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.