Look Book

20 www.thejewelrybook.com T H R E E W A T C H B R A N D S C O L L A B O R A T I O N WAT C H R E P O R T 46 www.thejewelrybook.com 46 www.thejewelrybook.com B A S E L W O R L D WAT C H Y O U R S E L F "It is unlike any trade show you've ever stepped foot in." "Wait until you see Hall 1. Prepare to have your mind blown." "I hope you like giant fi sh tanks." These are just a few of the remarks made to me by colleagues who had been to Baselworld, upon hearing that I would be headed there for the fi rst time in my twenty- year career. I had recently launched a watch blog geared toward women and was excited to have a reason to go, so I ordered some super fancy business cards (thanks, MOO), booked a hotel room in Zurich (because as a newbie, I didn't know any better), and dug out my 1940's vintage Longines (in the hopes of impressing anyone who cared). I was packed! I was ready! I was prepared! But really, I most certainly was not. Ho. Lee. Mo. Lee. Everyone was right. This place was like nothing – and I've been to a lot of places in my forty-three years on planet Earth – NOTHING I'd ever seen. The booths on the main fl oor of Hall 1 were bigger than my elementary school, not to mention they had much nicer lighting fi xtures and served more nutritious lunches. I half expected to see Kylo Ren step foot out of Hublot with its darkened interior and Death Star-like vibe. Those exiting the Hermès booth carried large orange shopping bags, leading me to wonder just how big their new watch dials were being made this year. Tag Heuer verti- cally suspended a Formula 1 racecar from one of its walls – which, by the way, is a wall I made sure I didn't go anywhere near – and built into Breitling's booth was the afore- mentioned giant fi sh tank containing 650 jellyfi sh, as if I didn't have enough to overload my senses to a Willy Wonka-like level. With roughly 150,000 people – 4,000 of who are journalists – passing through the various halls of the 1.5 million square foot space (yes, you read that correctly) it's easy to get overwhelmed and even easier to get lost, but thankfully a 6'6" model is almost always nearby to help guide you in the appropriate direction while simultaneously making you hate your outfi t. Once the initial shock and awe part of the experience passed, it was time for me to get down to why I was there in the fi rst place: to check out what was new, hip, and trending in the watch universe. What I saw, thankfully, was a lot more in terms of women's watches than I had expected to see originally, many of which, to my delight, Watch Yourself Baselworld through the Eyes of a Newbie BY BARBARA PALUMBO Watching Worlds Collide Three Watch Brands Getting Creative through Collaboration BY BARBARA PALUMBO Jaeger-LeCoultre collaboration with Louboutin. he term "collaboration" has, sadly, taken on a new connotation in today's InstaFame, infl uencer-driven society. What used to be defi ned as, "the action of working with some- one to produce or create something" now often means "I've been paid to Snap/post/ blog/Tweet about this brand but I don't want it to look like they paid me." It's a softer, kinder way for many self-proclaimed infl uencers to legally state that they've accepted money or gifts to help a brand sell its product (though, tech- nically, the word "collaboration" is not listed under the FTC's guidelines as one of the words they're supposed to use to make their posts legal in the eyes of the Federal Government). Thus, it has dulled the true meaning of the word to an unattractive, uninspiring patina. Thankfully, the following three Swiss watch brands are returning the word to its original state. Watch brand collaborations are in no way a new thing. For years, many major labels have partnered with speed-associated companies to produce limited edition pieces for collectors. Hublot did it with Ferrari when they created a Big Bang tourbillon for their Chinese market in 2011. Parmigiani Fleurier has had a greater than ten-year partnership with Bugatti; the two collaborating on the Type 390 – inspired by the impressive 2016 Bugatti Chiron – just last year. And of course, there's the infamous love affair between Breitling and Bentley which began all the way back in 2003. But not every collabora- tion requires four wheels, an engine, and a tank of gas. Nor should it. T

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