Baselworld 2019 arrived after a year of unparalleled drama in the watch industry. Watch brands have been pulling out of tradeshows, including SIHH and Baselworld, during a general atmosphere of uncertainty about the future of the watch industry, amidst a backdrop of general economic and geo-political turmoil. The big names in traditional watchmaking (typically owned by large luxury groups) have been stalwart in their reluctance to experiment with new marketing, product development, and distribution styles. The corporations are predictably taking slow, cautious routes forward while, once again, the smaller and more independent names in watchmaking are leading the way when it comes to what we would call “real innovation.” What does all that mean for the new watches we saw at Baselworld 2019?
That’s a very good question because, Bell & Ross Aviation Watches perhaps surprisingly, the Bell & Ross Aviation Watches team found more new timepieces to be excited about at Baselworld 2019 than in recent history. Each of our half-dozen team members who attended Baselworld 2019 walked away with more than a few timepieces on our minds that we would put down our own money for this year. A combination of market price-category holes left open by the big groups and sober pricing trends, in general, along with the availability of new materials and production technologies, have apparently come together to allow for a very impressive modern wrist watch product landscape.
Sometimes I feel as though we are living in a period that will last several more years, which is a sort of a “last hurrah” because smartwatches ultimately become the dominant timepiece product in the market. Available production capacity by traditional suppliers opened up by smaller orders from the traditional brands are giving new or boutique companies the ability to be creative, while having their items produced by the powerhouses of case, dial, hands, strap, bracelet and, of course, movement-making. It won’t last forever because the relatively boutique industry of “creative watches” can’t sustain the massive industrial machine necessary to make everything required to produce wrist watches. In a dozen or so years, some of these watch-part manufacturers and suppliers will remain; until then, all of them will be available for hire to creative brands who, in the past, would have never gotten their time or attention as the suppliers focused on major orders from group brands.
Instead of a Top 10 list to share the most important watches from Baselworld 2019, the Replica Bell & Ross Aviation Watches team decided to forgo a generalized list and discuss some of our favorite watches across a few categories. For instance, we feel that different attention should be given to products that are line extensions of existing products (such as new colors or materials for existing pieces), and other products which represent entirely new models. Let us also remind the community that we will only include watches officially debuted at Baselworld and not those debuted outside the show or intended by the brands to be released later in the year (as is the case with a good number of watches we saw). Finally, the Swatch Group (which includes brands such as Omega, Breguet, Blancpain, Longines, Hamilton, Tissot, Glashutte Original) and more chose not to participate at Baselworld 2019 and won’t be releasing information about new products until May 2019 and later. Let us now take a look at the Bell & Ross Aviation Watches Replica favorite watches of Baselworld 2019.
Only about two years old now, France-based Reservoir watches is the brainchild of a watch-loving entrepreneur who wanted to make something both affordable and different based on his love of gauges. The company developed a proprietary module that goes on a base Swiss automatic movement that offers a retrograde seconds hand, jumping-hour indicator, and power-reserve indicator. The newest Reservoir model is the Hydrosphere Diver, and it’s beyond cool, looking as it does like a real diving instrument. It comes in a few colors and is probably our favorite innovative dive watch of 2019. Price for the Reservoir Hydrosphere is around $4,300 for most models.