With Baselworld 2018 now behind us, we can take the time to reflect on the top watch trends unveiled at the show that will be making their way to wrists this year. Watch brands have worked long and hard in the research and development stages to create the perfect timepieces – watches they feel address the needs of today’s consumers. These newest timepieces will be making their way to retail throughout the coming months and will set the trends and influence buying for the coming year.

While not everyone needs or wants the newest timepiece to market, reviewing these trends is a great way to keep one’s finger on the pulse. As such, we bring you three top watch trends from Baselworld 2018.

Color/ Interchangeability

Easily one of the most important trends in timepieces across all price points this year revolves around the value of color and versatility. Watch brands are finally recognizing that people want choice when it comes to accessorizing. No longer is it ok to just offer a black strapped/white dialed watch. Especially today, color infuses our lives as a way to make a statement, to lift one’s mood, to be a bit daring. Thankfully, savvy watch brands answer the demand, with colorful watches lighting the path this year.

Blue is the stalwart leader in colors for both men’s and women’s watches, with dials in shades ranging from sky to marine blue making a strong impact. Red is a close runner up to blue this year, with a particular appearance in women’s watches. In fact, because red, moss green and bright yellow are important color statements on the runways in women’s fashion this summer, we are seeing a great pop of those hues in ladies’ timepieces. For men, blue is followed by a special limelight focus on dark green, chocolate brown and slate gray – all tones that offer an elegant attitude with a modern twist – perfect to accompany any young man to work, after-dinner drinks and weekend fun. In all instances, these rich dial colors are paired with color-coordinated straps, or — in the case of the men’s blue or gray dial watches — with contrasting brown straps for stronger impact.

Interchangeability is also an important focus this year, as watch brands recognize that a single watch, a single strap does not cut it with today’s generation of customers who like choice and versatility. As such, many brands are unveiling quick-change strap systems that enable the wearer to change the strap of the watch with a flick of a button (or slide). Sometimes the brands are selling the straps separately, and sometimes they add on an extra strap or two in the sale.

The key message here: Don’t be afraid to don color on the wrist, to make a statement with a bold strap, and even to mix things up a bit. You may turn some heads with your individual style.

Vintage Appeal/Smaller Sizes

Another important trend that has been on going for several years now, and that bodes well for people who love a great retro watch, is the tendency to vintage inspirations. An important by-product of this return to our roots concept is the emergence of smaller watch case sizes and more classic designs.

As watch brands comb their archives to deliver watches inspired by the past (most often mid-20th century) with a twist of modern added in, we are witnessing the trend in timepieces to Mid-Century Modern. In some instances, watch brands are issuing revivals of key icons of the past with almost exacting precision (most often to honor anniversaries of collections), and in other instances they are inspired by design elements of the past — bringing them forward in new pieces.

Key vintage inspirations include size and shape changes such as smaller case sizes (45mm refines to 42mm, 42mm refines to 40mm, 40mm to 39mm, and so on and so forth); slimmer cases for a watch that fits nicely under a shirt or suit jacket, or that complements a feminine wrist; a return to square and rectangular cases of yesteryear. Other design elements revolve around vintage-inspired typeface fonts for numerals and logos, and retro dial colors such as parchment, silver, salmon, lacquered white for classic looks and in brown or black — often with tan or taupe Super-LumiNova markers – for sportier looks.

The key message in vintage and smaller sizes: Once again, versatility. You don’t have to don a big watch to make a statement. Smaller, thinner, cleaner looks exude a sophisticated air on the wrist – no matter your age. Additionally, the vintage looks suggest two things: an interest in the past made modern again; an insider’s knowledge of something special. Again, we can’t stress enough that what makes this category so wonderful is the fact that there are so many great vintage timepieces on the market that are suddenly incredibly relevant again. Imagine a Cartier Tank watch, a Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso from a few decades ago; a smaller sized mini Omega. The list goes on and on.

Useful Functions

While there will always be an emphasis on high complications in watchmaking — let’s face it – this is the benchmark of the craft – today’s brands are once again answering today’s customers and their needs. As our fast-paced lives have us constantly checking the time, running in and out of meetings, traversing the globe and conducting business around the world while staying put, we need useful features that help ease the day.

Those features and functions that are starting to infiltrate the ranks in bigger numbers include annual and perpetual calendars that help track day, date, and more; world-timer watches that display the time in multiple time-zones around the globe; GMT and dual time zone watches that typically indicate time in one or two other zones, complete with day/night displays.

Another useful function is the alarm watch. Granted, alarm watches are a very small category of timepiece due to the complexity inherent in their making, but they can help keep the busy individual on track for important meetings. Often, they even feature a vibrate mode instead of an all-out ring tone. For the active lifestyle that involves trips to the gym, swimming laps, running and more, a good chronograph watch – that measures intervals of time much like a stopwatch – could be your calling.

