The anticipation is building as watch lovers everywhere get ready for Baselworld, the world’s largest annual watch and jewellery show, to open its doors once again. For five days (March 22 – 27), all eyes will be on Basel, Switzerland, as the world’s most respected luxury watch brands, such as Rolex, Patek Philippe and Omega, just to name a few, unveil their latest creations.

To help pass the time while we wait for the show to begin, we thought it might be fun to come up with a few predictions for new models that might be introduced this year. We don’t have any inside information from the brands, but we’ve thought about what our clients might like to see and combined this with some sleuthing on the internet. In a sense, this is as much a wish list as it is a set of predictions.

Prediction. 1 – A Rolex GMT-Master II With Pepsi Bezel In Steel

This seems to be a fairly common prediction right across the internet. The GMT-Master II is an exceptionally popular model, however, at present the classic ‘Pepsi’ version, with two-colour red and blue Cerachrom bezel, is only available in 18ct white gold case. Given that the BLNR version, with blue and black Cerachrom bezel is already available in steel, this doesn’t seem like such a stretch, especially when you consider that the GMT-Master made its debut in steel in 1955. We’ll have to wait until next week to find out that though. Another possible option might be a new Rolex Explorer II with Cerachrom bezel, which would also be very welcome.

Prediction. 2 – Omega Speedmaster Celebrating The 50^th Anniversary Of Apollo 8

2018 marks 50 years since the successful Apollo 8 mission, which was the second manned spaceflight Apollo mission by NASA. Given Omega’s inherent connection to space travel and the Moon, it seems likely that we might see a watch celebrating this significant event, particularly because it was the first flight where the astronauts orbited the Moon and saw the earth in its entirety. Most significantly, it is the first-time astronauts saw the far side of the Moon, also known as the ‘dark side’. Five years ago, Omega introduced the limited edition Speedmaster Dark Side of the Moon, the first Speedmaster to feature a case made from ceramic. An incredibly popular model, we hope we might see a special version celebrating Apollo 8 this year.

Prediction. 3 – A new version of the Tudor Pelagos

Tudor has focused a lot of attention on its popular Black Bay collection the last few years, so we wonder if the Swiss watch manufacturer might turn its attention to the Pelagos collection this year. A serious dive watch, we might even see some new colourways or perhaps even new materials and treatments entirely, such as black PVD. It also seems likely that we will see some new in-house movements from Tudor, although in what models these might appear we couldn’t say.

Prediction. 4 – A Patek Philippe dress watch in steel

This is by far our most outrageous, and therefore unlikely to be accurate, prediction. As everyone knows, Patek Philippe rarely makes watches in steel, and even then, they are generally only luxury sports watches, such as those found in the Nautilus and Aquanaut collections. In recent times, of course, there were a couple of obvious exceptions, most notably in the form of the Ref. 5960/1A-001 and 5960/1A-010, sporty dress watches equipped with Annual Calendar complications. However, earlier this year Patek Philippe announced those models, amongst a number of others, would be discontinued. Does this mean there will be no more dress watches in steel or are they preparing the way for something new? We’ll just have to wait and see.

We hope you’ve enjoyed our Baselworld predictions and remember to check back for our Baselworld highlights in the coming weeks. Plus, it will be fun to see if any of our predictions were in any way accurate!