Nick Hayek, CEO of the Swatch Group, has been recently interviewed by Swiss newspaper NZZ am Sonntag and explains that such watch fairs like Baselworld create costs and expenses that could be avoided. Costs include travel expenses and accommodation that ring up CHF 50 million for the group. Over the years, the market has changed much of what it used to be, which is another reason Swatch Group will not be exhibiting their watches at Baselworld 2019.

Since 2015, Baselworld has seen many brand departures and the number of brands from 2015 went from 1,500 brands to less than 700 brands in 2018. These departures are a great impact on the watch and jewelry fair. Another problem faced by Baselworld is several management crises due to suspicion of nepotism.

As Rolex and Breitling will be present in 2019, everyone is curious to see the impact of the Swatch Group departing from the largest watch fair in Switzerland. This could be the start to the end of Baselworld.

Corum’s CEO stated “We wanted to have a collection with an elegant, classic design. It complements, following our customers’ demand, our most daring pieces”, explains Jérôme Biard.

The three dial colors include brown, blue or green, sunbrushed with black gradation. The case is made from titanium and measures at 42mm with Selitta SW300, movement. This collection is a great example of the classic and elegant timepieces Corum manufactures.

The number one thing that makes this collection so wondrous is the beauty of the dials and colors. The Sunday finishes give it nice radiant looks. The hour markers are elongated and thin which is a feature that pairs nice with the simple yet classic and elegant look. The dial also has “Dauphine” hands.

The 12:00 hour marker is replaced by an oversized Corum’s key logo. To match the sunray finish on the dial, the bracelet/strap comes in the same color as the dial and is beautiful calf leather to imitate alligator skin. These Corum watches have a 42-hour power reserve and a water resistance of 50-meters. Each watch from the collection is priced at 3,500 USD and is perfect for the first-time buyer.

The planets have the following movements and are made of the following materials.

• Mercury: Rotates around the dial every approximately 88 days and is made of serpentine
• Venus: Rotates around the dial every approximately 224 days and is made of chloromelanite
• Earth: Rotates around the dial every approximately 365 days and is made of turquoise
• Mars: Rotates around the dial every approximately 687 days and is made of red jasper
• Jupiter: Rotates around the dial in almost 12 years  and is made of blue agate
• Saturn: Rotates around the dial in over 29 years and is made of sugilite
• It is true to the actual planets revolution around the sun which is truly extraordinaire.

Cartier have created a jaw dropping timepiece that makes jaws drop to the floor. They names it Rotonde de Cartier Astrocalendaire. Designed like a stadium in rows and with the center stage being the (Ask Watchmaker). This piece is truly admirable. The “Cartier Stadium” is set up as follows:
Upper Level: Date display
Mid Level: Month Display
Ground Level: Day Display

Now I’ve seen a good amount of perpetual calendars but none like this. Cartier has redesigned the perpetual calendar into something new. Something that you look at and become lost in because you scan the watch in and out, out and in. But even with this marvelous designed they’ve made it easy to read. The display windows is what I like to call a “Cartier Blue”  that is easy to spot.

But it goes much further than that, Cartier have redesigned the manual adjustments of this timepiece.
Changing the Date/Day/Month on a perpetual calendar can be hard as well as risky since you can over-wound the watch. But Cartier has changed that, just like how you would change your hour/minute on your normal watch using the crown you can do so with the Date/Day/Month features on this timepiece.
Cartier has essentially taken the perpetual calendar to the next level.

On the back of this timepiece you can see a leap year indicator.
With a a sapphire crystal back case you can see the amazing movement working.

Cartier states the following “The Rotonde de Cartier Astrocalendar watch revolutionizes the perpetual calendar in terms of function and appearance. Its innovative design has produced a three-dimensional concentric display of the day, date and month. A flying tourbillon, rotating once every minute, occupies center-stage. Fine watchmaking connoisseurs will be sure to appreciate the ease of correcting the settings with the crown and admire the fine finishing of this “Poinçon de Genève” certified watch which is fitted with a 9459 MC mechanical self-winding movement.”

The case is Platinum and measures 45 mm 15.1 mm thick and the watch is Automatic of course. The crown is Platinum and has a Sapphire Cabochon to decorate it.A silver galvanized guilloche dial with a silvered grid and black Roman numeral and of course the sword shape in a “Cartier Blue”. It comes standard with a black alligator strap double folding buckle that is made of 18k white gold. The “stadium” (Perpetual Calendar) with of course the tourbillon complicatio. The watch is also certified “Poincon de Geneve”. The movement consist of 382 parts inclduing 51 jewels, the movement itself it 32 mm and 8.1 mm thick. There is 21,600 vibrations occuring every hour and has a power reserve of about 50 hours, water resistant up to 30 m.

This is truly a magnificent timepiece and my respect goes out to Cartier for being innovative, yet maintaining the essence of watchmaking.

Remember Swiss Watchmakers offers Cartier Watch Repair