Over the last year I have become very friendly with Bausele Co owner Christophe Hoppe. Maybe it is because we both really love good design and appreciate the opportunity to live in Australia. Certainly Christophe has capitalised on this by establishing one of the only Australian brands that manufacture their watches in Switzerland. He also invested a lot of time and money getting a cohesive range of timepieces ready for Baselworld. Over the week I visited his booth and it was always packed with potential retailers and distributors. From Conversations with Christophe and his business partner Richard Briggs I would say the event was an enormous success.
Late last June I was fortunate enough to get my hands on Bausele’s Automatic Red Pilot. With a suggested retail price of around $1,500 you are getting a lot of bang for your buck. For example the watch is equipped with a black ceramic case and Swiss made Soprod self-winding mechanical movement. In my article I mentioned that visually the façade of the timepiece was reminiscent of French company B.R.M. Christophe was delighted by my observation and cites them as a huge influence. However their new model called the Terra Australis is a lot more sophisticated and original in my opinion.
Approximately six months ago I met Christophe for the first time for a coffee at Glenelg Marina in South Australia. The weather and setting proved to be an idyllic opportunity to show me visuals of the new Terra Australis. Although the images at this stage were in a pretty basic format I could envisage how the complete timepiece would finally look. When I finally got to try on the timepiece in Baselworld it massively exceeded my expectations. Dimensionally the watch is slightly larger than the Automatic Red Pilot with a diameter of 46mm. It also felt a lot chunkier and more substantial on the wrist, which I definitely prefer. For that reason I would imagine this timepiece will appeal to a wide variety of masculine buyers.
Aesthetically the Terra Australis has a strong identity and robust appearance. Part of the case is constructed from a lightweight ceramic material called Bauselite (and 316L stainless steel). At first glance it reminded me a tiny bit of polished concrete, which is now popular in aspects of product design and architecture. Christophe has developed this textured material with the assistance of Flinders University in South Australia and is being very tight lipped about how exactly it is manufactured. Other features include a top mounted crown, sleek carbon fiber dial, red hour hand and revolving central second disc. Overall the composition has a really cool feel about it and the attention to detail is first rate.
Beneath the durable exterior lies a self-winding movement sourced from Swiss company Soprod. The Caliber A-10 comprises 25-jewels and oscillates at a frequency of 28,800 vibrations per hour. This entire mechanical splendor is visible through the sapphire crystal exhibition case back. Functionally the Terra Australis features hours minutes, seconds and date facility. The timepiece also has a power reserve of 40-hours and is water resistant to a depth of 50 metres.
The Terra Australis has a high quality kangaroo strap with matching folding clasp and special winding presentation box. Priced at: US $3,480
For more information about Bausele visit the company’s website: https://www.bausele.com
