BaselWorld 2017 – My impressions and pictures Part 2

Today I will continue to reveal my BaselWorld2017 experience but not before I make a small recapitulation of Part 1: my first time in Basel, had a look at the Nord Zeitmaschine Freesdial watches, wondering around the MB&F timepieces and creatures, enjoying, at last, the Fiona Krüger Petit Skull Blue and the new Skull Celebration watches.

Since I already was in the Les Ateliers corner I had the pleasure to meet a lot of people dear to me and their horological creations. After chatting with Fiona Krüger about the symbolism of the skulls, I started to admire the Moons of Stepan Sarpaneva. A while ago I wrote about the Korona Daredevil Dusk and Dawn watches and I was happy that I had the opportunity to make new impressions. The quantities of details visible in pictures are much, much lower than the ones that are obvious to the naked eye.

Mr Sarpaneva was nice, as always, and we talked about the S.U.F watches, which are not so known but are definitively beautiful and classical timepieces: satin brushed case, big Superluminova indexes, half polished, half brushed minutes and hours hands and a sunray dial

In the end, Mr Sarpaneva showed me the extraordinary Korona watches with “le cadran guilloché” (the guilloché dial) manufactured in Kari Voutilainen dial manufacture.

The beauty of these dials is hard to describe and the pictures can reveal only a glimpse of reality: multi-layered dial, half polished/half brushed hands and the Sarpaneva signature case and moon face.

It was imperative to make some wrist shots with these beauties. In the next picture, there is the Daredevil on Stepan’s wrist and the Korona guilloché Moon-phase on my wrist.

Of course, we had to make a selfie – what’s great time spent without a selfie. I would like to thank Stepan for the great time spent. It was fun! Please visit the Sarpaneva Watches Website for information and details about the watch collections.

For the end of the story of the Sarpaneva watches at Baselworld 2017, I would like to show you the unique Korona K0.3 with fire enamel dial, DLC coated steel multi-layered dial with white and red gold moons, Teal DLC sky with SLN filled stars and an extraordinary hand engraved case worked by Joanne Ryall – a very talented engraver.

Another person that I admire and was present in the Les Ateliers part of BaselWorld is the one and only, master watchmaker Kari Voutilainen. He was the one who answered my first interview for the “Short question, short answer” articles, giving me a lot of confidence to continue writing this blog.

We had a very short impressions exchange and I could not leave without asking for a picture. Thank you, Kari Voutilainen for the kind words and for your time. Please visit the Voutilainen Timepieces Website for a look at his amazing watch collection.

All this time, around there, were the Horological Brothers: Bart and Tim Grönefeld. As always, they answered all my questions and helped me with my pictures. It was the perfect opportunity to finally meet a dream come true – the Grönefeld 1941 Remontoire with a Kari Voutilainen guilloché dial.

Without hesitation, I could say that my preference for blue watches made this Remontoire a victim of my curiosity and my camera.

About the 1941 Remontoire, I wrote a more complex article with a lot of pictures, with a lot of manufacturing details available HERE. These watches are one of the best examples of Haute Horlogerie with a very high number and level of finishes.

The GPHG winning Grönefeld Parallax Tourbillon was also available at Baselworld with one of the 28 red gold pieces, the unique black dial piece in platinum, visible bellow and one of the 5 salmon dial platinum pieces on Bart’s wrist.

Present there, among other Grönefeld timepieces, was my first love from the Horological brothers: – the One Hertz in red gold. I wrote about it another complex article with many images and details available HERE.

And how can I better end my time with the Grönefelds if not with a selfie? I want to thank Bart and Tim for their time, for the autographed book and for the lovely time together. Please visit the Grönefeld Website for more information about their great timepieces (two times GPHG winners).