Get smart, get modular and stay connected – Baselworld is here!

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Get smart, get modular and stay connected – Baselworld is here! - Editorial
1 minute read
New smart watches vie with new mechanical movements on the road to Basel.

The good news for Baselworld this year is that TAG Heuer launched the latest version of its smart watch, the Modular 45, the week before the show, complete with the Google Translate function that intrepid digital natives might want to try out on the local population when they order their beers and sausages beneath the cavernous doughnut on the Messeplatz. Montblanc also presented its first smart watch last Thursday, just two days after TAG Heuer. Although the new Montblanc Summit lacks the modular concept of TAG Heuer, there are a number of similarities. Read our article comparing the two watches.

Longines has also proved that the quartz movement still has its place between the mechanical and the “smart”. The brand was keen to avoid any comparisons between its new VHP (Very High Precision) movement and a smart watch. And it was right to do so, since this new watch has an accuracy of +/- 5 seconds per year and a clever new system that means it does not just tell the time but also “knows” the time. Furthermore, a battery life of five years stands in stark contrast to the almost daily recharging required for a smart watch, as does the classic, sobre design of the new Conquest VHP collection. Read my article to find out more.

Watches such as the Fabergé Visionnaire Chronograph and the Jacob & Co. already set a high benchmark for Baselworld 2017, but yet more exceptional pieces will be launched at the show itself. Hysek has been teasing us for a couple of weeks about its colossal new watch, while Kerbedanz is promising a wristwatch with the world’s biggest tourbillon carriage on Saturday. You can see all these new watches on the WorldTempus homepage as they are launched and get a daily summary in our Baselworld newsletter or in the news feed on the Volleto app powered by WorldTempus.

If you are keen to follow Baselworld from the outset, join us for the live broadcast of the opening press conference on Wednesday at 11am.

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