Yesterday, we traveled from Basel to Geneva early in the morning and spent the from noon to 8 pm at the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) in Geneva, Switzerland. This was the 18th time the SIHH took place in Geneva and next year it will start on January 19th, 2009! This means it will take LESS than one year to receive news & new models. Ace Jewelers Group was at the SIHH to review at the brands that are in the portfolio of Richemont and the independent brands: Audermars Piguet, Girard Perregaux, Jean Richard, Parmigiani, Roger Dubuis.
Impression of the SIHH Fair
At this very moment, the Ace Jewelers Group presents the collections of IWC and Baume & Mercier in Amsterdam, via the locations:
– Ace & Dik Jewelers on the Van Baerlestraat 46 in the Museum Quarter; and
– Ace & Spyer Jewelers on the Kongingsplein 1 in the city center.
Hereby an overview of the novolties of these two brands:
1. IWC – International Watch Company
2008 is a jubilee year for IWC, because this year the company exists 140 years! That is why they created a serie of 6 watches (Click here for pictures, movie & info about this collection):
(Courtesy of IWC – http://www.iwc.ch)
IWC Da Vinci Kurt Klaus in stainless steel (we will receive several pieces).
IWC Da Vinci Laureus Limited Edition in steel (sorry for bad picture, should be blue).
IWC Pilot St. Ex. Limited Editions in steel, pink gold and white gold! We will receive all three!
IWC Pilot Father-Son set: We already wrote about this set, but the actual set has a different dial…
Each set will be engraved… Is it a coincidence that our account manager’s name is Alexander?!?
IWC Big Ingenieur Pink Gold (sorry for the bad lighting).
IWC Aquatimer Cousteay: It is the fourth year that IWC creates a limited edition in honour of Jacques Cousteau.
Back of IWC Aquatimer Cousteau 2008.
2. Baume & Mercier
This year Baume & Mercier spoils the ladies and created a complete new and additional family for women: Ilea. It is an abbreviation for Intimate, Luxurious, Elegant and Active, the woman of today!
Baume & Mercier Ilea in stainless steel
Baume & Mercier Ilea without diamonds.
Baume & Mercier Classima Hand Wound Skeleton.
The back of the Baume & Mercier Classima Hand Wound Skeleton.
The complete Classima Executive collection of Baume & Mercier will be available in gold.
Baume & Mercier Diamant in stainless steel with a band complete set with diamonds around.
Baume & Mercier Diamant
Baume & Mecier William Baume Limited Edition collection
Today, we also had some meetings in Geneva during the day and we will hopefully post some good news soon!
Ace Jewelers Blog 
[…] set: We already wrote about this set, but the actual set has a different dial… source: Team Ace Trade Show Update: SIHH Geneva Day 5, Ace Jewelers […]
By: Team Ace Trade Show Update: SIHH Geneva Day 5 — Famous Brand Watches on April 11, 2008
at 7:14 pm
Love the new Portofino Hand-Wound, but really prefer the white dial to the black. Unfortunately, I like the MSRP on the stainless version much better than the platinum!
By: Mens Watch Reviews on April 12, 2008
at 5:17 pm
The portofino is amazing! And at first we, Team Ace, all said the silvered dial will be nicer than the black, but after seein both in real life, 75% of the team voted for the black!!! And this has nothing to do with prices.
By: acejewelers on April 12, 2008
at 5:39 pm
Hmm, well perhaps I just need to see the black in person then. From the photos I’ve seen though, the platinum version looks drop dead gorgeous!
By: Mens Watch Review on April 15, 2008
at 4:27 am
Let’s not mistake things, they are both magnificant, but it surprised me too how much I liked the black when I compared both!
By: acejewelers on April 15, 2008
at 8:37 am
CHeers for a heads up on some of the IWC ’08 designs. GOod to see some non company photos. Any idea on the platinum aquatimer vintage? Kind regards Wayne. Brisbane Australia.
By: wayne jean on June 6, 2008
at 4:20 pm
Hardy Bros in Brisbane say AUD50,000 How flexible would one think this price? For example what is the current MSRP on a stainless aquatimer? The Swiss Watch company where I bought mine from had AUD6700 on it and they let it go for 5100 but who knows what is real in the artificial rag tag scally wag sales world? The vintage look is so clean and inspiring. Well done IWC – now go fully back to inhouse movements!
By: wayne jean on June 6, 2008
at 4:24 pm
Somehow i missed the point. Probably lost in translation 🙂 Anyway … nice blog to visit.
cheers, Enologist!!
By: Enologist on June 19, 2008
at 3:25 pm
The IWC man visited Brisbane AUstralia on monday 23 JUne – I got to see the platinum 2008 IWC collection. Beautiful watches but can’t say it was a highlight of my life – thank goodness. The platinum aquatimer comes n at AUD49500 and apparently the boxedset of 6 is 350,000 Australian DOllars. FIrst 140 or 150 are to be sold as boxed sets. Limited to 500 individual pieces. Aparently they have secured 8 AUstralian Orders already. The white face on the vintage aquatimes does not look anywhere near as nice as the black – and apparently they will not offer it in the black as the platinum one are to all have white faces. Pity really.
By: wayne jean on June 25, 2008
at 1:49 am
My 2008 Aquitimer failed after 3 months. Supposedly water resitant/’proof’ to 1000M failed in Gold Coast Surf. Richmont group tried to to charge me 690 to fix it then said that they did not know what was wrong with it and needed to assess it – despite a quote of 690. Small claims court case later against the Swiss Watch CO. and they decided to cough up. The watch did not perform at all. Total heap of junk. The Richmont group seem to be renowned for crap service and standard exhorbitant quotes despite the watch being only 3 months into its ‘2 year warranty’ – they will try anything if you do not have one of their pitiful cardboard ‘international warranty cards’ desipite receipts and having bough it from on of their authorised dealers. It seems it is no longer about quality and repution but advertising, sponsors and bluster. Would never buy another watch from the Swiss Watch Company in Australia or a Richmont owned brand. Breitling have been good and easy to deal with via Hardy Bros. The crown failed after 4 months on a super ocean heritage but at least it was fixed without lies and arrogance.
By: Wayne Jean on December 15, 2009
at 12:10 pm