Today marked the official public opening of Baselworld to the public, making it one of the more hectic days of the shows.
So anyways, my second day at Baselworld 2014 began with stopping by the H.Moser & Cie booth, where the brand showed the much-teased Perpetual Calendar Black Edition.
There were also some new dials on existing models, like this radial sunburst satin-brushed silver dial.
Last but not least and quite possibly my favorite dress watch from Baselworld 2014 is the new Venturer collection.
Next stop was the Christophe Claret booth in the independants’ “Palace” pavillion, where the brand showcases its first-ever ladies’ watch, the Margot.
Also presented was the Maestoso, featuring a Detent escapement that is rarely found in wristwatches.
After that I headed across the hall to the Arnold & Son booth, so far the most impressive brand overall at Baselworld 2014. Pretty much every new watch presented came with a totally new movement, and they’re certainly not your typical movements.
First up was the TEC1, an automatic tourbillon with a column-wheel chronograph.
Next came the DTE, a dual-time watch with two independent tourbillons and gear trains. You just have to love the balanced layout on this one.
A second chronograph present was the CTB, featuring a patented “True Beat” or dead constant seconds hand on the same axis as the chronograph’s central seconds hand.
Perhaps my favorite though was the DSTB, a watch where the brand’s signature “True Beat” seconds complication sees the mechanism with its single-pallet fork and anchor-shaped counterweight move to the dial-side of the watch. You can definitely look forward to a video of this one coming soon!
Before I headed off to my next meeting in the main exhibition hall, I just had to stop by MCT to check out their new Sequential Two. I’ve always been a fan of the brand’s revolving triangular panes to indicate the hour, but this new round iteration definitely takes the cake. This year they’ve released their second line, the Sequential two that features not only a round case and slightly modified display, but also an in-house automatic mircro-rotor movement.
I then headed to Hall 1, where Hublot’s colossal 3-floor booth had quite the number of new releases.
First was the recently announced Big Bang Unico Bi-Retrograde Chrono, the official watch of the FIFA 2014 World Cup featuring a football timing chronograph mechanism incorporated into the brand’s in-house Unico movement.
Next was the Classic Fusion Tourbillon Vitrail, a skeleton tourbillon movement where the gaps are filled with colored glass.
Also presented was the King Power “Special One”, famed football coach José Mourinho’s signature watch featuring a blue carbon fiber bezel.
And finally, Hublot presented its second in-house tourbillon with cathedral minute repeater movement, this time in a Classic Fusion case.
My final stop for the day was at JEANRICHARD, where the brand showcased several extentions on their existing Terrascope, Aquascope and Aeroscope lines. A few of my favorites include this erratic satin-brushed copper/bronze dial Terrascope.
The in-house caliber equipped 1681 was released in a new vibrant blue dial, as well as in a matte-black DLC coated case with either a creamy-silver or black dial.
And finally, a new addition to the Aquascope range with a Hokusai-inspired wave motif dial.
That’s all for tonight folks, but be sure to check out my Day 3 report tomorrow, and of course a closer look at each of these watches after the show.