courtesy Omega
Omega Seamaster Diver 300m coaxial --Launched in 1957, this is unarguably one of Omega's design icons. The latest model comes with George Daniels' benchmark co-axial escapement.
Courtesy Ressence
This young Belgian company's watch breaks all the rules. The first oil-filled mechanical watch, an all glass case and signature orbital discs display. This model, the Type 3, was launched in 2013 -
courtesy Bell & Ross
Large, square and an homage to cockpit instrumentation, with the BR01, young company Bell & Ross struck gold in 2005 with a counter-intuitive watch that became widely copied.
courtesy Rolex
This design classic dates back to 1953. This version in green ushered in a new interest in bolder colour in watch design.
Courtesy Omega
This 2015 edition, of the only watch to have gone to the moon in 1969 on the Apollo 11, makes an obvious joke into a sophisticated watch.
Courtesy Jaeger Le Coultre
Take two separate watch movements and make them share a regulating organ. The result? A ground-breaking movement for a dual-time display piece, first seen in 2007.
Courtesy Seiko
Seiko's pioneering spring drive provided 72 hours of reserve power, then 1998's Grand Seiko line reminded everyone that not all Japanese watches are cheap digitals.
Courtesy Glashutte
I would choose the signature 1911 piece from a brand that disappeared into the wilderness following the Soviet control of East Germany, only to return triumphant again in recent decades.
Courtesy Breguet
Often called the most beautiful of pilot's watches, this piece, with its flyback minute totalizer, follows the Type XX, designed for the French airforce in the 1950s.
Courtesy Breitling
Introduced in 2001, the model put forward the use of titanium and re-defined the technical extremities of performance. And they called it the Avenger. It doesn't get more macho.
courtesy Tag Heuer
Originally produced in 1969, famously worn by Steve McQueen, Tag Heuer kickstarted a trend for re-issues when it brought the blue dial model back from the archives.
Courtesy Citizen
A revolutionary idea in 1995, a quartz watch that never needs a battery. The Eco-drive pioneered the use of solar tech to power a performance timepiece.
Courtesy Tudor
The watch that, in 2012, relaunched Tudor as arguably the coolest watch company bar none. Often cited as the best investment piece around at the moment.
Courtesy Tissot
Think smart watches are new? Tissot introduced the first watch with a touch sensitive dial in 1999.
Courtesy Zenith
Introduced in 1969, the El Primero mechanical movement was the first to measure time to 1/10th of a second and became a watchmaking legend in its own right.
Casio famously tested this digital - first launched in 1983 -by throwing it from the top story of its Japanese HQ. Probably the toughest watch ever made.
Courtesy Patek Philippe
The 1985 3919 model may be the most popular, but the Patek Philippe Calatrava dates back to 1932.
Courtesy Hermes
Introduced in 2015, this was the first watch to employ a graphic designer outside of the watch industry to devise the numerals.
Courtesy Swatch
The most basic of all watches - utmost clarity and a simple quartz movement - yet totally ground-breaking. Having originally launched in 1983, Swatch has become more of a culture than a timepiece.

Editor’s Note: This is part of a series dedicated to Baselworld 2016. Josh Sims is a freelance writer, watch expert and author of “Icons of Style”.

Story highlights

Baselworld is the global shopping event for watches

80% of watch sales for the year ahead are generated at the fair

Many leading watch brands create extravagant booths

CNN  — 

Baselworld may sound like a particularly uninspiring theme park, but is in fact the global shopping event for watches - at least if you’re a retailer.

In Basel, Switzerland, once a year, the owners of watch and jewelery brands – together with the press and a few big time collectors – congregate to see what the horological world has to offer and, if tempted, to sign on the dotted line. A whopping 80% of global watch sales for the year ahead are generated at the fair.

courtesy Baselworld
Baselworld, 1973

Wear comfortable shoes

Baselworld is big – literally as well as figuratively. And it is strictly for those in comfortable shoes: the show covers some 141,000 square meters of aircraft hanger-sized exhibition halls, each structured according to different sectors and markets, with room for some 1800 exhibitors along their 30km of corridors. There is, for the 150,000 footsore visitors, a lot of walking to be done.

And a lot of spectacle to enjoy. When it comes to their booths, many of the best known brands seek to replicate the sophistication and plushness of their flagship stores; often the same level of security too.

Visiting Baselworld does not mean you get to see every brands’ wares. Although day one of the show coincides with the release of a barrage of press material unveiling the latest watches, access to the stands can be by invitation only, which can be frustrating to watch mad members of the public who – unusually for an industry show – can also buy a ticket.

