Time well spent in Basel

Baselworld in Switzerland, the world’s biggest watch-and-jewellery show, drew a huge turnout of Thai distributors in March, and they returned home with bags of bling. PMT the Hour Glass is touting new timepieces from Swiss brand Ulysse Nardin and America’s Harry Winston.

 

Ulysse Nardin’s Blue Sea costs Bt534,000. Built to handle extreme environmental conditions, it’s a diver’s watch that happens to be beautiful too. 

 

The self-winding Calibre UN-26 is laden with 28 jewels, a 42-hour power reserve indicator, oversized small seconds and large date display. The stainless-steel case is 45.8 millimetres in diameter and underwent a sophisticated vulcanisation process to produce the blue rubber coating. 

 

The same firm’s Marine Chronometer Manufacture – worth Bt1.89 million and water resistant to 200 metres – uses the UN-118 calibre with an anchor escapement of DiamonSil, a mix of diamond and silicon. There’s a stellar 60-hour power reserve indicator at 12 o’clock, oversized small-seconds register and a date display at 6 o’clock. Ulysse Nardin’s “quick setting” allows forward and backward date adjustments.

 

Or buy El Toro for Bt2.78 million, with a Calibre UN-32, 43 millimetres in diameter, self-winding and with a COSC certificate. The perpetual calendar is adjustable from the single crown. The second time zone is on the main dial with a patented quick-setting mechanism. A third hand shows the home time no matter where you go. The case is 18-carat rose gold, the dial is blue and silvered.

 

Harry Winston has four new collections in its World Series of timepieces – Ocean Sport, Premier, Opus and High Jewellery. 

 

The Ocean Sport Chronograph Limited Edition, selling for Bt1.4 million, is for fans of high technology. Light, hypoallergenic, harder than titanium and extremely corrosion-resistant, the case is made of the firm’s own zalium, forged from rare zirconium.

 

The Premier Excenter Time Zone costs Bt1.94 million. The 41mm-diameter case features sharper angles and slimmer lugs, with iconic arches reflecting those adorning the flagship Harry Winston salon in New York, merging seamlessly into the flow of the bezel. 

 

The functions are distinctly laid out on the anthracite grey or silver-tone dial to optimise readability. The first time-zone hours and minutes chapter ring surrounds the day-night indicator, the large date appears through a bevelled aperture and the retrograde-display second time zone is clearly highlighted.

 

Available for Bt3 million, the Premier Feathers has dials decorated with marquetry, in the great tradition of feather art that once embellished the headwear of royalty. The feathers are collected with respect for the environment, from species raised specifically for the purpose.

 

The Premier Ladies 36mm – selling for Bt1.71 million to Bt5.47 million – draws the gaze to its shimmering mother-of-pearl dial in subtly graded champagne or opaline white shades. It’s available in an automatic or quartz movement, with hours and minutes functions, 42-hour power reserve and 30-metre water resistance. 

 

The case is 18-karat white or rose gold, the bezel is set with 62 brilliant-cut diamonds totalling 1.33 carats, and you can have a satin strap or a gold bracelet, either polished or set with 376 brilliant-cut diamonds, together 5.65 carats.

 

The Opus 12, costing Bt11 million, defies the conventional rules of watchmaking by deliberately overturning the perception of time. It draws its inspiration from the Copernican revolution, according to which the earth rotates around the sun while itself revolving. Time no longer reads via a pair of hands in the centre of the dial, but by the peripheral drive of 12 pairs of hands going from the circumference to the centre. The hands, pointed towards the interior, draw attention to the centre of time.

 

The High Jewelry Timepieces Collection includes the Ultimate Adornment Timepiece, valued at Bt51.3 million, which lovingly entwines 191 diamonds around a long, slender neck, magnificently dressing a woman skin with the quintessence of charm and distinction. 

 

The case is made of platinum and 18K white gold, with 16 marquise-cut diamonds, a single pear-cut diamond and 42 brilliant-cut diamonds. It uses a Quartz movement, anti-reflective sapphire crystal and is water resistant to 30 metres. 

 

The hours and minutes are counted off on an 18K white-gold dial with a gleaming iris, while the peacock, with its silky elegance, lends its graceful plumage to embellish the piece.

 

SEIZE THE MOMENT

PMT The Hour Glass is on M floor at Siam Paragon (02-129 4777) and the second floor of Gaysorn (02-656 1212).