The Best of Basel 2015

TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre Heuer 01

The brand offers an avant-garde take on its flagship watch, the Carrera, this year with the Carrera Calibre Heuer 01. Boasting a new case, construction, design and calibre, the watch features a manufacture chronograph movement that has been named Heuer 01 in honour of the brand’s founder, Edouard Heuer. The design reveals chronograph controls and an openworked date disc on the side of the dial, while on the caseback a red column wheel, skeletonised chronograph bridge and blackened openworked rotor draw the eye into the mechanism. The case is made from light titanium for greater shock resistance, and is modularly constructed with 12 different components, which opens up options for materials, colours, treatments and finishes. TAG Heuer says that 01 movement will be the backbone of the collection, and is a pretty good deal, being the only manufacture chronograph movement in the market, which can be had in a watch for less than CHF 5,000.

Tudor North Flag

Headlining Tudor’s novelties for the year is its first collection with an in-house movement, called North Flag. And by in-house the brand means fully developed by Tudor’s own watchmaking facility in the Swiss town of Bienne, and not by big brother Rolex, giving the pieces very accessible price points. The collection gets its name and design from the British North Greenland Expedition in the early 1950s, where the team members wore Tudor Oyster Prince models to carry our an exploratory mission in the Arctic. The watch comes in a 40mm satin-brushed steel case highlighted by a matte ceramic and steel bezel and a screw down crown. Tudor’s first automatic movement, Calibre MT5621, features reserve power of up to 70 hours and the date, which are indicated on the dial. The caseback features a sapphire window - a first for Tudor, which showcases the movement that is also chronometer-certified by COSC. The Tudor North Flag is available with either an integrated, satin-finished steel bracelet with polished-link interfaces, or with a matte black leather strap with yellow topstitching and lining, both with folding clasps.