Many of today’s watches with useful functions take their cue from yesteryear, as well, but are updated in style or mechanics. In the past, great calendar watches were unveiled by brands like IWC and Patek Philippe, while GMT watches that are a benchmark standard include brands like Rolex. Alarm watches often recall the greats of the 1960’s like Vulcain and Jaeger-LeCoultre Memovox, and chronographs of the past that are still in demand today include TAG Heuer, Omega and more.

Key message here: Look for a watch that fits your lifestyle. There are clean, simple watches on the market, as well as watches that address your individual needs on a day-to-day or weekend basis.

Last week’s largest and most important watch and jewelry exhibition, Baselworld 2018 (which ran from March 22 through March 27), ended on a high note for brands, retailers, and watch and jewelry lovers. Because the number of exhibitors was down by about 600 from the previous year, many industry pundits wondered if the foot traffic and the excitement about products would be down as well. It wasn’t. In fact, not only was the show well attended, but the new watch and jewelry unveilings were actually exhilarating. Here is an insider’s look at what attending the crazy, wild, and wonderful Baselworld show is really all about.

Despite (or maybe because of) all of the hoopla and hurrah that defines Baselworld, the fair can be an exhausting experience for journalists who work tirelessly to find all the right products and stories to report on. Having attended the show for decades, I hold myself to a higher standard. I set goals to always meet at least two to three new brands and to seek out the most intriguing and interesting interviews to bring to the forefront.

Like retailers, bloggers, and other journalists, my schedule is rather grueling, with more than a dozen appointments packed into each day. There are also scheduled cocktails, dinners, and even breakfast meetings (there is never any time for lunch). The standard wake-up alarm is 6:30 am, and most nights don’t really end until the wee hours of the next morning. The schedule continues for six straight days: breakneck speeds and exhilarating experiences that I wouldn’t trade for anything.

Behind the Scenes at Baselworld

Even though I have been a wordsmith for several decades, crafting an article on working Baselworld is no easy feat. The truth is that this exhibition is like a journey through Epcot or Disney World – with individual buildings, cities, countries and their innovations on display.

For a watch or jewelry lover, being at the show is like being a kid in a candy store – delightfully tantalizing treats lure you in with each glance. Turn away from the colorful jelly beans you see and you find yourself staring at chocolate or even ice cream. Everywhere you look, you are mesmerized by shimmering diamonds, colored gemstones, and bold three-dimensional timepieces that often are “out of this world” when it comes to design and technology. It is here that brands unveil pieces that have been years in the design, research and development stages.

Most visitors arrive at the “Messeplatz”—the exhibition space that houses Baselworld—by tram. One step off the highly efficient Swiss green and yellow trams and the excitement begins. On one side of the Messeplatz is the not-so-innovatively-named building that is Hall 1, a multi-floored master structure that houses hundreds of watch brands. It is attached via a series of skywalks to other buildings (not-so-innovatively-named Halls 2, 3 and 4), wherein hundreds of jewelry brands showcase their wares.

Hall 1 may be the biggest candy store on the property, and as such, the world’s finest watch brands—from Rolex to Omega, Breitling, TAG Heuer, Bulgari, Chanel and more—build elaborate structures to display their watches in full glory. Rolex, for instance, has a two-story tall building that connects with sister-brand Tudor’s two-story exhibit space. Interiors, for those who can get inside, boast lavish flower arrangements, leather-couched seating areas and more. Patek Philippe, for instance, has a three-story-tall glass and wood structure that allows for viewing from any outside angle. The brand even has a two-floor video screen where it shows product videos on continuous loop.

Some brands bring in automobiles for display, while others have moon rovers, spaceships and even planes that underscore their affiliations with sports, aeronautics, and other fields. Adding to the theme-park atmosphere are live performances and after-hour cocktail parties where celebrities and sports stars from all over the world mingle with visitors. This year alone, we witnessed world-class soccer teams playing a real match at a Hublot event, music legend Nile Rodgers leading a performance at the Bulova booth, and actor Colin Firth speaking with Chopard about sustainable mining and materials.

Daily Doses of Glitz, Glamour, and Greatness

Because this is the biggest international luxury watch and jewelry show, many brands use it as the perfect platform for grand announcements. This year, Chopard announced that it would be moving 100 percent to sustainable and ethical jewelry, sourcing Ethical Gold and Fairmined Gold for its watches and jewels. This is a huge and difficult path for a luxury brand to pursue, but, in today’s world, we applaud the brand for not taking the easy way to luxury and, instead, being conscientious.

Other brands looking to remain relevant in today’s world announced their desire to blend digital technology with traditional Swiss watchmaking and unveiled new-generation smartwatches. Frederique Constant and Hublot both made significant strides in this realm, and we will bring you those stories soon, as well.

In addition to the experiences and the relationships we all share and forge at Baselworld, this is the proving ground for innovation, technology and trendsetting. The daily doses of watches and jewelry, of glitz and glamour that we experience are intoxicating. We see a dizzying array of everything from the sublime to the superb and from the basic to the brilliant. I look forward to bringing you the best trends of Baselworld in the coming weeks: wild, wonderful and crazy trends that will make their way to wrists, necks, fingers and more later this year.