The GPHG foundation has a new president and you are introducing some new prize categories. What is the reason behind the changes for the GPHG 2018?
The arrival of a new president brings with it a new dynamism. To some extent is marks the dawn of a new era. The character of Raymond Loretan fits well with the changes we are implementing with new partnerships and developments. The prize categories are adapted each year in line with trends so that we are able to judge the full diversity of excellent watch creations.

In 1989, Blancpain's flying tourbillon was the first of its kind to equip a wristwatch. In 2018, the Manufacture is associating the tourbillon, which appears to be floating on air, with jump hours and retrograde minutes.  This new launch is also distinguished by an entirely decorated movement and a grand feu enamel dial.

It’s a bit like the glass half-full / glass half-empty scenario. Some people will see Breitling’s new strategy as an opportunity, others as a risk.

For the first time in its history, the Longines Masters series, of which the Swiss watch brand is the Title Partner and Official Timekeeper, stopped in New York for its third and final leg. This setting was chosen by the brand to bring an elegant conclusion to a project which started in May 2016 already, when its Ambassador of Elegance Kate Winslet visited Longines’ headquarters in Saint-Imier, Switzerland, and fell in love with a yellow gold watch with a refined design going back to the beginnings of the brand’s Flagship collection. Naturally, a desire was born to create a signature timepiece – unique, signed and limited to five models. Finally, following an official presentation of the collection in the brand’s boutique located at Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris, three of these timepieces were auctioned for the benefit of the Golden Hat Foundation, a charity co-founded by the British actress and dedicated to changing the way people on the autism spectrum are perceived.

From Tuesday, 1 May 2018 to Sunday, 13 May 2018, fans of IWC Schaffhausen who are in Singapore will be able to soak in the brand’s watchmaking history through a retrospective exhibition to celebrate its 150th anniversary (1868 to 2018) held at the level 1 atrium of the ION Orchard shopping mall.

The new category is perhaps the most significant change, since it considerably lowers the barrier of entry for participants. The most affordable watches in the competition previously had to hold their own in a category where the retail price could be anything up to 8,000 Swiss francs. The fact that, over the past five years, only one of the winners in this “Petite Aiguille” (small hand) category cost over 4,000 Swiss francs shows just how strong certain brands are in terms of value for money. Or perhaps I should say one certain brand, since Tudor has scooped the prize in three of the past five years. The only brand to win the category with a watch costing more than 4,000 Swiss francs was Seiko.

The Ref. 7234R-001 is a feminine interpretation of the Calatrava Pilot Travel Time, which in 2015 was launched as a men’s wristwatch in a white-gold case with a blue dial. With a second time zone and a local-time date, this watch is also the first self-winding Travel Time model in Patek Philippe’s collection for women.

After taking the tough decision not to exhibit at Baselworld this year, Mario Peserico is positive about business for the year ahead. Even in spite of difficult times in the brand’s biggest market (Italy), he is targeting 10% growth from his current production levels of 16,000 watches, especially now that ETA is open to selling him more movements.

The 2018 new releases from Louis-Ulysse Chopard, the brand’s haute horlogerie arm, provide a comprehensive view of the company’s abilities. It is probably by chance that these five watches cover such a broad spectrum. But it’s no accident that they are so modern. For a long time, L.U.C has been pigeonholed as ultra-classical. But inertia has never been one of the brand’s faults. And that is why the manufacture has revisited some of its classics to give them an entirely new and well-thought-out sense of modernity.

How did you team up with Favre-Leuba?
It was actually at a meeting in Baselworld this time last year. A friend of mine spotted the brand and suggested that they might be interested in teaming up with Arctic Mission. I am the director of the mission, which is concerned with marine ecosystem research in the Central Arctic Ocean and public awareness of the issues that this ecosystem faces due to sea-ice loss. This is seen as a geophysical issue but it is actually a habitat issue because animals live above the sea ice, on the sea ice (bears, Arctic foxes and walruses), in the ice itself, and below it. 

The sun is shining. There’s a nip in the air. You walk out to your driveway and there your Indian motorcycle sits, gleaming in the sun, the luxurious paint job sparkling as you throw your leg over the bike and sink into the soft brown leather seat. You insert the Indian-badged key, turn it to the proper position and thumb the starter... And the Thunderstroke engine roars to life, its throb shaking the pegs and thrilling your soul, speaking to something at the core of your being. You give one last check to the Baume & Mercier timepiece on your wrist, your companion for this and other adventures, and open the throttle. The open road awaits.

It is always a delight to kick off the Baselworld show with an interview with Walter von Känel, the irrepressible CEO of Longines. His straight talking approach, backed up by reams of statistics he shows as hard evidence for what he is telling us, are a breath of fresh air in an industry that tends to prefer mystery and hyperbole. Here is what he had to say this year.