At Baselworld we were invited at several brands which produce watchwinders. Thereby we always take a look at booths of other watchwinder brands. We take a look at the new collection, the innovations and try to get some inside information from the brand itself.

After our visit at Buben & Zörweg we rushed to the booth of the Italian watchwinder producer Scatola del Tempo. They claim that they invented the first watchwinder. They also claim that they are a high end brand with perfect quality watchwinders. Scatola del Tempo positions itself in the

range of Buben & Zörweg, Erwin Sattler and other leading brands. The questions is, is this correct?

When we take a look at the Scatola del Tempo watchwinders we see nice watchwinders made of wood or leather (leather covered). The watchwinders are handmade in Italy. But when we take a closer look we see a watchwinder collection which haven't changed many years regarding materials, innovations or technique. A Scatola del Tempo watchwinder is a very simple watchwinder with a minimum of extras or functions. They don't have special technique or design which makes them more special than other (less expensive) brands.

So why pay a lot of money for a standard watchwinder, which other brands do offer for 20%-30% of the Scatola del Tempo prices. To be honestly, we don't know.....In our opinion you pay a lot of money for the brand(name), not for perfect quality, material or special functions. Many other watchwinder brands do offer far more interesting watchwinders with the latest technique made of beautiful wood or genuine leather, at a much lower price.

Maybe this is the reason the sales of Scatola del Tempo were not that great in 2013 in Europe. At Baselworld we spoke with a few dealers and they told us they sold less than expected. We think the consumer is too clever to buy a "high end" watchwinder which doesn't offer the quality, design and functions which belong to such a high price.

In our opinion Scatola del Tempo shouldn't trust on their history, it should invest in new watchwinders with innovations and perfect specs for a fair price. Is Scatola del Tempo a high end watchwinder brand? In our opinion not, because they only focus on materials like wood and leather, but only materials don't make a beautiful watchwinder. If they don't innovate they will loose from their competition which is really keen on developing their watchwinder collections.

Within the next week we will test a Scatola del Tempo watchwinder in our Review section.

Baselworld is the place to be to check out all new watchwinders presented by all brands that matter. As you could read on our blog we visited Scatola del Tempo (an article will follow soon), Heisse & Söhne, Chronovision, Erwin Sattler, Buben & Zörweg and Spin-R. About this last brand we will write in this blog article.

Spin-R is a brand of the Natpak company from Hong Kong. Before the renovation at Baselworld, Spin-R had a great booth in hall 6, the Asia hall. After the renovations, which made the fair even more beautiful, Spin-R was located in a relatively small booth in hall 4. In our opinion the location is not that great, because it's not "en route" which makes it more difficult to attract interested people.

Nevertheless the welcome by Spin-R was very warm. All current models were present in several colors. Thereby Spin-R is working hard to launch a complete new watchwinder series. This new series is a compact watchwinder which is totally controlled by a smartphone. It developed a special app which allows you to set the watchwinder exactly like your preferences. With the build-in battery and LCD display the new Spin-R watchwinder is quite modern and compact. We have seen more companies investing in technique to control/set a watchwinder with a smartphone. We expect this technique will be quite common within 6-12 months.Spin-R expects to launch her new series within 3-5 months.

Spin-R watchwinders are no high-end watchwinders but they do offer a great quality for money. The finishing, material and functions are more than okay. The retail prices are fair. We think Spin-R watchwinders are mostly attractive for those watch lovers who want a modern watchwinder for a acceptable price.

We will keep you posted about the new Spin-R watchwinders.

Most watch enthousiast do know Swiss Kubik, a Swiss company designing and developing nice looking watchwinders in Geneva, Switzerland. Their watchwinders are compact and do have reliable technique which is an example for many brands. 

We did attend Baselworld, as the last 6 years, and visited the booth of Swiss Kubik in hall 2.2. The booth was looking very good, with optimal presentation of the Swiss Kubik watchwinders. At the moment we were there, it was not too crowded but that was only our luck. It allowed us to take a good look at the new Swiss Kubik watchwinders. 

Next to the current collection, Swiss Kubik presented some months ago the new "Startbox" watchwinders. These models are made from polyamide and are almost 50% cheaper in retail price than the well known regular kubic watchwinders of the Swiss brand. It's a very simple but effective watchwinder which is available in several colors; white, blue, yellow, orange and red. With this new model Swiss Kubik tries to gain market share in a interesting 300-500 euro playing field. 

