By Andrew Biggs
It’s a long way from Christchurch New Zealand to the city of Basel in Switzerland. Situated on the River Rhine and only a short distance from France and Germany, Basel is a picturesque and very friendly place to visit with excellent public transport, restaurants and an array of interesting shops.
The city itself is a mixture of the old and new. Walking down the narrow streets you can have modern concrete structures on one side and old shingle roofed buildings on the other. Ornate fountain statues are everywhere and the city has a feeling of pride about it as old buildings are restored and everything kept fresh and alive with paint and gold leaf. The older buildings have beautiful masonry and ironwork from centuries gone by where artisans and craftsmen took pride in their work and built it to last the ravages of time.
It is an appropriate place for the world’s largest and most luxurious watch and jewellery show in the world. Baselworld, the Mecca of watch aficionados from all over the globe. Over 100,000 visitors attend the show each year and that adds an air of vibrancy to the city. Café’s and restaurant patrons spilling out into the streets and enjoying the spring air with the sound of the trains clattering in the background all ad to the festive atmosphere.
The first day was a down day so that we could get our bearings and see the lay of the land. Plus catch up from arduous journey to get there. Basel has plenty to see and we took the opportunity to look inside the local church/museums that have some eye wateringly beautiful displays of artefacts that date back for centuries. Very inspiring from an artistic point of view!!
Then it was onto the show with the setting up of the display/work area where we were demonstrating the GRS range of hand engraving tools. There were five of us in all. Kim Pember and DJ Glaser from GRS in the United States, Alexandre Sidorov from Belgium, Jordi from Spain and myself. Quite an international team.
The following days were very busy and filled with working through a series of projects especially commissioned for Basel. A watch, bracelet and money clips were all hand engraved and had stones set in some of them to show a broad range of work that can be achieved with the tools. It was a real pleasure to talk with artisans and craftspeople from all over the world and discuss the various aspects of their work. Even though we all spoke in different native tongues and came from a great variety of backgrounds we all managed to converse in English and what the language couldn’t achieve, then demonstrating did.
During all this there was time to look at the displays exhibitions of the jewellery and watchmakers. They were spread over 3 pavilions and all the major brand names were there and a whole lot more. They had all put a great deal of time, money and effort into their displays and it was more like walking into a luxury mall than a trade show. Marble staircases, huge exotic tropical fish tanks and armed security everywhere. Some of the exhibitions you could only get into with a prior appointment and it was hard to keep in mind that in amongst the festive atmosphere, there was some very serious business being conducted. Every day you were greeted at the doors by glamorous willowy young women handing out the Baselworld daily newspaper that kept you up with events at the show.
The watches were nothing short of stunning and there was everything imaginable for every kind of personal taste. You could tell just by looking at them that they reeked of quality and class. From small and subtle women’s watches to large and bold men’s time pieces. Plain and simple to diamond encrusted and enamelled faces and some serious bling. Prices were not visible as you couldn’t actually buy anything at the show as it was not a retail show but a place where manufacturer and dealers got together to go over the coming years trends and designs. The phrase “If you have to ask the price then you can’t afford it” certainly came to mind, certainly in my case anyway.
The Baselworld show is a mixture of many things. Luxury watches and jewellery certainly, but it also has a festive and party atmosphere that gives it life and a feeling of vibrancy in amongst all the business. The luxury end of the market is alive and thriving.
