Baselworld 2013 - Fossil Swiss Line Automatic

Fossil watches. It's not really the type of watch one associates with watch collecting. However, if you have a look at their designs, they are quite classy and on point. Better than some of the more established watch brands. The designs are so good in fact that many of them sell out. That's right. Sell.Out. Of course, there is also the argument that they're a fashion brand so they aren't going to produce a lot of something if it's just going to be out of fashion next season. Well, yeah, but stick with me.

Many of their designs are based on proven yester-year styles and of course, the whole 'vintage' look these days is always in. However, up until quite recently, they've only dabbled in the value-oriented, quartz powered watch category. No longer.

At Baselworld they presented the Swiss powered range. And true to their design language the first model off the rank is a classic looking watch, simple time only with date, (with the date wheel colour matching the dial!) clean and no-nonsense with choice of strap or bracelet. At 38mm in diameter it might be considered on the small side in today's size-obsessed world, but 38mm is quite easy to pull off and it is a very versatile size. There's really nothing to not like about the watch, apart from maybe the price, starting at US$895.

The only problem is that people may not be willing to spend that kind of money on a Fossil branded watch, even if it has higher Swiss made quality. Ah, the joys of trying to take a brand upmarket! However, a realistic 'street' price could bring it down to around the $5-600 mark would make it a lot more reasonable, but we shall see how they go.

Movement is the Swiss automatic STP caliber 1-11 with 26 jewels, 28,800 vph and a power reserve of 46 hours. (Yeah I don't know them either, but going off the images the movement looks like an ETA2824 clone)

I believe that there are talks regarding the quality being not quite up to scratch for a supposedly Swiss made product, so perhaps a proper hands-on experience is needed to better judge the product.

Baselworld 2013 - Moonphase trend continues...

We mentioned a trend that was happening during SIHH this year in January - the triple date moonphase trend, and this continues on in Basel with Vulcain AND Maurice Lacroix both releasing a triple date moonphase in the classic layout (ie day and month just under 12:00 and moonphase at 6:00).

Vulcain 50s President's Moonphase have certain done a very good job with it, and personally am very happy to see the slate/anthracite grey dial used on a stainless steel entry level model. The movement is ETA based, with a calendar/moonphase module stacked on top. Given the price range of the Vulcain range, I wouldn't expect the RRP to be all that unreasonable. At 42mm this is quite wearable, and definitely plays well above its price grade. The difficult part would be to actually find one to look at and try on in Oz. Unless you're willing to buy sight unseen... The 42mm case can be had in rose gold or stainless steel, with sapphire crystal front and back, powered by an automatic Vulcain caliber V-58 (base ETA).

Maurice Lacroix's Masterpiece Tradition Phases de Lune offering is also quite conservative and traditional in appearance, however, you do have your choice of colour combinations and bracelet/leather straps. The stainless steel case is 40mm in diametre, with sapphire crystal front and back, 50m water resistant, powered by ML Calibre 367 (base ETA). The dial can be had with guilloche finishing or lacquered mirror finish.

Baselworld 2013 - A Tale Of Two Squelettes

If you're after a skeleton watch, with a diametre of 43mm, powered by a 17 jewel, 18,000vph manual wind movement with a power reserve of around about 45 hours, well, you're in luck! At Baselworld 2013, you have 2 to choose from, depending on the thickness of your wallet. It's been a right royal pain to find pricing information this early on, so I am taking educated guesstimates on them.

Maurice Lacroix

First up, we have an offering from Maurice Lacroix - The Masterpiece Squelette Manual Wind. This is based on the ETA6497 movement, but re-branded to caliber ML134. The skeletonisation is beautifully done, and featuring grand colimaçon (spiraled) decoration and sandblasting on the main bridge, in black or rose gold PVD execution. If the price for previous skeleton watches from ML are any indication, I'd hazard a guess and call this at around the $8000 mark.

Maurice Lacroix

If that's too  much to swallow, how about this offering from Tissot, The T-Complication Squelette? Obviously the finishing is not as nicely done as the ML, but the Tissot does have that industrial feel to it, and I'm sure that will appeal to some more than the fancier ML finishing. Exactly the same basic movement, so I guess some of that extra $$$ could be allocated to the finishing work done on the movement (Labour intensive = more $$$) I'm going to guesstimate the Tissot at around $2000. Not bad for one quarter the price of the ML. Not bad at all.

Tissot

Tissot

Cartier's Jaeger-LeCoultre Duoplan Powered Watches - Antiquorum

This Cartier watch lot from the upcoming Antiquorum auction was brought to my attention courtesy of @horologium. It's an interesting lot seeing as you get a whole brief case of nice vintage Cartiers in one hit, most of which will most like need to be sent back to the service centre for a bit of TLC. The James Bond attache case is a nice touch.

Image from Antiquorum- Click on image to expand. The duoplan ones would be the rectangular shaped watches

What really caught my attention was the barely legible text engraved on the plate above each watch to identify it. I managed to make out the word "Duoplan" which struck a chord... what chord???

