Basel 2014 - with a quick trip to Zurich thrown in

Hi strap lovers.  I think a visit to the great city of Basel is always a wonderful experience, But for a watch lover the world over, going to Basel in Springtime means only on thing - Baselworld watch fair!  Andrea and I are fortunate to live just a few short hours away, making the trip a very practical one to visit some watch industry friends and see all the new offering from most of the top brands.
Some of my favorite offerings in terms of presentation and interesting strap designs are from U-Boat this year.

Great to see U-Boat really getting into interesting strap design for their Collection:

Zenith Watches have always been a favorite of mine and I'm really loving their new Pilot Collection watches.  Great watches with a genuinely rich heritage, these watches reach back to the early 20th Century brand DNA to design a collection that looks stunning : 

The Originals:

I've always had a love for Chronoswiss watches even before I learned that the brand was founded right here in Munich.  Now under the new ownership of Oliver and Eva Ebstein and having moved their production and headquarters to Switzerland, they are still building great looking watches adding some great fresh design elements while at the same time, honoring the brand DNA given to it by Gerd-Rüdiger Lang since its founding in 1982.  I'm looking forward to seeing many wonderful and unique watches coming form Chronoswiss.

Of course, Speak-Marin watches are ever a favorite and Peter was showing some wonderful time pieces this year!

Catching up with friends:  We had the pleasure of meeting a number of friends while at Baselworld this year:

Patrick Hohmann founder of Werenback Uhren

Bremont Watches:  Great stuff as always: one of the best designed brands at Baselworld.  Plus meeting the friendly staff and Michael Pearson Bremont's North American Director was a real treat

Showing off my own brochure:-)

Sitting the a Jet ejections seat!

discussing the finer points of ejection seat design

Trying on one of my favorite Bremont watches: Limited Edition Norton Chronograph

One the way home, me stopped overnight in the charming old German town Laufenburg on the Rhine rivers with and took a walk around the old town, walking across the bridge to Switzerland.

It doesn't get more picturesque that this:-)

Laufenburg had been famous for it's Salmon fishing in former times:

We made a bit of a pit stop in Zurich in the way home which we'll share with you as well  Zurich in an interesting place with a charming old city section that dates from the middle ages along side beautiful wide boulevards of the 18 and 19th Century sections.  We spent most of our time wondering the old city section.

Enjoying the beautiful Springtime weather and having a Great Lunch at restaurant Schipfe 16 on the Left bank of the River Limmat in Zurich:

Wonderful views of old Zurich from the Lindenhof park: