The ostentatious oddities of the Baselworld luxury watch fair (pictures)
The ostentatious oddities of the Baselworld luxury watch fair (pictures).
The Baselworld watch fair is where the world’s premium fashion brands gather together to flaunt their latest lines of expensive watches and jewellery. It’s where you need to go if you want to buy a watch that costs as much as a house.
CNET was on the show floor, taking a look at how the luxury brands are beginning to embrace smart wear. Away from the high profile launches however, Baselworld is littered with weird and sometimes unbelievable sights. This is an industry that’s clearly not short of cash.
I’ve gathered together some of my favourite behind-the-scenes shots, including booths that look like luxury hotels, a host of high-end vehicles and even a personal appearance from Arnold Schwarzenegger.
First up, the conference building itself. It's called the Messe Basel and has at its centre a huge metal circle, under which are various places to get coffee. Looking up, it provides a very striking view.
As is usual for tradeshows, individual brands create their own booths within the conference building walls.
Less usual is the sheer opulence of the vast majority of these booths. These structures are only temporary -- they'll be taken down in a few days when the show ends -- but they look like the outside of Beverly Hills' most exclusive shopping district.
The foyer of a luxury hotel? Nope, another booth.
Armani clearly had some concerns about security, so fitted its booth with this vast metallic vault door.
Swarovski's booth was every bit as glittery as you'd expect from a brand which sticks its stones to almost anything.
That's not a video display above Breitling's stand -- that's actually a huge tank of real jellyfish.
More fun than fashion, Romaine Jerome's stand featured a ball pit. Sadly, I wasn't allowed in. Spoilsports.
All stands were highly decorated and many featured illustrative items. In Tag Heuer's case, it was Nissan's new Nismo car, ready for its Le Mans debut later this year.
Some cars were a little more classic.
And of course no car display would be complete without a Formula 1 vehicle.
Or a replica of an orbital shuttle.
Given the amount of money changing hands inside, it should come as no surprise that the car park was littered with cars like this Lamborghini Aventador.
A lone Segway scooter, just itching to take someone around the show floor in style. It was snatched away before I even got my chance.
Action hero turned California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger showed his face in the halls, possibly shopping for a new timepiece for himself while there.
Former Black Eyed Peas star Will.i.am was on-site as well, announcing a partnership with Gucci for an upcoming smartband.
Speaking of partnerships, Tag Heuer celebrated its partnership with Google and Intel for a forthcoming Android Wear watch by slicing up this huge wheel of cheese.
The cheese is actually made by Tag Heuer's larger-than-life CEO, who has a herd of 86 dairy cows. He makes cheese for his friends and, apparently, to dish out at press conferences. It was lovely.
I would have loved to climb inside this diving suit and march around the show floor, delighting young and old alike with tales of the deep.
I was joined at the show by CNET's superb senior video producer Marc Ganley. Look how happy he is.
Away from the show, the city of Basel is situated around the Rhine river and sits on the border between Switzerland, France and Germany.
Apparently it's extremely fashionable to have bunches of lilies hanging from the ceiling.
Baselworld has possibly the nicest looking press room I've ever been in. It arcs around the atrium, in front of the lovely big window.
Nope, this guy isn't doing medical research in his free time on the stand...
...He's doing incredibly detailed tiny paintings, demonstrating the hand-crafted nature of some of the pricier watches.