Look Book

16 www.thejewelrybook.com T H E P A N T O N E T I M E Z O N E 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 The Pantone Time Zone Vibrantly Violet Watches in The Color of the Year BY BARBARA PALUMBO Hublot Ultra Violet or those of us who write about the jewelry, watch, or fashion industries, fi nding out what will be the Pantone Color of the Year is sort of our equivalent to how automotive journal- ists feel about the Car of the Year by Robb Report. We all have our guesses ahead of time, which we base on what we've seen in the pages of Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, or maybe we've been lucky enough to attend a fashion week or two where we've witnessed shades of what we believe might be the new year's hot hue. But when the palette fi nally drops, and the color is revealed, we journalists celebrate in the form of wish lists, trend reports, and articles galore, and this here piece on watches in Pantone's "Ultra Violet" selection is no exception. From a personal standpoint, I happen to love any color that falls within this particular spec- trum, so seeking out timepieces in these shades made for an enjoyable search. Here's hoping the following four watches reign–or rather, purple reign–majestically for the rest of 2018. The Hublot Spirit of Big Bang Moonphase in Purple A Hublot watch is neither for the meek nor the faint of heart, but a Hublot moonphase watch in purple with a titanium case and amethysts in the bezel is about as extroverted as a watch can get. Containing the HUB1770 skeleton self-wind- ing movement, a purple quartz dial, purple alligator and rubber straps, and an anti-refl ective sapphire crystal, this watch may look like your casual fashion watch that you wear only when you have on your matching lavender yoga pants, but it runs like the fi nely made Swiss timepiece it actually is. Lesson here: Never let a bright color fool you. F

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