Editor’s Note: This is part of a series dedicated to Baselworld 2016. Jack Forster is the managing editor of watch website HODINKEE.
Story highlights
Baselworld, the world's biggest watch fair, launches today
Watch expert Jack Forster has selected the best pieces to launch this year
Choices include Rolex's new Daytona and Omega's limited edition Speedmaster
CNN
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High-end watch website HODINKEE has become the go-to destination for serious watch enthusiasts.
The New York-based digital magazine is recognized as one of the industry’s most influential, serving up in-depth reviews with encyclopaedic knowledge and an appreciation for crisp, creative visuals.
As Baselworld 2016 kicks off today, HODINKEE’s managing editor Jack Forster reports live on the five show-stopping launches that are rocking the industry at this year’s biggest watch fair.
This isn’t the first Rolex Daytona chronograph to receive their ceramic “Cerachrom” bezel (the outer ring that surrounds the watch face), but it’s safe to say that it’s the one everyone’s been waiting for.
Last year, for the 50th anniversary of the Daytona, instead of a classic steel model with a black bezel, Rolex introduced a platinum Daytona with a blue dial and brown bezel – handsome, but also unabashedly a showstopping luxury wristwatch.
This year, at last, we’ve got the Daytona in steel, and with a black Cerachrom bezel. It may be the Rolex Daytona everyone wants, but it is definitely not the Rolex Daytona everyone is going to get; there’s apt to be a very long waiting list.
Courtesy Rolex
The new Daytona also comes with a black dial.
READ: The extreme world of watch testing
For very good reasons, Tudor’s new watches this year have gotten lots of attention. The flagship launch was a Black Bay, based on Tudor’s vintage diver’s watches, with a 43mm case in marine-grade bronze-aluminum alloy.
Almost unnoticed at first, however, was a 36mm version of the Tudor Black Bay. It’s not a diver’s watch, like the other, larger Black Bays; it doesn’t have a rotating one way bezel for one thing.
What it does have is the clean, timeless simplicity that so many watch fans – especially lovers of models like the vintage Rolex Explorer – want, and are increasingly hard-pressed to find.
Possibly the sleeper hit of the show.
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In the watch world a “complication” refers to anything on a timepiece that goes beyond the standard hours and minutes. This piece is a combination of one of Patek Philippe’s signature complications – a world clock element showing the time in 24 different time zones – with a chronograph.
According to Patek Philippe, the design is based on a vintage model by Patek: the 1415 HU. That watch, we think, was probably more a conceptual starting point for the 5930G than a direct inspiration, because the old model and the new don’t have a whole lot in common other than that they’re both world time chronographs.
We think the new model does stand on its own merits as, not only a very useful watch, but also an interesting and fresh re-interpretation of Patek’s traditional implementation of the world time complication.
The Bvlgari Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater is one of our picks here because of what it represents in technical watchmaking. This is, as far as we can tell, the thinnest minute repeater anyone has ever made. Ever.
The movement thickness, according to Bvlgari, is 3.12mm – now for perspective the last time anyone made a repeater movement that thin, it was Vacheron Constantin and it was 1941.
The Vacheron from 1941 may have had an extremely thin movement but overall, it still wasn’t as thin as the Bvlgari, which has a titanium case only 6.85mm thick and which, at the same time, manages to be water resistant to 30m.
Make no mistake – this is high end watchmaking, and as serious as it gets. With the introduction of this watch there is simply no denying Bvlgari’s place among not only the most aesthetically forward looking, but also the most technically sophisticated watchmaking brands today.
READ: Baselworld 2016 preview
This one is an unabashed sentimental favorite: it’s a re-issue of one of vintage Omega lovers most beloved variations on the Speedmaster.
The Speedmaster Professional is widely known as the watch worn by Apollo crews, and it’s still in use in space right up to the present (they’re worn on board the International Space Station).
courtesy Omega
More than 55 years after the first Speedmaster flew into space they are still seen outside the ISS.
The reference CK2998 was an early Speedmaster model from the late 1950s-early 1960s; it was the first to have a black bezel, and it was also the model worn into space by Wally Schirra, on Mercury Atlas 8.
This isn’t a direct copy of the original; this limited edition features a bit of color, including a blue ceramic bezel. It’s still, however, a great-looking reinterpretation, in a new timepiece, of one of the classic Speedmasters of all time.
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.