Basel watch fair to draw 100,000 visitors

ZURICH: The world’s biggest watch fair is set to open this week in Basel, offering an industry showcase for the world’s most extravagant, rare and complex time pieces.
The 42nd edition of Baselworld, which opens in the northern Swiss city, is expected to draw some 100,000 visitors.
Nearly 1,500 exhibitors, including leading watch brands like Rolex, Patek Philippe, Breguet and Omega, will be there, offering up all different styles for all different budgets.
From affordable plastic sports watches to intricately detailed mechanic time pieces that can be priced well above the one-million-Swiss-franc ($1.1-million, 820,000-euro) mark.
Hublot, a brand belonging to French luxury group LVMH, for instance said it would unveil a watch with a face made of osmium crystal, a new material.
Like other prestige brands, Hublot is in a race to offer collectors exclusive models not dangling from every wrist. It has teamed up with a Swiss scientific team to develop a new way to work with osminum — a rare metal in the platinum family which when crystallized has a rare shine to it, the brand said.
At Baselworld — also devoted to jewelry — exhibitors also indulge in cut-throat competition on the marketing front to grab attention for their new offerings amid the multitude of sparkling gems and flashing lights.