5 classy timepieces to look forward to at Baselworld

Baselworld is just around the corner – and we’re feeling pumped. The world’s largest watch and jewellery fair is an important indicator of the watch industry’s development as well as the latest trends. Here are the five watches that we’re especially excited about this year. 

Graff

A new collection of métiers d’art timepieces for men is set to hit Baselworld next week. The newly MasterGRAFF Ultra Flat Tourbillon Metiers d’Art collection boasts beautifully-crafted dials, featuring three different themes: a dragon, a samurai warrior, and a Murakami-inspired abstract illustration. 

The collection comes equipped with the Graff Calibre 4, which is paired with a hand-wound flying tourbillon. The 43mm watches come in different versions of platinum or rose gold, and diamonds as an additional option for those who want a bit of bling. The watches offer 65 hours of power reserve. 

The watches signal the diamond jewellery power house’s interest in enamel craftsmanship and miniature painting. The dragon motif, which requires more than 40 hours of work from master artisans, will particularly resonate well with its Asian fans. The powerful samurai warrior requires 60 hours, with gold detailing used on the dragon and the samurai’s helmet. The Takashi Murakami-inspired watch uses an unusual technique called “emaille à froid” to create the smooth, glossy-finished dial.

Bulgari

We’re always up for a little bit of Italian charm and the Divas’ Dream Tourbillon Phoenix looks delightful. 

The pink gold piece comes with a beautiful open-worked dial, featuring a hand-painted red-hot Phoenix flying high above the flames. There is a tourbillon movement at six o’clock. The phoenix is housed inside a pink gold circle case, and is studded with diamonds.

The Divas’ Dream Tourbillon Phoenix is driven by manufacture skeleton manual-winding calibre BVL 208 with a 64-hour power reserve. The watch comes with red alligator leather straps as part of its crimson theme colour. It is limited to 50 pieces.

Chopard

The brand’s Happy Sport celebrates its 25th anniversary this year with new novelties that help expand its happy universe. 

The new additions come in a variety of soft, pastel colours that evoke emotions of femininity and playfulness. Three pastel colours, pink, blue and white, are offered in steel and rose gold versions, with or without diamonds. And, of course, on the mother-of-pearl dial, it features free-rolling diamonds – a design manoeuvre that has helped cement the Happy Diamonds as a signature for the brand. 

But it’s not all play with no substance. The Happy Sport comes equipped with a mechanical self-winding Chopard 09.01-C movement, exclusively developed in-house for 30mm women’s watches. The watches are water-resistant to 30m. 

Carl F. Bucherer

The Manero Peripheral collection is set to expand – literally. The new Manero Peripheral is certainly bigger at 43mm, giving more space for the CFB A2050 to run. It previously came housed in cases sized 40.6mm.

The dial is kept proportional, so everything has been enlarged to fit the bigger case size. Other than that, it has retained its clean lines. At 6 o’clock is a small-seconds subdial; at 3 o’clock is a date display. The watch comes in a rose gold case and is paired with a white dial and light brown alligator straps, resulting in a sophisticated look.

The in-house CFB A2050 calibre features a peripheral self-winding rotor that is bi-directional. This unique feature helps to enhance winding efficiency without adding unnecessary thickness to the movement. The timepiece comes with 55 hours of power reserve. 

Omega

It’s no secret Omega is known for its precision in timekeeping – and it has the creds to prove it. Omega has been the Official Timekeeper of the Olympic Games since 1932. Its role was supposed to end in 2018, but the International Olympic Committee recently extended the partnership by 12 years, until 2032. That’s almost 100 years of collaboration.

In celebration of this, Omega unveiled its Seamaster Olympic Games Collection, which includes five novelties. The 39mm watches are driven by the Master Chronometer calibre 8800, and each is limited to 2,032 pieces, marking the new extended partnership. The five watches come in the iconic colours of the Olympic Rings: blue, yellow, black, red and green.

Visually, the watches are inspired by stopwatches used by Omega in the past, especially those used in the 1976 summer and winter games in Montreal and Innsbruck, respectively. A black and white dial is paired with large, white numerals, and topped with big hands. The watches not only look athletic, but they also come with a function that would help any aspiring Olympian. There is a coloured pulse reader encircling the dial with three 20-second timing intervals, which allows its wearer to easily calculate their pulse beats per minute. 

The caseback has an anodised aluminium ring featuring all the host cities of the Olympic Games from 1932 to 2028.