Montres Passion is a magazine that has been awarding the Watch of the year prize for the past 15 years. This year, they selected the Altipano by Piaget as the winner.
IWC’s Da Vinci Vintage Automatic
The Da Vinci Vintage Automatic by IWC took second place while Rodolphe’s Instinct Basic 4851 Four Time Zone took third. Ladies had a seperate category -The Ladies’ Watch of the Year award which was won by Piaget’s model “Magic Hour”
Rodolphe’s Instinct Basic 4851 Four Time Zone
The Jury’s also awarded a special prize to Harry Winston’s Diane minute repeater. The watches were short listed from forty finalists which were selected from over a hundred new models launched in Switzerland over a period of a year. The short listed models were also open to votes from the web and the Diamond Flower by Perrelet won the Swiss Public prize.
Sure, On paper it sounds all impressive – World’s largest watch fair has a dedicated section for brands which feature 125 fashion brands from 105 countries blah blah, but the truth is that most of them failed to impress. I did, however, chose to write about a select few:
In the world of watches, Self described modern design entrepreneur Scott Wilson is known for his Presto Digital Bracelets which were a phenomenal success, remain a best seller and have achieved iconic product status. Another of his Nike credits is the Oregon Series Watch Collection, associated with Lance Armstrong’s extraordinary career in competitve cycling.
Wilson now works on design driven projects for major brands through his own MINIMAL design studios which allows him at the same time to work on design-manufacturing projects of his own, such as OOBA, his furniture line. Below are a few quotes from his keynote speech at the Asian Watch Conference held along side the Hong Kong Watch and Clock Fair 2008 that I managed to note:
Scott Wilson's Rhino Sculpture, Kera, was live-auctioned for $14,000. All proceeds went to the World Wildlife Foundation.
His personal view on watches
I feel in love with watches when i went to work for Nike as global creative director. They are more personal and intimate with the user; they can define a person’s identity. I’m intrigued by the scale and intricate detail of the watch design.
I am currently developing some watches under the MNML brand and in the future I would love to create a modern classic watch for a true luxury brand.”
Sure, Baselworld is the premier watch event but the Hong Kong watch and Clock exhibition takes the cake for the largest watch fair with more than 760 exhibitors. Primarily a sourcing event for watch producers, the fair has come a long way in pushing forth the importance of design and branding for its local industry and at this year’s edition, they had American designer Scott Wilson headline the event with a keynote address, featured a record 125 fashion watch brands from 105 companies and showcased local talent via their annual wristwatch design event.
Over the next few days, I’ll be posting about the fair. Keep reading.
Chalk graffiti greeted visitors on Saturday morning through out the hall with messages referring to Blood Diamonds, Tibet and the prostitution of Basel. The best was the mock protest sign that read – Time Kills!
Baselworld was overbooked this year so brands like Casio, Kenzo, H Stern etc. had a seperate tent with an extended lounge for visitors to relax in
The Swarovski section in the extension. The lights on the ground are actually spotlit jewelry
Themed car parked outside for Havana inspired swiss made brand, Cuervo Sobrino.
Btw, the coverage continues till the 10th so stay tuned.
Little known Callanen International may be based in Norwalk, Connecticut but the company is a major part of Timex’s bid to ‘upgrade’ it’s portfolio of brands. Let me reiterate, If you haven’t caught on yet, Callanen is owned by Timex and they make Guess, GC, Marc Ecko Watches, Nautica and now Helix, their new water sport brand. Below are some of the latest models from the company:
It’s April the 2nd. One day before the 2008 edition of Baselworld is set to go off. It’s eerily calm as Oompa-Loopas hurry around putting the final touches to the impressive booths that are the equivalent to shrines for some of the brands trying to finish up for the annual pilgrimage of customers, press and other curious onlookers to the world’s largest watch fair. And just like every year, I got to take a look around:
New booths scatter through out the fair this year with brands like Villemont making their debut
The new Oakley booth. Admiring the booth design at Basel world is the equivalent of the floats you see at a parade.
Follie Follie’s new watch made with Corian material
The D&G Booth
The Breil Booth. For those not in the know, The Binda Group of Italy is the company behind the D&G watches, Breil, Tribe by Breil and now Wyler
Dennis Rodman was on hand signing autographs on behalf of Von Dutch watches.
Mondaine’s jab at fellow brands: “The World’s best watch is useless, if you can’t read the time.”
Marc Jacob launched their first watch collection courtesy of a licensing agreement with Fossil. We’ve got a first hand preview of the watches and we hope to writing about them soon
Callanen International, the wristwatch branding company behind such brands as Guess and Nautica, brought their latest license, Marc Ecko watches for the first time to Basel
Another Year, Another Basel World. We’re currently at Basel, Switzerland covering the watch world’s annual pilgrimage to the Swiss Mecca of Watches – Basel World 2006. Over the next 24 hours we will be posting images and news from the exhibition so stay tuned.
Put together a nationwide competition where you ask emerging innovators to depict the future of seamless mobility, and you are bound to have a scenario or two where the wristwatch retains its mantle as the interface of choice. Take the MOTOFWRD competition for example, one of their finalist enteries involves a swiss army equivalent gadget that combines your phone, GPS system, credit card and pda into one special inteface that combines a specially-equipped glasses and a wristwatch. (Read in Detail (PDF))
