Timepiece Trends for 2005 – From Basel and Geneva

Every spring means the unveiling of the newest product from the watchmakers of Switzerland . Basel and Geneva play host to the largest timepiece tradeshows in the world. Retailers from around the world descend upon these 2 shows in the hopes of seeing the latest in haute horologerie. Amongst the noticeable trends was the continuation of larger case sizes for both men and women. Manufacturers that had been resisting the trend finally seemed to be adding size and dimension to many of their models. A 40mm watch which 5 years ago would have been described as “oversized” is now entry level for most men's timepieces. Ladies watches, except for the most formal, have increased to a 34 – 38mm average range. This noticeable increase in size assists in the accommodation of another new trend this year in ladies watches and that is ladies watches with some complication. Adding a complication to a timepiece i.e. chronograph, moonphase, power reserve or tourbillon often requires that the overall movement be slightly larger and therefore have a larger case size. This was certainly true this year as many Swiss manufacturers of ladies timepieces added larger and more complicated models…..Roger Dubuis, Piaget, Harry Winston and Chopard to name a few. In addition to larger case sizes and more complication, ladies timepieces also continued to be most popular when accompanied with diamond bezels, markers, bracelets…..and other such precious gem enhancements.

For men's watches, the emphasis continued to be, not surprisingly, on size and complication. While a large percentage of timepiece manufacturers have often (if not always) used base movements produced by other companies and then slightly modified in-house….the emerging trend seems to be more manufacturers attempting to make more of their own movements. Expect this trend to continue as several of the prominent movement manufacturers have made it known that they would like to decrease the amount of outsourcing they provide other watch companies over the next couple of years.

The Tourbillon craze continues, with everybody from Breitling to Jacquet Droz to even fashion house, Channel displaying the Tourbillon complication. The tourbillon, invented by Abraham Louis Breguet over 200 years ago and once necessary to counter the effects that gravity has on the accuracy of the movement is now simply regarded as a piece of watchmaking art.

And these were just a few of the notable trends….