SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017 GQ.COM.AU 163WATCH
CLOCKWISE
FROM TOP LEFT
Jasmine Sanders
and Caroline
Vreeland; Bulgari’s
Jean-Christopher
Babin and Jon
Kortajarena;
Jean-Claude
Biver; Depeche
Mode at the
Hublot dinner.Baselworld 2017 took place against
a backdrop of almost two-and-a-half years
of slumping Swiss watch exports. Not that
you would have guessed from the pomp and
ceremony that unfurled with the world’s
largest watch fair. Bulgari hosted a celeb-
packed launch party on the first day while
Hublot invited 800 guests to a gala dinner
that saw Depeche Mode perform a private
concert in celebration of Ferrari’s 70th
birthday. And last but not least, Breitling
whisked buyers, press and friends to an
airport hangar for a Spanish fiesta, preceded
by an aerobatic display in which a helicopter
gave chase to a fleet of Lamborghinis.
Though, such is its reputation, absolutely
no photography was allowed.
An industry in crisis? You’d never have
guessed – the place was as bonkers as ever.B A S E L’ S
PARTY
PEOPLE
MARQUES OF DISTINCTION
THOROUGHBRED WATCHES THAT WON’T BREAK THE BANK.ROSE GOLD-PLATED
STAINLESS STEEL
‘FLYBACK CHRONOGRAPH
MANUFACTURE’ BY
FRÉDÉRIQUE CONSTANT
Named to evoke the old
guard of Swiss watchmaking,
Frédérique Constant was
in fact only formed in 1988.
Three decades later, the
brand remains true to the spirit
in which it was established,
manufacturing mechanically
sound timepieces at value
-for-money prices, like
the ‘Flyback Chronograph
Manufacture’. You can
restart it without stopping
and resetting, which is
useful for timing laps. And
though it’s one of the most
difficult complications
for a brand to develop in-
house, after six years of
R&D, Frédérique Constant
has done just that. POA;
frederiqueconstant.comSTAINLESS STEEL
‘MASTERPIECE
CHRONOGRAPH SKELETON’
BY MAURICE LACROIX
Opt for a mechanical timepiece
over a watch powered by
a battery and it stands to
reason that you might like
to view the cogs and gears
for which you’ve just paid
a premium. Thus the raison
d’être for skeleton watches.
The trouble is, openwork
timepieces are far less elegant
when all they do is magnify
the unsightly hairs on the
wrist beneath. With the 45mm,
manually-wound, super-
contemporary ‘Masterpiece
Chronograph Skeleton’,
Maurice Lacroix addresses this
issue by partially tinting the
watch’s sapphire crystal-case
back. For 2017, Maurice Lacroix
has sandblasted the piece with
a black-PVD coating. Stealthy.
POA; mauricelacroix.comFIBERGLASS ‘SEASTRONG
HOROLOGICAL’ SMARTWATCH
BY ALPINA
This piece makes a strong
case for being the best-
looking connected watch yet,
despite, or perhaps in spite of
the fact, it’s not immediately
recognisable as a smartwatch.
With a 60-minute uni-
directional bezel, super
legible dial, and luminous
hands, indexes and markers,
it’s, first and foremost,
a proper diver’s watch. Yet
while the sixties-inspired
piece comfortably descends
to 100 metres, it’s also capable
of receiving call and email
notifications, tracking your
activity throughout the day,
monitoring sleep patterns and
automatically updating the
time and date. A smartwatch
whose face, at least, is proven
to stand the test of time.
$995; alpinawatches.com