Brands play safe at Baselworld

With 108 Swiss exhibitors of which 86 watch brands, is the Baselworld glass half-empty or half-full? Some fear the worst, given the decline in the number of participants Design-wise, two hot contenders were Hublot's Classic Fusion Ferrari GT and the MB&F Legacy Machine FlyingT, its first lady's watch Exceptions aside, the collections shown at Baselworld tended to follow the same route as Chanel's J12.

Almost twenty years after its launch, the brand settled down to the task of revisiting the twenty-first century's first iconic watch In an infinitely dressier register, Chopard is out to seduce the contemporary gentleman who chooses his watch with the same care as his cashmere suit The brand enters the dapper gent's wardrobe with its tried and tested LUC watches whose elegance is measured by the scant millimetres of their profile.

Even with so few discernible trends, very few watches ventured into new terrain as brands opted to play safe, leaving it to the smaller names in the Les Ateliers and Incubator sections to fan the flame of creativity At a lukewarm Baselworld, alongside the big brands who "Make" the watch industry but can "Break" it too, they were finally given the place they deserve. . Source