Watchmakers gave upbeat forecasts for 2011 at the industry’s largest fair on Wednesday, although the deadly earthquake which hit key luxury consuming country Japan and Arab uprisings cast shadows over the expectations.

Industry giants including Swatch and LVMH have all posted strong recoveries over 2010 and they are expecting the recovery to continue in 2011.

Swiss exhibitors underlined that January sales were up 16.9 percent over a year ago and predicted that 2011 would be a new record year for the industry.

One of the highlights of Baselworld 2011 will be the 21 Blackjack by Christophe Claret, a watch that is specially created to allure casino lovers.

Massively complicated, the 21 Blackjack has a brand new Christophe Claret movement in it called the BLJ08.

But what really matters is that in addition to the time it lets you play three games: dice, roulette and cards.

The Chanel J12 Chromatic is made of a new proprietary ceramic titanium material that is of course highly scratch resistant with a hardness close to that of sapphire.

The J12 Chromatic features a spectrum of models — 38mm and 41mm case sizes each with an automatic mechanical movement, and a more petite 33mm case size with a quartz movement.

Water resistant to 200 meters. There are also diamond and diamond baguette encrusted models (set in an 18k white gold bezel).

The Arceau wristwatch imagined in 1978 by Henri d’Origny lends itself ideally to a pocket-watch version.

Its asymmetrical attachment and its lugs naturally invite a cord-strap fixed to the arch like a stirrup leather to a stirrup, thus evoking the saddle- and harness-making origins of Hermès.

Whether in a trouser or jacket pocket, the manner of wearing the Arceau Pocket further accentuates the innate classic chic of the original watch design.

Part of MB&F’s HM3 (Horological Machine No. 3) design, the watch was done in partnership/kinship with Laurent Picciotto (Chronopassion, Paris).

The HM3 ReBel is a limited edition of 18 pieces in black PVD-treated white gold, blackened movement and 22K gold rotor.

That’s “ReBel” as in R for right (hand), B for Black (case). According to MB&F, “The black PVD-coated ReBel is a distinctive, rock ‘n roll mirror-image of the HM3 designed to be worn on the right wrist, as a few individualists out there want to do.”

The new watch commemorates a special version of the Bentley Continental GTC Supersports which recently set a new world speed record on ice by driving at the impressive speed of 205.48 mph (330.695 km/h).

The event took place upon the frozen waters of the Baltic sea near Oulu, Finland.

The titanium-cased Breitling watch (worn by the driver during the feat) is set to be officially unveiled at Baselworld 2011.