The luxurious watch trade could also be battling falling exports and gross sales, however the organisers of Watches and Wonders Geneva, the world’s solely main luxurious watch honest that started within the Swiss metropolis Tuesday, have mentioned they’re anticipating extra exhibitors and extra guests than in earlier years when the trade was booming.
“Regardless of the context, Watches and Wonders Geneva performs a unifying position for the trade,” mentioned Matthieu Humair, the chief govt of the muse which has managed the present since its inception in 2021. “Having the most important gamers and the smaller manufacturers underneath one roof to advertise watchmaking is a key second for this trade.”
The present’s 60 exhibitors are a report, up from 54 final yr and 48 in 2023. Some are main international luxurious manufacturers comparable to Rolex, Patek Philippe and the maisons from the Richemont and LVMH group stables, whereas others are small-scale independents making just a few hundred watches a yr.
One of many new exhibitors at this yr’s present is Roman jeweller Bulgari, which had sat out earlier editions in favour of organising store at a resort on the margins of the occasion, in addition to staging a travelling watch expo with its LVMH stablemates together with TAG Heuer and Hublot.
Watches and Wonders Geneva Basis attracted Bulgari — which is able to assist draw a female viewers to the honest, Humair mentioned — by revising its governance, admitting LVMH, Chanel and Hermès to its board final yr alongside its founding members Richemont, Rolex and Patek Philippe. The honest additionally supplied a greater location for the model, by the doorway to the honest. “We have been sidelined, which was not passable,” Bulgari’s CEO Jean-Christophe Babin mentioned of earlier proposals.
Being current contained in the honest is “costly, but it surely’s price it as a result of you have got much more conferences and extra site visitors,” he added. “Extra importantly, for a model that till 10 years in the past was not actually thought-about as a watchmaker, being right here confirms we at the moment are actually a part of the primary league.”
Prices have lengthy been a thorny problem for the Geneva watch honest and its defunct counterpart in Basel, Baselworld, which was final held in 2019.
Humair mentioned the organising basis had held exhibiting prices regular over the previous 4 years, and that they remained considerably decrease than charges utilized on the present’s predecessor, SIHH (the Salon Worldwide de la Haute Horlogerie, which held its final version in 2019). 2019 charges at SIHH had been as a lot as 2,650 Swiss francs per sq. metre of exhibition area for a smaller unbiased model, in comparison with 1,800 Swiss francs per sq. metre at this time. Bigger manufacturers pay as much as 2,000 francs per sq. metre.
In accordance with Humair, the manufacturers with a multi-billion-dollar turnover assist subsidise the presence of smaller independents. “There’s a dedication by the most important gamers to help the smaller independents and to permit them to be current with an inexpensive value and to satisfy the most important gamers within the trade,” he mentioned. “It’s a dedication to the way forward for watchmaking.”
Exhibition areas fluctuate in dimension from 400 sq. metres to “a number of thousand” for the most important exhibitors Rolex and Cartier, he added.
Humair forecast attendance would high final yr’s version, which attracted 49,000 guests throughout seven days, together with 19,000 members of the general public who purchased tickets to attend over the weekend. The occasion’s attain on social media is much greater. “It exhibits the significance of this platform,” he mentioned, including that he was anticipating these numbers to extend this yr. “The momentum is exclusive.”
Rolex, the world’s largest luxurious watch firm with estimated annual revenues in extra of 10 billion Swiss francs, helped open the occasion with a bang because it launched a brand new household of watches known as Land-Dweller. The design had been leaked on social media earlier than the present, in breach of Rolex’s common pre-show blackout.
Some critics noticed the watch’s Nineteen Seventies-inspired look as aggressive, nudging in on rival Audemars Piguet’s aesthetic. “Rolex is dipping its toes into Audemars Piguet Royal Oak waters,” mentioned Kristian Haagen, a watch collector and creator of various books on watchmaking.
However Rolex cited its personal archive as an inspiration, and highlighted its innovation with a motion that beats at a better frequency, providing better precision. “It additionally seems like Rolex’s Nineteen Seventies Oysterquartz, an homage to an period of superior precision,” Haagen mentioned.
Whilst LVMH’s Bulgari entered the fold a number of the trade’s greatest names stay on the sidelines. Audemars Piguet, Richard Mille, Breitling and Swatch Group manufacturers comparable to Omega, Longines and Breguet haven’t but exhibited at Watches and Wonders Geneva and won’t be at this yr’s occasion. Final week, Breitling chief govt Georges Kern instructed The Enterprise of Trend, “I gained’t promote yet one more watch at Watches and Wonders Geneva than if I wasn’t there. It’s solely ego worth.”
Benjamin Clymer, chief govt of Richemont’s Piaget, mentioned he welcomed the arrival of Bulgari. “I’m pleased there are new manufacturers right here,” he mentioned. He additionally famous the worldwide nature of the present. “I’m happy to see retailers from the Center East and India right here. We’re very pleased about our ends in these international locations.”
Humair mentioned this yr’s occasion would search to construct on momentum with youthful audiences. Final yr, in line with organisers, 25 % of the general public day tickets have been offered to individuals underneath the age of 25. “They arrive to see the novelties, but in addition to learn and educated. It’s a era that in a linked world wants tangible objects comparable to timepieces,” Humair mentioned.
The organisation hopes to draw the following era of watchmaking expertise, along with younger consumers, by way of activations contained in the honest and within the Geneva metropolis centre.
“This yr, we will probably be highlighting the watchmaking professions,” he mentioned. “Now we have a lab with 13 initiatives, 11 of them from start-up college students, that discover the way forward for watchmaking; a networking space the place younger individuals can speak to younger individuals [in the industry]; a abilities competitors; and the presence of colleges such because the Ecole Cantonale d’Artwork de Lausanne. It’s a novel alternative for the younger era to find the totally different know-hows within the watchmaking trade.”
The expansion of Watches and Wonders Geneva has attracted copycats. This yr, “Time to Watches” takes place the identical week at Villa Sarasin, solely a stone’s throw from the Palexpo exhibition centre the place Watches and Wonders Geneva is held. The occasion will showcase greater than 70 watch manufacturers, largely smaller independents, together with Beauregard, which is the one Watches and Wonders Geneva 2024 exhibitor to not return this yr.
Humair mentioned there have been no plans to merge the 2 occasions. “It’s nice to see different occasions with loads of success as a result of it exhibits the significance of getting the trade united collectively bodily,” he mentioned. “However these are two totally different organisations with two totally different sorts of occasion, and [a merger] shouldn’t be on the agenda in the intervening time.”
