Girard-Perregaux 1966 41 Pink Gold (49527-52-131-BK6A )

One of the unusual sides of the Doha Jewellery and Watch Exhibition is that brands have to bring with them pieces that can be sold. There is none of the customs Carnet ATA used at other shows to temporarily import pieces into the country just to show at the exhibition. This is the biggest indicator that this exhibition is much more about retail than trade, as the presence of (predominantly female) customers from the very opening of the show demonstrated.

Nevertheless, the local customers, who make up the majority of the visitors, since the exhibition has little pull in the other Gulf countries, like something special. So a number of brands are displaying timepieces that you will not find in the regular catalogue. Christophe Claret, for example, had a couple of unique versions of its Adagio timepiece on show, one set with baguette diamonds that would find no interest in the brand's native Switzerland but which is perfect for the local customer.

Christophe Claret's CEO Mr Wolfgang Sickenberg also told WorldTempus that the brand's new Aventicum model with its miniature mirascope has also been well-received and plans are already being made to develop the concept further. "The initial concept behind the Aventicum is very Swiss but this made perfect sense for the launch," he said, "Now we are considering following up the initial limited-edition series with different regional interpretations of the concept." Imagine, for example, a miniature Buddha in place of the bust of Marcus Aurelius…

A similarly interesting piece for local tastes is the DeWitt Princess Marie Clotilde watch. As a fitting tribute to the mother of Jerôme De Witt, this is a unique piece with sublime invisible setting. The aim with this piece was to create an almost translucent effect that gives the impression that the 405 baguette diamonds used on this watch are held simply in suspension. Those visiting De Witt on the Al Fardan stand at the Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition may even bump into Mr Jerôme De Witt himself, who is always keen to share the passion behind his marvels of watchmaking.

DeWitt was also proudly displaying some of its BaselWorld highlights to the Qatari public. As you will discover between now and mid-March, the brand has pulled out all the stops with its 2015 collection. There will be a steady stream of new releases in the run-up to BaselWorld, with two star pieces to be revealed at the show that will show off the brand in a totally new and very appealing light.

We also spied a new limited-edition collection on the Girard-Perregaux stand. Consisting of three watches based around the same design theme, one of which appeals directly to the Middle Eastern audience, only 17 sets have been produced and four of them were already sold on the first day of the show! With the exhibition lasting until Saturday, let's hope that there will still be some left to see in Basel.

For a small independent brand like Speake-Marin, any publicity is a bonus. After the coup of securing Pierce Brosnan as the brand's new ambassador, Speake-Marin became the surprise centre of attention among both brands and customers on the opening day of the show. Word had quickly spread that the whole consignment of watches and display material had been blocked in customs for several days. Luckily, the watches arrived just in time, along with a throng of people interested to check up on the brand. Those who did so were also treated to an exclusive look at the ladies' model that will be launched at BaselWorld. We won't spoil the surprise here but we can guarantee that whatever you may have had in mind in terms of design will probably be way off the mark.

WorldTempus was, however, lucky enough to be the first media in the world to see the new red-gold version of the Velsheda model. With its intriguing single, centre mounted blued hand, inside which the centre seconds are displayed using the signature Speake-Marin topping tool emblem, it comes with a high-end Vaucher Manufacture calibre 3002 self-winding movement.