Baselworld 2017: Bell & Ross, Faberge, Tag Heuer

This year, in celebration of the release of the Renault RS17, Bell & Ross is debuting three new timepieces inspired by the race car’s steering wheel. Loud colors are derived from the fast car, with red, green, yellow, and blue poping against black. Principle designs resemble the car, too, like the watch utilizing a different color for each function to instantly recognize them. The choice materials used to create the elevated timepiece are also that of the car’s—Carbone Forge, titanium, or ceramic. Our favorite, the BR X1 RS17 Skeleton Chronograph, has a four-day power reserve, a 42-mm case, and its dial utilizes Superluminova-filled numerals and hours and minutes hands.

Fabergé debuted the Visionnaire Chronograph as a dedication to the unfinished Constellation Egg of 1917. (This is, after all, following the most famous of Fabergé’s creations—the 52 Imperial Easter eggs by the Romanov family between 1885 and 1917.) Debuted precisely 100 years after the start of the Russian Revolution, the tribute is a continuation of the constellations and their relationship to the measurement of time. The piece shows a laser-engraved etching of the egg, and the Greek derivatives of “time” and “write”—kronos and graphein—link the writing of time with the writing of history. The thoughtful piece is powered by a 6361 chronograph and has a sapphire case back, which is also etched with the Constellation Egg.

Tag Heuer wowed with the TAG Heuer CARRERA Heuer-01 43 mm—a rousing five-hour power reserve watch available in black, navy blue, and cognac brown. The 43-mm size is new and available in six styles in steel with a matching ceramic bezel. Its sporty exterior shows functions in red—including the seconds, 30-minute counter, 12-hour counter, and start/stop push-button—and it carefully complements the visible skeleton date disc and red column wheel.