Baselworld

These are the new Victorinox Airboss Automatic Titanium Limited Editions.

One is a three hand model, the other is a chronograph. They were shown at Baselworld but will not be available until November 2013, so details are limited. We do know that they both come in sandblasted matte titanium cases that measure 42 mm in diameter and are powered by ETA movements. Military time is imprinted in red on the inside of the sapphire crystal, above the dial. The three-hand model has a horizontal panoramic date at 6 o’clock, while the chronograph has a vertical panoramic date at 3 o’clock. Both models feature large sword-shaped luminescent hour and minute hands. Matte black applied luminescent Arabic numerals and markers indicate the hours. The dial is diamond cut and has a smooth sandblasted finish. The crowns (and pushers for the chronograph) are in titanium. They come on brown suede straps with titanium folding buckles, and are inspired by pilot jackets from the 1930s.

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In the thirteenth year the Opus Series, Harry Winston’s Opus design team collaborated with independent watchmaker Ludovic Ballouard to create a complicated timepiece, like nothing you’ve ever seen. Opus XIII, is one of the more wearable of the Opus Series timepieces, and its jewel-like dial is perfectly fitting for Harry Winston, who is known more for their jewelry than their watches.

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This is the Harry Winston Opus XIII. Watch the video. Read the article and see the images HERE.

As a tribute to Zenith’s aviation history, this year at Baselworld they launched four Pilot watches. Three of the watches comes in a 48 mm case, one in a 40 mm case, which is pictured. Considering that 48 mm is gigantic on most people’w wrist, the Pilot Montre d’Aéronef Type 20 40 mm is the most wearable of the new Pilot watches.

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At Baselworld, Hublot unveiled a watch with a massive power reserve of 50-days, a world record for a hand-wound tourbillon wristwatch. The MP-05 LaFerrari Ferrari is a special series created as a homage to Ferrari’s new LaFerrari supercar. In fact, it was developed “in technical and design terms - entirely in parallel with the car, alongside the Ferrari teams.” They even share a number of common elements.

The MP-05 utilizes 637 components, 108 of which are jewels. And to achieve the record breaking power-reserve, the watch utilizes 11 series-coupled power barrels. All 11 barrels, which are arranged like a spinal column and interconnected so they do not discharge in turn but support each other, are visible in the center of the dial.

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Last month at Baselworld, Hamilton introduced a sleek new skeleton watch, the Jazzmaster Viewmaster Skeleton. It is presented in a 40 mm stainless steel case with an open case back and powered by the H-20S caliber automatic movement. At 12 o’clock, just below the “Hamilton” logo on the silver and anthracite colored chapter ring, you can see the balance wheel, hairspring and escapement as they oscillate. Indexes are applied to the chapter ring and include luminous paint. On the men’s model Hamilton designers left off the 12 and 6 o’clock hour markers, however, the 36 mm lady’s model (shown below) does have all twelve hour markers.

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At Baselworld, Vulcain introduced a replica of the 1970 Vulcain Nautical model. The Vulcain Nautical Seventies watch is water-resistant to 300 meters, can indicate successive decompression stops and has an alarm that is audible underwater. While this Vulcain diver is aesthetically based on the 1970s watch, that timepiece was based on a 1961 Vulcain diver, which was the first wristwatch capable of descending to 300 meters and audibly warning its wearer when to surface, all while indicating the various decompression stops.

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