that was missing at this show was the absence of any major announcement or debut from the major players that exhibited in the Hall of Dreams.

As I have explained before, this is the area where most of the very high-end brands exhibit and I was kind of surprised not to have something creating a technological buzz at this show. Last year, the big news was the first 1/100 th of a second mechanical chronograph from Tag Heuer.

The story this year seemed to be more on design (most probably related to the affect that the female demographic is having on the industry) and less on technological innovation.

NEWS: Powering the Industry

The movement manufacturers did have innovation to spare, of course. The factories ISA(tm), Ronda(tm) and Swiss ETA(tm) all announced new machines, with my personal favorite being the ETA G15.261, which is a jeweled quartz movement featuring a chronograph complication. The big deal here is that all the dials were retrograde rather than circular.

I was able to secure a working example and bring it back to the United States, which if you were watching the most recent programs, I demonstrated on-air.

This movement is certainly proof that quartz innovation can indeed be very cool and look for productions featuring this unique new engine to debut in the latter half of this year and into 2007.

ETA believes that Tissot(tm) may be the first company to market an example with this new technology, with of course, many others to follow. I would like to extend a special thanks to my friends at ETA for the working sample donated to our show.

Another noteworthy development is that ETA also introduced its first skeleton Valjoux 7750 (all previous skeletons of this have been third-party). Look for these to hit the market realistically in 2007, as the waiting list seems to be (according to inside sources) to exceed one year.

NEWS: Rado is on the Case

As to news in the art of case-building, I am going with Rado(tm) as being this year's big story.

This company, which has so many amazing high-tech elements, unveiled the first watch case to be composed from synthetic diamond. Prices are not yet available, but you can bet they will be high.

Basel 2006: Frequently Asked Questions

Probably the most common and frequent question I get after the Basel show is who had the coolest booth?

This obviously is subjective, but with that being said, hands down it was in the Hall of Dreams where the big boys play and specifically (and my personal pick), it was the new Breitling booth. It was four stories tall and suspended above the atrium of the exhibit was a 26-ton fish tank.

One word, folks: spectacular.

Another question I usually get is;what was the number one money-no-object watch?

I have to say that Hublot(tm) had some oversize watches that were just covered in top-quality Wessleton diamonds that I thought were pretty cool. However, my favorite was at the Harry Winston booth, where this legendary jeweler was offering invitation-only appointments to see the Opus V.

I tried to wrangle an invitation to see it so I could do some research for you, but was given an unequivocal Nein, nein! by their crack security team. Still, it is an incredible watch and rumored to be priced in the $200,000 to $400,000 range.

In the somewhat more affordable arena (it is amazing how $12,000 - $15,000 can seem affordable when put up against the high mid- to high- six-figures), I really liked the watches from Cyclos(tm).

Cyclos(tm) has a slogan of you don't need it, you want it Well, they've hit the nail on the head in that I want it. Indeed, if you put one of these beautiful watches on your wrist, you'll want one too.

The innovator and genius behind this brand is a man by the name of John C. Ermel, who is an engineer, architect and designer by trade and someone who had the foresight to look at something differently when it comes to watches.

To me, innovation often is a simple thing that for some reason eluded others. Cyclos has done just that in that their innovation makes so much sense, but nobody really looked at it the right way.

Specifically, he wanted to look past the Latin postscripts of ante meridiem (a.m.) and post meridiem (p.m.) and make it so that with a glance you could read the essentially different cycles of day and night on the actual dial of the watch.

This is a take and modification on the mathematical curve (Pascal's limacon) to create a movement that shows the progression of time on the dial of the watch face, allowing the hands to follow the pattern via a radial adjustable hour hand.

I know, it sounds complicated and it is. However, to put it in simple perspective, if you were a polar explorer who spends half of the year in total darkness you would be thrilled to have a timepiece that could tell you whether it is night or day.

This company uses some amazing technology and combines it with fantastic materials, including stainless steel, white gold, diamonds, alligator and lizard straps, sapphire crystals, Swiss automatic movements, engraved rotors and a host of interesting complications.

Cyclos is a really impressive brand and the individual models incredibly handsome. I was happy to have been able to see them close-up.

Basel : The Big East

Having spent literally a full week studying and participating in the Basel Fair and its far-reaching influence on the watch industry, I think it is absolutely necessary to discuss Asia and that region's increasing presence and effect on the marketplace.

Both Seiko and Citizen, huge stalwarts and respected members of the watch world (Japanese companies both) are having increasing and undeniable influence across the realm of timekeeping.

Each of these legendary companies had prominent and impressive displays in the Hall of Dreams and truly, these manufacturers were in the right place. Their watches are amazing, the quality legendary and their place in Basel well-deserved.

That Seiko and Citizen are big players in the watch industry is not big news.

However, over at the International Pavilion the presence of manufacturers based in China was huge, amazing and subsequently, big news.

The quality and innovation demonstrated by this growing manufacturing segment has improved dramatically and I predict will continue to have an increasing impact on the market.

As odd as this is going to sound, some of the most elaborate and beautiful decorative complication work I saw this year was at the International Pavilion rather than at the venerable Hall of Dreams.

These manufacturers are making great strides in mechanical chronograph engines and some of the higher-end decoration and skeleton work in and on mechanical engines was nothing short of being works of art.

Frankly, some of what I saw was far beyond anything I’ve seen previously from these China-based manufacturers and if you own a Swiss timepiece company, you're ahead in the race, but you definitely are beginning to hear what sounds like footsteps. And trust me, they're coming up fast!

There truly are some impressive and compelling designs out there from the China-based manufacturers and I am working on getting some of the more intriguing and affordable models and brands on the Lines of Time program, so stay tuned.

Well, that's a brief (okay, not so brief) synopsis of what I saw at Basel 2006. The next show is JCK-Vegas (July) and in the world of watches, you just never know what could be just around the corner.

Last edited on Thu Apr 13th, 2006 01:06 pm by tny795

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 Posted: Thu Apr 13th, 2006 12:21 pm
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oagaspar
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IMHO Tim Temple is the Man when it comes to TV Watchguys...the Original Watch Guru and Treated as Such even in Basel I Enjoyed seeing the New ETA G15 Retrograde Working Model He Brought Back From Basel...I Don't Believe any Other Host Returned With One !!

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 Posted: Fri Apr 14th, 2006 09:57 am
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KenC
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GREAT read..................TT is the man that CG will never be!  Cogent and well written!

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 Posted: Sat Apr 15th, 2006 07:57 am
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e.avery
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Tim is the man!!! I got back into collecting because of him.  Seems to me that he has gotten more into watches and learned a lot more about the business and tec. since going to WSS, that is great for everyone.

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