Baselworld day one

The first day of Baselworld is always a big rush of meeting people and seeing lots and lots of interesting new watches. Here are already a few first impressions.

Last year Baselworld was a rush of only 3 days, absolutely not enough to see everything i’d like to see. This year i’m taking a few days extra to see the many beautiful new watches and speak to the watchmakers.

This morning i already got a closer look at the movement of the new MB&F Horological Machine 4 (HM4). The movement is developed by Laurent Besse and Bernard Reynard. An incredible movement with two barrels… and two crowns. However MB&F does not want to say (yet) what the function of the crowns is…. The big secret of how the new HM4 will look and which functions it has is yet to be revealed, probably mid 2010.

Usually you can see a watch ‘in the metal’, however this does not apply to the another beauty from MB&F, the Horological Machine 2 in sapphire. Making this sapphire edition of the HM2 was not an easy thing to do. The sapphire is 3.6 mm thick and all holes are drilled. A very delicate work, as 4 out of 5 crystals break during the drilling.

Later this afternoon is the official launch of the book The Hands of Time. Peter Speake-Marin initiated the idea to publish a book for the 25th anniversary of the Académie Horlogère Des Créateurs Indépendants (AHCI). Long-time watch connoisseur and aficionado Ian Skellern got the honor (or difficult task) of writing the book.

The Watch Lounge has a report of the book The Hands of Time. I’m goign to buy a copy this afternoon and get it signed by the members of the Académie. The book is available via the special AHCI Book website for only 60 CHF or around 41 Euro.