Prior to heading out on train to visit Paul Gerber in Zurich, I spent an afternoon de-compressing from the flights and trains getting to Basel. The weather was lovely bright blue sky and 70' plus, which meant lunch of veal sausage outside by the river, watching the Rhine flow swiftly by.

This typical river barge was pounding it's way upstream:

After lunch I walked down Clarastrasse to the new exhibition hall. As I neared it, I could tell it was a significant change from the previous 12 years. Over what used to be the open tram stop with the lovely open air bars and bandstand, is now a huge modern structure, housing the main proponents of Basel, yes, you guessed it the big brands and Swatch Group. There is a donut like feeling, with an opening in the middle. Rather fitting I think to the bloated excesses of Swatch Group and it's marketing machine...but I digress.

A view looking out to the street that runs parallel with several restaurants where one can sit and enjoy the good weather.

The aforementioned "Donut hole"

The Hall o Swatch...yes a tribute to the plastic watch that saved the big brand mechanical Swiss watch industry from complete annihilation in the face of the quartz revolution from the Japanese onslaught.

Here is the new lobby of Hall 1.0, which was the old main entrance.

As I wandered about getting the lay of the land, I bumped into Martin Braun, who was wearing the stunning Slow Runner with it's amazing massive balance wheel beating at a mere 7200 vph. Put in terms one can understand, it makes two oscillations a second. Sort of like a fast heartbeat, which is what I think many will experience when handling this lovely piece for the first time!