My overview of Basel 2014... PICTURE HEAVY!!

[W44NNE]

So for the past week or so, I've been staying with my friend in Switzerland. It was a fantastic time and boy did I need a break! I timed my trip around the Baselworld fair. I went last year and was quite disappointed as it's mainly appointment-only and not really for us "normals". It's more of a trade show and there must be bmillions and millions of pounds worth of orders from ADs around the globe... I know one AD who has ordered ten of the new Celini range.

So, this year, I knew what to expect and also, I ended up going on my own so I was able to really take my time and explore the show, including all the halls and therefore the smaller brands. What I realised was that although you don't get to buy or touch, it's not really about the big brand stuff there. In fact, there were several smaller brands that impressed me more than ANYTHING else at the show. It felt like there's actually some brands out there who sell at "normal" prices and you can get an awful lot for your money if you look around.





















Unfortunately, after trying to make time for the Bremont stand, I found they'd packed up early and this is what I saw :-(



I'll be creating a couple of other threads on my Swiss trip (including one on the brands that I liked the most) but in terms of watches alone at the show, I took over 200 photos so I've really had to narrow it down so I don't kill Eddie's bandwidth!!! If there's any brands you want specific photos for I can try my best for you with e-mail etc but I think below will show the best of what I could do. My main camera ran out of battery quite early on (I forgot to charge it!!) so I had to switch to my iPhone. However, the camera lens I took for the Fuji wasn't ideal for this sort of stuff anyway so I'm really sorry for the poor pics. I assure you, the pics in my other threads will be better :-)

So, first to the bigger brands...

Rolex

GMT



Celini range



Milgauss Green\Blue



General sports models... notice the DSSD is still there so will run alongside the SD... I'm very happy about this...



Now, the SD4000. I took as many angles as I could but there's photos floating around the net from the journos now anyway if these don't suffice...















The new sky-dweller models... I asked some **** at Rolex if, as the show was closing, it would be possible to hold the new SD and he just flashed his Sky-Dweller and said I could look at that but not the SD... errrrrrm, not quite the same...





Daytonas...





Omega

The new Speedmaster... I didn't realise all the dial markers are applied...







Other new Speedie...



Diamond-clad PO...



SM300s....



De Ville Tourbillon...



Patek...

The new white one... Can you tell I know my Pateks?



The new black\grey one...



The new diamondy one...



TAG Heuer...

The rather lovely CH80. Not quite as thin as I'd hoped but it's the case rather than the movement. Plus, these are prototypes so may well change before release according to Darren at Cal11...







The V4 Tourbillons...



Carreras...



F1s...



Blancpain

The Bathyscaphe Chrono was something I wanted to see... In ceramic. I asked the woman at the Blancpain stand if they had it but she didn't know?! (Not the only stand with muppets at hand by the way) So I had to make do with the steel one. I didn't like it, BUT have you seen how thick the bracelet is?! The bracelet reminds me very much of a Royal Oak in profile...



Lume...







Breitling...

I didn't realise there were new Colt Chronos etc. Nice to see Breitling back-pedaling a little to styles similar to previous styles. I'm not a fan of the big font bezels etc and think this is a much better direction...

Colt Quartz Chronos...





Crazy sized Navitimers... one is 48mm...



Superocean Chronos...





Bvlgari...

It took two people again to answer my question but, yes, this is their latest 41mm chrono. You can thank the chap that looked like he was straight out of a magazine for the wonderfully detailed answer he didn't give gave me...



I couldn't try it but wasn't impressed with the non-chrono so probably the same goes here.

Zenith...

Lightweight... this was a very cool watch with carbon bits etc...







A nice vintage Zenith...



Ooooh that blue one...



H.U.G.E...



H.U.G.E. with faux patina lume...



Bubble tourbillons...





Tudor...

The new Black Bay Blue Bay thing...

[W44NNE]

The rest...

Bell & Ross...





Carl F. Bucherer...







Christophe Claret...







Corum...







Glashutte Original...







Graff... The first twin tourbillon something or other...







Hermes... A nice watch that only displays the time and GMT digits when you press in the crown button. Liked this one...



HYT...



Jacob & Co....



Laurent Ferrier... A stealth Tourbillon...





