For those who have been collecting for 10 years plus....

[mfer]

Has Basel-mania gotten more and more each year? I mean was the expectation in in the 80's and 90's that Rolex would always introduce something new and exciting at Basel?

One thing I've grown to love about Rolex is that they don't change much. They make solid watches year after year. They watches simply "work" and you can tell they put a lot of thought into them and their designs. Rolex doesn't appear to be a company that has the mentality of "let's see if this will stick." They do things right.

Each year now, people seem to have the expectation that Rolex has to release something uber cool each year and be revolutionary year over year. Not saying their won't be big years for change, but every year doesn't need to be a shocker.


Here is what I got from Wikipedia on the history.

Originally Posted by wikipedia.org

The history of the show dates back to 1917 with the opening of the first Schweizer Mustermesse Basel (muba), of which a section was devoted to watches and jewellery.

1925 muba invited several watch manufacturers
1931 the Schweizer Uhrenmesse (Swiss Watch Show) was first held in a dedicated pavilion.
After 1972's Europe's meeting place exhibition, companies from France, Italy, Germany, and the United Kingdom were also invited.
1983 the show changed its name to BASEL and two numerals denoting the exhibition year, e.g., BASEL 83.
1986, companies from outside Europe were included for the first time, reflecting the increased number of visitors from outside Europe.
1995 the show was renamed to BASEL 95 - The World Watch, Clock and Jewellery Show.
1999, a new hall with 36,000 square meters exhibition space was added. The year 2000 saw an increase of 6 per cent in trade visitors.
2003 the show was again renamed to Baselworld, The Watch and Jewellery Show.
2004, with the introduction of a new hall complex, the exhibition area extended to 160,000 square meters, attracting more than 89,000 visitors.

I for one don't want Rolex to have to make something revolutionary each time. I don't want drastic changes. I don't want limited or special editions. To me (and I could very well be wrong as I'm not an industry expert) these are short term gains for watch companies, not long term plays.

So, in the 80's and 90's was Basel always the crazy media frenzy where everyone expected big things, or is this a more recent trend over the last few decade?