Basel Stadt Affirms Car Agenda In Referendum; 1300 Year Old Treasure Unearthed; Watchmakers Contemplate Basel Fair

News For 11 February 2020

Based on Sunday's referendum in Basel-Stadt, the agenda of the government to decrease and eventually restrict car access within the city has prevailed.  Starting this year, the city has affirmed it will no longer accommodate or plan for increases in traffic, by restricting transportation budgets that benefit private car ownership.  The vote also gave support to the government's plan that by 2050, all vehicles using the roads within the city emit no noise or pollution.  And finally, the agenda is meant to support innovative transport solutions that help to achieve the first two goals.

**********

On Sunday, in the Canton of Basel-Landschaft, near Aesch, a golden filigree disc brooch is being crowned the discovery of the century by Swiss Archeologists. It was found in the grave of a woman, who was buried around the year 680 AD.  The Brooch consists of gold, several large pearls, and coloured glass pieces. The brooch is approximately the size of a hand.   ********** Until recently, early springtime for watchmakers in Switzerland meant participating in one simple ritual: BaselWorld, an annual industry fair that provides watchmakers with the opportunity to showcase their creativity and talent under the label "Swiss made". Unfortunately, this model is now outdated. In the past two years alone, Baselworld has lost more than half its exhibitors and visitors. Swatch Group, the largest watchmaking brand in the world, unexpectedly left the Basel event in summer 2018 and has since shown no interest in returning. More recently, the French conglomerate LVMH has threatened to turn its back on Basel starting in 2021. Its four watchmaking brands – Tag Heuer, Hublot, Zenith and Bulgari – chose to organise their own event in Dubai in January, pointing to lower costs and a more favorable date for presenting their new collections. Olivier Müller, an expert on watchmaking at LuxeConsult, says, “We desperately need an organisation that will pick up the baton and value the whole of the industry. Swiss watchmakers would have every reason to collaborate instead of acting in an uncoordinated fashion.” With BaselWorld and other watchmaking fairs facing calls to make structural changes, preliminary talks with the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry and some personalities in the industry have already taken place to explore such a project. Hopefully, this mindset of collaboration will help Swiss watchmakers keep up in an ever changing market as they continue to respect their own traditional styles.