This week, a sizable share of the watch community will converge at Watches and Wonders Geneva, the annual trade fair where established companies unveil their newest models, emerging brands hope to garner more attention, and attendees — whether industry professionals or horology fans — convene, mingle and network.
In a recent conversation at the Living Room at the W New York–Union Square, a lounge at the Manhattan hotel, watch world insiders discussed what they were hoping to see at this year’s edition, how watch fairs have evolved and the impact that social media has had on the event. They were Ruediger Albers, president of Wempe USA, a luxury watch and jewelry retailer; Paul Boutros, deputy chairman and head of watches, Americas for Phillips auction house; François-Xavier Hotier, president of North America for the Swiss watch brand Ulysse Nardin; and Phillip Toledano, an artist, watch collector and a founder of Toledano & Chan, which introduced its first watch in 2024.
Mr. Albers and Mr. Hotier are veterans of Watches and Wonders, as well as the fair’s defunct predecessors, the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie and Baselworld. Mr. Toledano went to Watches and Wonders for the first time last year. And after going to around 20 watch fairs over the years, Mr. Boutros no longer attends, instead focusing on preparing for auctions in May and June, but he still ardently follows the action online.
Once a deliberately exclusive event, Watches and Wonders is now much more inclusive, with broader attendance — last year, 23,000 tickets were sold for the public days, a 21 percent increase on the previous year — and a reach that extends well beyond Palexpo, the convention center it’s held in.
“It is a cultural hub for people celebrating watches and watchmaking,” Mr. Boutros said. “Many in the watch industry really want to make it very welcoming to all, even outside of the fair.”
The conversation has been edited and condensed.
How has the fair changed?
RUEDIGER ALBERS The biggest change is that now customers are welcome. There were always just private halls for retailers. Today, they really include consumers. Also, the delivery time between the introduction [of new products] and the actual to-market date is much closer and faster.
FRANÇOIS-XAVIER HOTIER You see how the appetite of the public to visit the brands is growing and growing. It’s pretty interesting. We always have this conversation about how relevant it is to collect watches, to own a watch. Watches and Wonders is proof: We are extremely relevant, in fact.
The first few days are still reserved for the watch industry. During the period when the public is welcome, does it get too crowded?
ALBERS It becomes a little busy, but it’s great to see the interest. The number of customers, or the people that flock to this, is just staggeringly increasing. I think it’s a positive for sure.
PAUL BOUTROS I remember when it was exclusive to trade and journalists, how people just felt like they were missing out. They really wanted to be there and they were always trying to find a way to get in — begging retailers, begging their friends in brands to, “Please allow me to get in.” And they couldn’t. So allowing them access on these public days, I think it’s been great.
What are you expecting to see this year?
BOUTROS Shape watches. I think shape watches are going to be more of what we see this year. That’s my prediction.
PHILLIP TOLEDANO For me, I’m always mostly interested in Hermès, Chanel, and Cartier because I feel like they have such a great sense of harmony and aesthetics. They are audacious to me.
ALBERS Patek’s 50th anniversary of the Nautilus is highly anticipated. It’s a big one. We’ll see how that will …
BOUTROS The big anniversary!
ALBERS … come across. Of course, it will come with the usual: the phone burning up as everybody tries to get access — smoke signals, LinkedIn.
TOLEDANO You must be very popular at dinner parties when you tell people what you do!
Paul, how do you keep on top of what’s happening without physically attending?
BOUTROS You can quickly figure out what the top brands have put out, what independent brands are putting out. If you don’t go, because of how quickly news spreads and how many collectors are just sharing immediately — or journalists and influencers posting to their social media accounts — you’re on top of it as long as you’re paying attention.
HOTIER The show is a reflection of its time, right? Everything goes faster. Everything is more open or transparent, and there’s a lot more content created.
How does social media play into things?
TOLEDANO It’s a remarkable barometer and synthesizer. You see right away the things that get the most traction — the things that are most interesting to people get the most posts. You can always see after a Watches and Wonders: There are these six or seven pieces that everyone is talking about.
Has influencer attendance changed things?
BOUTROS The more people communicating about the greatness of watches, the better it is for all of us. I personally am very happy, because my whole life I was trying to explain why people should collect watches, and now there’s so many more people joining my chorus.
HOTIER Every language, every country is doing it for you.
BOUTROS And it’s wonderful. It really is. And the more influencers there are, the better. We all benefit from a larger communicating group of people.
HOTIER What I love with influencers is the gigantic diversity it brings. If I compare it to my Baselworld years, that was very much the authorized media, press-release driven content. Today, whoever, from wherever in the world, can talk about the brand, can have access to the product. You have a lot more women at the show. A lot more communities are part of the show. It’s a lot more inclusive de facto than before. Everybody has a voice.
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