Well, back in the early 20s, Jaeger-LeCoultre came up with a radical method to shrink the watch movement in a quest to make everything smaller. They came up with the idea of putting the movement on 2 levels, so it's shaped like a brick, but by doing so shrinking the overall size and a brick shaped movement lent itself quite well to bracelet like jewellery watches. The name is literally that- Duoplan.

The Duoplan quickly evolved into the smallest mechanical movement ever made- the Calibre 101. One of the most famous watches made with this watch was the one worn by Queen Elizabeth II during her coronation back in 1953. The Calibre 101 consists of 98 parts, measuring 4.85mm by 14mm and weighs a massive 1 gram(!)

Watches with calibre 101 are still being produced today by Jaeger-LeCoultre, but the Duoplan is not. This might be quite the pick up if only for the Duoplan watches that aren't made by Jaeger-LeCoultre.

Calibre 101 fitted into a Reverso case

The auction is this Sunday, May 12th in Geneva, and the Cartier watches set is lot 340.

Baselworld 2013 - Alpina Startimer Pilot Chrono Big Date

If you loved the aesthetics of IWC's 2012 release Top Gun Miramar pilot's watch, but cannot stump up enough greens for this green machine? Fear not! Alpina has heard your cried and brought their own versions to the Danger Zone. It features a choice of subdued military colour scheme, for (I'm guessing) 2 less zeros in the price tag.

IWC Top Gun Miramar Chrono

Bear in mind that the Alpina range is quartz powered, but then again, when you're in a rush to feel the need for speed, who has time to wind their watch up before blasting past Mach 4? But just because it's quartz doesn't mean it's not a good watch. You still get high quality 44mm case in steel or PVD coated, AR coated sapphire crystal and a highly legible and balanced dial. Don't be such a movement snob. In life, we can at times do without the added complication. But if you must be a movement snob, There's always the Startimer automatic. You just have to go without the military styling. Or hope that Alpina makes one sometime down the track.

Baselworld 2013 - Bell & Ross WW1 Regulateur

I've always had a thing for regulator style watches. Never managed to get one, mind you, but it remains high on the shopping list. (A very long list with constantly changing priorities...) Unfortunately the state of my current watch budget means I'll need to let this gem slide as well. Unless B&R makes one in steel? Pretty please? I mean sure, the steel version won't exude the same elegance as this pink gold version, but the lack of budget is really more of a personal issue than anything else...

This a very classical looking watch, and even though B&R is probably best known at the moment for their flight instrument inspired watches, (that'll be the square cased ones) they also make some very elegant vintage style watches.

I'm loving the simplicity of the design. Round case, 'wire' lugs, and just simple black lines for indicies. I hate to say this but the placement of the brand at 3:00 kind of ruins the balance of the dial. I understand fully that the product needs to be branded, but I'm sure there's a way to do it subtly, and would also prefer if they also had a circle around the seconds display, just to make it even more symmetrical.

Those little gripes aside, it is still a great looking watch with beautifully blued hands and running an exclusive movement from Dubois-Depraz. At 42mm in diametre this might be erring on the side of "too big for dress watches" for dress watch purists, but I think the size is just right. Plus it's limited to only 99 pieces I'm sure they'll sell every single piece the make. So it might be a good idea to register your expression of interest with your favourite B&R AD ASAP...

Baselworld 2013 - Alpina's Retro Charm in the 130 Heritage Pilot Chronograph

I think we have good o' Baume & Mercier to thank for their leadership in using "mood" photography on their watches when they began their Hampton lifestyle inspired campaign. (ie, with other items in the background and looking like it was shot on location rather than a studio with a light box) Quite a few brands have taken this road for their latest press release photos and they certainly are a welcome change from the boring soldier shot on white or black background.

Of course, retro in the watch world is always in. There are many decades in which to take styling inspirations from and you know what they say, they don't make them like they used to. Alpina certainly has been around long enough (they're 130 this year!) to be able to dig into their archives for some retro stylin'. One that seemed to work quite well is the 50s chronograph. Longines have done it. So has Baume & Mercier to name but a couple, and now, Alpina has launched their version this year at Baselworld 2013. They've even gone to the trouble of using retro font for the brand name.

Now I'm normally not a yellow gold kinda guy, but somehow, on this model, the yellow gold works for me. Maybe I'm just really taken by that vintage belt the watch is posed next to. (For a brief moment I thought that was the strap that the watch came on!) The gold is most likely plated, which is perfectly fine by me as that will make the watch priced much more reasonably than actual 18k gold. They've certainly done a great job with this number. All-retro everything but with modern manufacturing techniques and quality and a modern, Valjoux 7750 clone- the Sellita SW500 but in a bi-compax layout. All the colour combos work in my mind, so it's a definite winner!

Wonderfully classic design, completely legible, balanced dial, (no date window to ruin the dial) love the cross hatch details on the pushers, even the AR coated sapphire crystal is made to mimick acrylic, just great attention to details. Now how's about including that brown belt with the watch?