Courtesy Blancpain
Talk about international: this Swiss-made watch incorporates shakudō, a copper and gold alloy created in Japan, and features the Hindu god Ganesha in the center.
Courtesy Ulysse Nardin
Here, Ulysse Nardin shows General Hannibal Barca's famous journey from Iberia, across the Pyrenees and Alps, into Italy during the Second Punic War in 218 BC. (The scene is even mounted on granite sourced from the Alps.)
Courtesy Zenith
Zenith's Academy Christophe Colomb Hurricane Grand Voyage timepiece depicts the Italian explorer's adventures in the so-called New World.
Courtesy Saint Honoré
The bezel of this Tour Eiffel watch from Saint Honoré is made of a medal girder from its namesake.
Courtesy Breguet
Breguet Tradition Automatique Seconde Rétrograde 7097, which was announced last year, made its formal debut at Baselworld. The inside-out design allows the wearer -- or admirer -- to see the watch's inner mechanisms in action.
Courtesy H. Moser & Cie
In a nod to today's new technology, H. Moser & Cie branded Funky Blue the ultimate "smart" watch, extolling its virtues of not needing to be charged after 18 hours like Apple's.
©Rolex/Claude Bossel
Rolex introduced a new Oysterflex strap, which comprises a flexible metal blade covered with a rubber-like polymer.
Courtesy Cuervo y Sobrinos
Cuervo y Sobrinos's Tropicana uses an Art Deco motif to evoke to glamor of 1950s Havana.

Spectacle and space

Not that these stands are unspectacular from the outside. When, in 1999, a new watch hall was opened, it allowed for three-story stands – which consequently many companies built.

Breitling’s is known for its giant fish tank, Tag Heuer for suspending Formula One racing cars over the deal-making below. Model-esque hosts and flowing champagne are the norm. Small wonder some 20,000 workers and 7,000 lorries pass through Basel to make the eight-day event happen.

Stefan Schmidli
Bulgari stand at Baselworld 2015

Indeed, spectacle is part of the deal. While Baselworld is where fresh ideas in watchmaking and materials are mooted – with competing shows the likes of Geneva’s Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie and London’s Salon QP equally important – the event does not typically offer a plethora of innovation.

Why it matters

“For many of the major players that dominate the show Baselworld is, a few instances aside, more an exercise in marketing,” explains Benoit Mintiens, the founder of boutique brand Ressence and a regular exhibitor.

“That’s important when the entire watch world comes to the show. Even as a small brand that needs to get itself known, there’s no better way than to be at Baselworld. Of course, distributors typically want to note a rookie’s presence at the show for a few years before they will consider buying. Like all trade shows, it’s a bit of a game.”

courtesy Baselworld
Schweizer Mustermesse, Basel 1941

A centenary of watches

It’s an old game too. Next year Basel will celebrate the centenary of a watch show in the city. A special section for watches and jewelery was first unveiled at the Scnweizer Mustermesse Basel in 1917, although it wasn’t until 1973 that the first dedicated European Watch and Jewellery Show was inaugurated in the city. In 1986 exhibitors from outside Europe were admitted for the first time, making it a global event, and in 2003 this position was underscored by its re-branding as ‘Baselworld’. Remarkably, some agency was no doubt paid a small fortune to come up with that.

