When Joy Killed Sadness

Before I get too deep into this, please take a moment to send your thoughts to the people of Belgium.  There is no point in trying to put it in soft, kind or gentle words, the world is in chaos and it is only the positive actions of good men and women that will put it back on track.  

Yesterday was a shitty day.  And owing to that, yesterday was not a day for watches, or anything but reflection.  I had four unexpected hours for this at Zurich's airport due to a mechanical issue.  And I know that in the whirl and excitement that is BaselWorld, it is next to impossible to have a clear thought beyond:

"My head is pounding, no more late nights"

"I'm late for my appointment with Brand X"

"I can't believe they want nearly $10 for a sausage"

So I thought I'd change it up and share with you some of the things that might have flown under the radar, and from a personal perspective (sorry, it's my blog after all) the things that touched me.  We'll do these 3 at a time -

1.  Wednesday, March 16th (Press Day) - Writing Wrongs with NOMOS Glashütte.  In recognition of all that they have done, and continue to do in aiding the work of Doctor's Without Borders, it was a great pleasure to be there along with Carlo and Samuel Naldi of Edelberg, Karl Heinz Nubier and Gary Girdvainis.  On hand to receive the award were Judith Borowski and CEO Uwe Arendt.

They received their award along with a truly beautiful Edelberg fountain pen.  

So let's see who has a head-start on next year's award ; )

Courtesy of NOMOS Glashütte

2.  The arrival of Helfer on the world stage.  This is truly one of those Cinderella stories that can really restore your faith in the passion of a solid team, being driven by a charismatic leader who is friendly, personable and full of Joie de vivre.  This was my 9th BaselWorld and if I am 100% honest I have NEVER seen anything  to compare to the level of enthusiasm and activity for a brand making it's BaselWorld debut as I saw for Helfer this past week.  Any moment you walked past, the place was packed with retail partners writing orders, Helfer reps for France, Germany and Austria working flat out to meet with all of the people coming in, and a certain delegation from a certain royal family presented themselves to place an order for multiple pieces.  Sorry Hodinkee, A Blog To Watch and Quill and Pad - You've been scooped ; ) 

This is the "before" shot before all of the craziness began -

Courtesy of Helfer

Helfer might not have been on your radar, but I suspect that you will be hearing quite a bit more from them.

This is the SHIT THAT KILLED ELVIS!

I have reached out to the man behind Helfer - Livio Helfer and hopefully we will have a more in-depth report for you.  Stay tuned!


3.  And speaking of BaselWorld darlings, the team behind Klokers were on hand and holding forth at the Ramada starting on Sunday.  This was perhaps the one Kickstarter watch project that finally delivered on, and exceeded all of the hype and promise.  

Klokers is clearly a brand to watch, and judging by the number of would-be distributors circling their table like sharks, I suspect that this is going to be one of the few brands that is smiling at the end of this fiscal year.  Let's just hope that they take their time and choose distribution partners carefully.  Too many brands get killed by distributors who can only be referred to as "dip-shits" - and that is being charitable.  Let's hope that this amazing brand finds equally amazing representation.

The next 3 are coming, stay tuned!