Baselworld 2013, Day Two: Maurice Lacroix, Chopard, Carl F. Bucherer

On my second day of appointments at the 2013 Baselworld watch fair, I discovered a number of intriguing new timepieces, including a slew of “affordable luxury” pieces from Maurice Lacroix, Chopard’s second-most-complicated watch ever, and Carl F. Bucherer’s first tourbillon.

Maurice Lacroix, now majority-owned, we learned at the show,  by Asian conglomerate DKSH,  obviously has big plans for growth in the U.S. and elsewhere. The brand showed what seemed like dozens of new watch models across several collections.

The Masterpiece Lune Retrograde (front and back, below) now has an in-house automatic movement with more decorative finishing. One of Maurice Lacroix’s signature pieces, this watch can be had for $8,300.

 

The most interesting new Masterpiece model, the Masterpiece Seconde Mystérieuse (on the wrist, below) reminded me a bit of the brand’s unconventional Roue Carrée from a few years ago, with the dial-mounted square wheel. This watch, limited to 125 pieces and costing $14,100, has off-center hours and minutes and a big seconds subdial with a revolving, propeller-like seconds hand that moves around the quadrants of the subdial, which has 60, 15, 30 and 45 indicated a the north, south, east and west positions.

Maurice Lacroix also unveiled quite a few new pieces in its Pontos divers’ watch collection, including a three-hand version ($3,400) which has a new screw-down pusher system to rotate the bezel and is more water-resistant than the original chronograph version; and the Pontos S Extreme (three color variations pictured below), that use a new, patented case material called “PowerLite” (made of aluminum, ceramic, magnesium, titanium, and zirconium) and incorporate the design input of automobile innovator Henrik Fisker.