via Breitling
2015 saw the embrace of wearable tech and smartwatches in the fashion industry. In 2016, will this mean the end of the classic mechanical-watch in favor of new technologies? Experts say no.
Breitling
Breitling's brand new Exospace B55 Connected is a hybrid, using Bluetooth rather than wifi and an upgraded quartz movement, for those who want both the functionality of a smartwatch and the look and feel of a traditional timepiece. But that doesn't mean the brand is abandoning mechanical watches like its classic Navitimer (pictured). "In 2016 we will also continue to develop in-house movements in our watches," Breitling USA President Thierry Prissert tells CNN. "And we will have have plenty of new, exciting watches being released this year at Baselworld in March that I am looking forward to."
breitling
"Moving into the future, Breitling will continue to value tradition and quality while balancing a growing need for technological integration," Breitling USA President Thierry Prissert tells CNN. "The Exospace B55 Connected is a perfect example of this [because] it places the smartphone at the service of the watch. You can use your smartphone to adjust various functions on the watch including setting the time zone, an alarm or measuring calculations important to pilots such as flight times, block time and mission elapsed time. You can even receive notifications on the watch when you receive text messages, calendar notification, phone calls and e-mails."
Massimo Dutti
Expect even more mainstream fashion brands to get in on the smartwatch action this year, but don't bet on them to ever entirely replace mechanical watches, especially for those who espouse effortless elegance. A smartwatch is simply too techy, though the Apple Watch Hermès has plenty of panache. Spanish-Italian style stalwart Massimo Dutti recently collaborated with Sony on an alternative version (pictured) with ambient light sensors, accelerometer, compass, gyroscopic system, GPS, voice control, touch control, writing with gestures and a dapper saddle leather strap.
teNeues
According to "The Watch Book," the 18 watch brands that matter in the world right now are: Audemars Piguet, Breguet, Breitling, Cartier, Chopard, Glashütte Original, Hublot, IWC Schaffhausen, Jaeger-LeCoultre, A. Lange & Sohne, Montblanc, Omega, Panerai, Patek Philippe, Piaget, Rolex, Vacheron Constantin and Zenith. Mechanical watches dominate, smartwatches need not apply. We would add TAG Heuer, Tudor, Hermès, Bell & Ross and Blancpain to the list for starters.
teNeues
"The Watch Book" delves deep into its favored brands like Glashütte Original (pictured) in the form of illustrated-biographies of the most important names in top-end timekeeping. It traces the progressive development from their earliest days right up to the latest innovations and current models and features nearly 750 photographs.
Analog/Shift
Mechanical watches evoke an emotional connection with consumers that electronics cannot and will not ever achieve, James Lamdin, founder of Analog/Shift tells CNN. "At a time when more and more consumers demand a lasting and meaningful experience from the goods they purchase, the mechanical timepiece industry will continue to thrive in 2016 and beyond," opines Lamdin. Analog/Shift is a highly-regarded online watch boutique which specializes in vintage timepieces like the 1958 Rolex Submariner pictured above.
Analog/Shift
"The vintage watch market has exploded in recent years, with consumers from all walks of life drawn towards the concept of re-discovering the past, finding a timepiece with a story, and adding their own chapter to it," Lamdin says. "In 2016, the vintage market will continue to blossom at all levels -- entry, mid and high-end." Pictured is a motorsports-inspired 1970s Heuer Autavia from Analog/Shift's collection, a model that has seen prices rise steadily.
Huckleberry
Customization of high-end timepieces is a growing popular as well, and we expect many innovative designs in 2016. The newest player, with the unlikely name Huckleberry, specializes in intricately engraved Rolex timepieces, like this green dial Submariner -- which took 140 hours of labor to complete and costs $37,500. Others like Project X and Bamford Watch Department have begun to offer blacked-out stealth versions of Rolex sports models and are branching out with different designs and a wide palette of custom color options.
SIHH
The annual SIHH luxury watch fair in Geneva is organized by Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie (FHH) and was originally created to showcase luxury watch brands -- including Cartier, IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre and A. Lange & Söhne -- owned by the blue-chip Richemont Group. Prestigious brands outside the group such as Audemars Piguet and Parmigiani Fleurier were added to the mix later on, as well as Ralph Lauren Watches, a collaboration between the legendary designer and Richemont launched in 2007.
Urwerk
This year Ralph Lauren will be absent from SIHH in order to focus more on the U.S. market, while nine new and/or independent watch brands will be exhibited at the high-end event for the first time. The new exhibitors are Christophe Claret, De Bethune, H. Moser & Cie, Hautelence, HYT, Kari Voutilainen, Laurent Ferrier, MB&F, and Urwerk, whose fanciful timepieces resemble machinery fit for a Star Wars set. Some of them are literally changing the way we tell time, though not everyone would consider them objects of beauty. Urwerk has exhibited at Baselworld in the past.
Ressence
More recently established watch brands Antwerp-based Ressence and New York-based Autodromo, have both succeeded with an emphasis on world class design. While Autodromo's timepieces, which are inspired by vintage sports car gauges, are relatively affordable, Ressence is built on the expertise of yesterday -- crafted with today's technology, but designed for tomorrow. It has relied on the backing of men's style powerhouse Mr. Porter to sell watches for up to $37,000 apiece. We expect to see more offerings from them both in 2016.
Antiquorum
2016 will be an interesting year for watches, Julien Schaerer, Managing Director of auction powerhouse Antiquorum in Geneva tells CNN. The market continues to grow for exceptional and undervalued [vintage] pieces; there has been tremendous growth on brands such as Heuer, Universal Gene and diving watches in general. "Where sales of conspicuously expensive luxury goods have slowed, the market for Rolex sport models in excellent condition like this iconic Daytona will continue to grow no matter what," says Schaerer, noting the influence of consumers in China and the Middle East.