Watchmaking in the News.

On the 1st of September we are organising a little party to celebrate our 10th anniversary here in Geneva and this will coincide with the Geneva Watch Days and the Imagination salon in Neuchatel. We’ll do our very best to organise a cool tour together of what can be seen and done as long as the sanitary measures stay the way they are today. So, keeping fingers crossed, things seem to go in the right direction, but we never know and we’ll keep you updated about this as we go along.

There are already a few of you guys who used the form found on our website to tell us that they were coming and if you’re interested in joining you will find the link in the description box below, but please keep in mind that the number of places is limited and our team will personally contact you in the coming days to organise all this, for instance if you needed accommodations or anything else. Well this will be fun, can’t wait to see some of you here in a few weeks and yes, it will be fun!

During the last edition of PRIMETIME, I had mentioned that they had canceled a video press conference the day prior to it, was a bit strange and now this one has finally occurred and to summarise things, well let’s say that we will use the term humility to describe the general feel around this latest announcement, yes I know that’s not the term which was generally associated with the Basel event, arrogance bizarrely comes more to people’s mind, but things change. So, firstly the name Baselworld is here to stay and despite all the mess around it, the deception, the fact that people from brands and journalists alike didn’t want to hear from it anymore, well I still think it is wiser to stick to that name instead of that HourUniverse name which was supposed to change the world.

Baselworld remains a recognized name so let’s keep things simple! But when I used the term humility, well let’s say that there is a realistic acknowledgment that things will never return as they were and the general downsizing of the event is simply inevitable. The big boys will be in Geneva in late March, beginning of April of 2022 and this new Baselworld will happen around the same dates but they haven’t yet been formally announced.

Greubel Forsey have just announced that they will totally stop using any animal related product, so not only alligator straps, but any leather in general. It’s quite a bold move considering the positioning of their timepieces, but it’s one that comes in the wake of more and more people suggesting of going down that route. I think it will create a precedent and though we have already seen some brands using more responsible sourcing, such as vegan options onto which you can emboss an alligator pattern if that really matters to you, but I think that by saying that are fully turning away from animal makes sense, there’s like no compromise and it makes them stand out and be the initiator of a trend that will most probably spread to other brands.

Greubel Forsey will stop using any animal related products

Obviously this is much easier to do when you produce only 100 watches per year and out of those 100 pieces, already a few had rubber options, compared to thousands of watches for other brands but overall it sends a positive and responsible message and it’s going to be interesting to see how people react.

Tudor who continues to introduce new versions of their successful Black Bay, this time coming in a full bronze case, something again already seen with them, but this time comes the addition a full bronze bracelet and in a new 39mm size. I said bronze, but actually this is special alloy developed by them which includes aluminium and this will prevent the watch from oxidising too much while wearing it. This one will not be METAS Master Certified

MB&F who have just announced a new version of their FlyingT, the brand’s first feminine timepiece introduced a couple of years back and this time coming with really nice malachite stone dials, both for the main dial and the sub dial. The case is made out of white gold and is gem set on the bezel and lugs and this new version expands other models already available and it’s not limited.

Moritz Grossmann has just introduced a new version of their Hamatik watch. We had done a report at the time of its initial launch and the main particularity resides in its movement as it doesn’t use a traditional circular automatic winding mechanism but instead uses like a hammer-like feature, something seen on certain automatic watches of the 50’s. But now this new watch is part of the vintigy inspired collection of the brand, using the original logo for instance, and this new model comes in a rose gold case with a black lacquered dial and beautiful solid rose gold matching hour and minute hands, as well as the small seconds hand. Along the same direction, Grossmann also introduced a similar inspired Tourbillon watch based on an existing model and both the Hamatik and this Tourbillon will be limited to 8 pieces only.

In terms of other noticeable watches, just wanted to mention that Hermès introduced the Slim d’Hermès Squelette Lune and as its name implies this piece is seriously openworked. A very nice, elegant watch and it uses the case seen on Slim models, but on this model the case is made out of titanium with a platinum bezel and a white gold crown, therefore many different silvery/greyish shades on this timepiece, looks good.

And last watch I would like to talk about is the new De Bethune DB25 GMT Starry Varius, an evolution of DB25 World Traveller, and this one features an original GMT indication with this small globe rotating around the dial on a 24h scale and this globe rotate on itself as 6 am and pm, giving this additional day/night indication.

So, lastly and just repeating myself a bit, but if you want to attend our little 10th year anniversary and enjoy together the visit of the Geneva Watch Days, well don’t hesitate to mark your interest on our website, link below and we’ll get back to you to discuss any organisational matters, if you need accommodations for instance and yes, places are limited unfortunately.

PRIMETIME - July 2021

Watchmaking in the News.

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