Another new model of Swiss Kubik is the "Kub". It's a kind of secret box which offer space for multiple watchwinders and has a smart-phone terminal. This allows you to set the watchwinder according your preferences, but it can also connect with your stereo system or lighting system, by the Domotic system. 

We enjoyed visiting the Swiss Kubik booth in Basel. It's a brand which is always developing new interesting things and innovates every year.

There are watchwinder brands which are really special. You can compare them with the status Ferrari and Porsche do have. These brands are unique and only use the best materials, most unique designs and best skilled craftsmen. One of these brands, and for sure market leader in the field of watchwinders, is Buben & Zörweg from Austria. 

Introduction of Buben & Zörweg

In 2015 Buben & Zörweg will celebrate two decades in the luxury watchwinder business. The company was founded in 1995 in Austria. First it focussed on producing high end watchwinders. Then they started to develop quality clocks (like Erwin Sattler) and now they create a combination of all demands a men has. The current products Buben & Zörweg produces are combinations of a watchwinder, a humidor, a safe and wine storage. Of course you can customize your "object of time" (as Buben & Zörweg calls it) according your own preferences. The sky is the limit. 

Our meeting at Baselworld with Buben & Zörweg

Buben & Zörweg did invite us to visit their booth at Baselworld. An invitation we accepted happily. We were also invited to visit their factory in Germany during Baselworld, but unfortunately we had some other appointments with other watchwinder brands. We hope we get the change to visit the factory in the future, because we heard it's something very special.

We visited the booth of Buben & Zörweg the previous years, so we knew what to expect. The booth is one complete showroom with the top products Buben & Zörweg has to offer. Soon we met Ms. Simone Stocker, the marketing specialist of this Austrian brand. She only worked two weeks for the brand but she informed us very well about all important things. The nice thing was that she didn't had a standard "marketing speach" about how great Buben & Zörweg is. She did comfort us and told in her own style about the history, the innovations and materials of the "objects of time". 

Soon we discovered the high end pieces Buben & Zörweg produces. We were allowed to test, touch and try all models which were present at the booth. Ms. Stocker did show us all functions and secret buttons some models do have. For example there are secret buttons which present a complete new board of turntables or a new storage room. All Buben & Zörweg watchwinders which do have a safe do have the VDS predicate, which means they are incredible well build to avoid theft. This is quite important when you store your expensive watches inside. 

Unique luxury for the happy few

A Buben & Zörweg watchwinder is not for anyone, they do cost a lot of money. For example the model build in cooperation with the famous car brand Aston Martin has a price of 200.000 euro. On the other hand you get a high end "object of time" which meets the highest standards and is build with the best materials and by skilled craftsmen. 

Thereby if you have a high value watch collection with brands as Rolex, Breguet, Patek and IWC it's also important to store it safe, in style and easily. If you have the money, why not use a great watchwinder of Buben & Zörweg? It's not only a watchwinder, it's a piece of furniture in your office, living room or bedroom. 

Visit here Buben & Zörweg to see their beautiful "objects of time". 

At Baselworld the new watchwinder brand Chronovision will be launched and presented to the public. This new brand is 100% made in Germany and offers high end watchwinders with unique technology and quality. Chronovision watchwinders are a perfect mix between supreme technology and exquisite materials.The first series of Chronovision is the "One".

We spoke with the CEO of Chronovision Mr. J. Heisse who told us about the background and technical specifications of the watchwinders. With several patents and trademarks Chronovision will attack the market position of brands as Swiss Kubik and Rapport London.

The unique system of the Chronovision watchwinders can communicate with other modules of the One series.The rotation direction and turns per day (TPD) can be set by USB and bluetooth via PC, MAC or smartphone. Extra options as a "sleeping mode" and "speed winding". The German motor and gearing assure a high quality technique which makes sure the watchwinder is completely silent, even when you wind heavy automatic watches.

The battery life will be around 2 years which is really long. At this moment only Swiss Kubik can meet this period. With three years warranty a Chronovision watchwinder is a good and safe choice for the automatic watch lover.

Retail prices are not available yet. After Baselworld the official retail prices will be communicated by this blog.