The Best Of Baselworld 2017: Day 1

Day 1 from Baselworld 2017 brought us gorgeous pieces from Rado, Breguet, Rolex, Longines, Harry Winston, Chanel and Tag Heuer

By Annabelle Fernandez - published 24 Mar 2017

Keep up with all the best pieces from Baselworld 2017 as Executive Editor Charmaine Ho reports live from Switzerland. Expect key pieces and stunning novelties that you can look forward to from the world of watches.

We start the day fresh with RADO whose direction for the year is "Portrait of Time", supported by a fleet of watches that include exciting collaborations with designers from various creative fields.

BREGUET impresses with a strong showing of women's watches, thanks to the expansion of its beloved Reine de Naples collection (look out for 8 new models) and a beautiful Tradition Dame timepiece. Men can look forward to a focus on the brand's Marine collection — refreshed with new aesthetic codes that will be carried out for the rest of the Marines to come.

At LONGINES, it's the remarkable Conquest V.H.P 'Very High Precision' quartz watch that is making waves: It has the ability to auto-correct its time once every 3 days and has as a tolerance of just ±5 seconds per year.

Upping the ante on glamour is HARRY WINSTON with a number of highly covetable gem-studded creations and automatic movements being introduced into its Avenue and Midnight collections for the first time. There's also a new stunning Metier d'Art collection featuring raw silk dials embossed with gold.

Over at ROLEX, there's no mistaking the brand's focus for the year with a gigantic Sea-Dweller model greeting you at the entrance of the booth. The ever-popular number celebrates its 50th anniversary this year with a new increased size of 43mm and a cyclops lens for the first time.

While at CHANEL, there's a bit of fun (the J12 Mademoiselle and Graffiti watches), a lot of glamour (the diamond encrusted Mademoiselle Privé Aubazine Décor watch) and a oodles of gorgeousness: The Première Camélia Skeleton watch, which sees the unveiling of the house's second caliber to be produced in-house.

Last but not least is TAG HEUER who continues to give women a plethora of sporty options with new renditions of its crowd-pleasing Aquaracers — including a matt black ceramic design — and Carrera Ladies. The latter now comes with a modular case that spells for more permutations and play of materials in the collection.

Go through the gallery above for more details on the individual watches.

By Charmaine Ho

RADO

"Portrait of Time" is the theme for the year

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Baselworld 2017

RADO

A collaboration with an Austrian interior designer gave birth to this multi-layered, concentric circle dial

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Baselworld 2017

RADO

The newest additions to the Thinline family are inspired by the colours of ink

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Baselworld 2017

TAG HEUER

Following last year's Monza is the heritage-piece inspired Autavia. AUT stands for automobile, while AVIA is for aviation

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TAG HEUER

A Carrera Ladies that shows a big trend for the year: Blue dials. Plus, a denim imitated rubber strap that looks and feels just like denim

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TAG HEUER

For the boys: Fun-loving Aquaracers in camo and khaki

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TAG HEUER

The Aquaracer collection has been expanded with several new models including a matt black ceramic number (not shown here)

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CHANEL

The Mademoiselle Privé Aubazine Décor watch distinctive dial is inspired by the stained glass windows of the Aubazine abbey where Gabrielle Chanel spent her childhood

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CHANEL

Trying on the J12 Mademoiselle for size. It's available in white and black versions

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CHANEL

The Première Camélia Skeleton watch features the brand's second in-house movement with a remarkable camellia motif design

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Baselworld 2017

CHANEL

A new Mademoiselle Privé Coromandel that features micro-sculpting of gemstones

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CHANEL

Let Coco Chanel tell you the time with her swinging arms

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ROLEX

Here, a blue-faced Sky-Dweller in steel and white gold. New bi-coloured editions are being introduced into the collection for the first time

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ROLEX

Always a personal favourite is the Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona, this year with Oysterflex bracelet.

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ROLEX

And for the ladies, a Datejust with a distinctive coloured gem bezel

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ROLEX

A prominent display to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the brand's beloeved Sea-Dweller

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ROLEX

The new Sea-Dweller now comes in a 43mm case size and a cyclops lens for the first time

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HARRY WINSTON

A metier d'Art dial that shows strips of black Tahitian mother-of-pearl woven with silk thread

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Baselworld 2017

HARRY WINSTON

An automatic movement is being introduced to the Avenue collection for the first time and it remains at the same thickness as its quartz brethren

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HARRY WINSTON

Another artful number from the Midnight collection that sees raw silk embossed with gold. Even more amazing is that no silkworms were killed in the process

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