Today started off fast and furious with four serious runners from Gucci and Movado Group waiting on the Mittlerer Rheinbrücke bridge at 6:30 am this morning. They had not been partying quite as hard as I had, and two of them had just taken part in a marathon, so it was a tough run, but lots of fun as there is nothing like a group of sprinters to push you to new limits of speed.

Back at my apartment, I had a well-deserved breakfast to celebrate keeping up with my new running friends and then headed up to the show for day two of this horlogical marathon.

My first stop was Hermès where I discovered a new silver alloy that doesn’t tarnish, and the brand’s fabulous Heures Masquées that I had discovered at their cocktail party yesterday. This latest magical timepiece hides the hour hand under the minute hand so that the time is truly masked. One push on the crown, however, and the time and a GMT reveal themselves in tandem. For fans of the Temps Suspendu, this is a beautiful addition to Hermès’ timepieces that celebrate the brand’s passion for interpreting time differently.

My next appointment was at Glashütte Original, where I was very impressed by the purity and simplicity of the brand’s latest offering—something that is always more difficult to achieve than complexity. The brand presented a number of great looking products, my favorite of which—the Senator Chronograph—featured a dial that is made using an ancient technique that employs a mix of water, sand and silver in its creation. The indexes and numerals are engraved and then painted onto the dial giving a truly vintage feel.

After the fantastic mechanics of Glasshütte Orginal, I stopped by Harry Winston for the Swiss press conference. Just as I was just admiring their latest new Premier collections I got a text message from my au pair informing me that my five-year old son had been rushed to hospital. My children love doing this to me during BaselWorld! So like a crazed mother, I dashed out of the press conference, raced to my car, returned the 229 km to my local hospital to find my son on top form watching Sesame Street on the iPad!

I missed a number of appointments, for which I apologize profusely, but I’ll catch up tomorrow as I’ll be back at the show with a vengeance! I have included a picture of my munchkin in my mosaic mix, I hope you don’t mind, I was a little short of pictures, and he did steal the day!

DAILY STATISTICS

Weather: 1 | 14 °C

Morning run: 40 minutes

Km covered around the show: 8 km

Brands seen: Hermès, Glasshütte Original, Harry Winston

Watches tried on: 36