From Your Personal Shopper in Switzerland: Fashion at BASELWORLD

Alongside renowned watch and jewellery manufacturers, such as Omega, Chopard, Bulgari, Rolex or Patek Philippe, a number of the world’s most well-known fashion brands will also be exhibiting in Basel and giving visitors an initial peek at their new watch and jewellery lines. For several years now, a close bond has existed between BASELWORLD, the most important watch and jewellery show globally, and the leading fashion houses with their designers. This liaison has its roots in the early 1970s when Gucci was one of the first fashion houses to introduce watches of its own.

The link between fashion trends and designs in the world of fashion, on the one hand, and accessories like watches and jewellery, on the other, is evident in a large number of brands. Examples include the GG and Bamboo motifs at Gucci or the B watch from Fendi, which constitutes the ideal match for the famous Fendi B bag. In many of the luxury goods companies, including Hermès, Dior and Chanel, a constant flow of design and material-based inspirations takes place in both directions between the watch and jewellery collections and the company’s remaining lines, with the result that they influence and complement each other in the ideal manner. A large number of the watches unveiled here captivate visitors with their accomplished French or Italian design and their perfected art of Swiss watchmaking.

While many of the collections shown at BASELWORLD reflect the major fashion trends and currents from the international catwalks, an influence in the opposite direction is also repeatedly in evidence. Yellow and rose gold have featured frequently at BASELWORLD over the past few years and are now being taken up by the big fashion house collections too. The wider fashion and design trends have similarly been influenced by the use of ceramics, titanium and PVD, as well as by the pavé technique for setting diamonds and the use of coloured stones.

Over the years, a large number of icons from the fashion world have been guests at BASELWORLD, including Vivienne Westwood and Diane von Fürstenberg. And this year once again, brilliant new designs and impressive creations from the most successful watch and jewellery brands and the biggest fashion houses will be enticing people to Basel.

FROM YOUR PERSONAL SHOPPER IN BASEL: BASELWORLD, THE WORLD WATCH AND JEWELLERY SHOW

BASELWORLD offers watch and jewellery brands, and also the entire watch and jewellery industry, the world’s best platform and a perfect setting for providing specialist dealers and consumers with a fascinating, high-quality brand experience.

Each spring,  1800 companies from the watch, jewellery and precious-stone industries, together with related sectors, showcase their latest developments and innovations in Basel. The world’s most renowned brands display their collections exclusively at BASELWORLD.

About 100,000 visitors from the specialist retail and wholesale trade make their way to Basel from all over the world to discover the current trends and view the latest creations from the watch and jewellery sectors. The presentation staged at BASELWORLD is truly unique, providing an opportunity to experience brand worlds at the topmost level.

We invite you to experience this exceptional setting and to combine the fascinating world of watches and jewellery with business success.

BASELWORLD 2012 March 8 to 15, 2012

www.baselworld.com

From Your Personal Shopper in Geneve: Hublot’s Magic Gold Invention

On Thursday 15th December, in the Metallurgy department of the Hublot Manufacture in Nyon, Jean-Claude Biver, Hublot’s CEO, and Andreas Mortensen, a Professor at EFPL (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne) unveiled a range of brand new alloys which are set to revolutionise the characteristics of precious materials and may also pave the way for new alloys to be used in the high-tech industry.

The new “magic gold,” is a material that is formed by combining gold and ceramics in a process that imparts the metal with nearly 2.5 times the hardness of standard 18-karat gold. In fact, the material is so strong that it would take a diamond to scratch it. In creating “magic gold,” Hublot’s metallurgists mold boron carbide powder into the desired shape of the finished piece; this porous material is then injected with molten gold under extreme pressure, fusing the two materials together and maintaining a high-enough percentage of gold to be labeled 18-karat. The new alloy has yet to be utilized in any current products on the market, but Hublot plans to unveil a number of designs that implement this new creation at Baselworld in March.

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Geneva Exhibition 2012 – Hublot Novelties: BIG BANG BOA BANG

The Boa Bang or the call of the jungle…After the phenomenal success of the Leopard Bang which really left its mark on the catwalk last winter, Hublot is now giving pride of place to the snakeskin print. The unmissible trend for 2012, its the one to watch this season. Snakeskin fashion is everywhere. It is sexy, glamourous, stylish and ultra-feminine. Shoes, dresses, trousers, tops, lingerie, bags, sunglasses, … it is in every aspect of the fashionista’s wardrobe, used as a highlight rather than a complete look. Hints of the jungle are the latest in on-trend elegance, using the snakeskin print in subtle little touches as on the Boa Bang 41 mm, available in steel or 18K red gold, and in brown or green tones, equipped with a mechanical chronograph movement to impress connoisseurs and with a dial enhanced with 8 bezel-set diamonds, firmly ensuring it will be one of this season’s must-haves.