Ulysse Nardin...





Alpina...





Check the bezel out!!



Ball...



Bulova... Accutron II range...



Citizen...





Eberhard...



Hamilton...













Luminox...



Nomos...





Revelation... (really liked the one on the left)...



Swiss Mecanica...

[DandyHighwayMan]

Great pics, thanks.

[itsgotournameonit]

Thanks Wayne.A great overview and a lot of effort on your part.Enjoyed that alot

[champagne_james]

Thanks for posting!

I'm really considering the Blancpain Bathyscape

[Richard.]

Great posts. Thank you.

[BigTel]

Thank's Wayne great post much appreciated .

[gregflat9]

Thanks for posting - great pics.

[j111dja]

Interesting stuff.

I like that new Ball Chronograph and the Hamilton with twin crowns, but my favourite was the big date GO Chronograph.

[ArghZombies]

Really great photos. I see there are many watches here that didn't make any of the bigger blogs so it's great to see a flavour of just how many watches get shown there. And sounds like the people behind the booths are just as knowledgeable as normal ADs over here!

[pastrana72]

Great post, fantastic pictures.

Leica ?

[W44NNE]

Thanks all. Glad you like them... it took a shed load of time to sort these threads

Great post, fantastic pictures.

Leica ?

The first photos are my Leica. Watch photos were a mix of another camera and my iPhone but I really wanted to learn the Leica this holiday so used it as much as possible. It's just not a good camera for watch close-ups :-)

[VDG]

Fantastic round up that Sir! Laurent Ferrier Stealth Tourbillon pour moi, and the only way display / incorporate tourbillon in to any piece IMO..

[ach5]

Wayne this is outstanding - thanks for sharing!!

That first Glashutte is a little bit special, isn't it!

[Marc]

Wow, loveky story and great pics ! Thank you. Nice to be there ;)

[Wolfie]

Thanks for posting, you've clearly gone to a lot of time and effort to pull this thread together and it is greatly appreciated, so, thank you!

Squared dialled Glashutte for me please!!!

[drhexagon]

the new breitling look a lot better with the new fonts and bezels. less in your face for sure

[Daddelvirks]

Cheers mate!

You did some great work!, all my knowledge comes from your threads..........

Daddel.

[halfscrew]

Let me be second in line for the stealth turbillion. Lovely piece. Thank you for taking the time to post all this.

[S2K Tuning]

Great pics. Thanks. I really like that Revelation too.

[W44NNE]

It's my pleasure. Really glad you all like the threads :-) I think recently I've found the love again for watches and I'm currently going through a big life event (not a good one either) so it's nice to have a hobby to count on again.

[stuartforrest]

Amazing thread, thanks so much.

I really like the Eberhard, sitting very quietly near the bottom of the thread. However I can't escape the vague feeling that the logo is on the p*ss!

[Deepsea]

Superbo thread, great photos .

[rfrazier]

Thanks for posting. Perhaps surprisingly, I really like the design of the dial on the first Corum. Not sure what to make of it as a watch for telling time, however.

Best wishes,
Bob

[xanx]

Thanks for the upload Wayne some awesome photos there!:)

[o u t a t i m e]

Wow what a great post. Thanks for sharing this!!

By the way, pity you didn't use the IMG tags correctly. Can't see the pics properly on tapatalk and had to go to the PC to view them.

[markosgr28]

Great post and pics! It will take me at least an hour to see all the pics carefully and enjoy the great watches shown. Thank you for sharing!

[higham5]

Wayne thanks for the insight into a fair many of mortals cannot attend, great shots and insight.

Steve

[mikeeb1]

Fantastic pics thanks for such a comprehensive run down. Like the look of the blue black bay.

[redsnapper]

As has already been said. Great pics and thank you very much for posting. Some great watches in there.

[Qristian]

Thank you for excellent pics. Watches seen to be very colourful these days.

[gunslinger]

Ta for posting.

i particularly like e Brietling chrono quartz's. And the Tag Heuers, they seem pretty classy looking these days.

[markrlondon]

Thank you for excellent pics. Watches seen to be very colourful these days.

Indeed they do and some execute it better than others.

Thanks to Wayne for the pics!