Just a few years ago, some industry experts were predicting the death of large-scale international watch events. But before the year is out, in-person multibrand gatherings are scheduled in New York, London, Hong Kong and Singapore, with the first Milano Watch Week slated to bring 20 luxury watch brands together next month.
Even during August, traditionally the month when luxury watchmaking goes on vacation, there were high-profile events in Geneva and Shanghai, and the first edition of Watch Week Aspen, in Colorado. All of them were open to the public, bringing brands, retailers, media and customers together for exhibitions, panels, new product introductions — and, in one instance, fly fishing.
Why the sudden explosion?
“With the watch industry doing as poorly as it is now, watch brands need to make a lot of noise, to be everywhere,” said Kristian Haagen, a veteran industry commentator and the author of several books on watchmaking. He was referring to the Swiss watch industry’s slowdown, which has included a dip of 2.4 percent in export values year-over-year during the first seven months of 2024. “So they need the watch shows. Everybody’s battling to have enough importance in a super troubled market.”
The organizers of Geneva Watch Days, a five-day fair that began Aug. 29, said their event came at a key time. “Brands understand it’s a big opportunity right before the major gifting season,” said Jean-Christophe Babin, Bulgari’s chief executive. Mr. Babin, along with the heads of Breitling and Ulysse Nardin, founded the event in 2020 after the major watch fairs were canceled in the early months of the pandemic.
This year, the event drew 52 exhibiting brands, up from 39 in 2023. Visitor numbers surged, rising by 70 percent to 13,800, according to the organizers. “The more brands we have, the more members of the public come,” Mr. Babin said.
Elizabeth Smith of Oliver Smith Jeweler, a family-owned chain based in Scottsdale, Ariz., said changes in the market — and the fact that a summer event in the mountains would attract tourist customers — led her to pitch Watch Week Aspen, which began Aug. 8 and featured 19 brands and retailers. “High-price-point sales have slowed down,” Ms. Smith said. “So what can we do from a marketing standpoint that shares what we do so well? The idea was to unite everyone.”
Most of the participating brands, such as Audemars Piguet, Panerai and A. Lange & Söhne, exhibited in their local Aspen branches. But during the four-day fair, Meridian Jewelers, an Aspen retailer, took clients fly fishing, while the British watch company Bremont led an e-bike tour to the Maroon Bells, a pair of high mountains nearby.
Schedule Conflicts
The event calendar actually became so busy that this year Geneva Watch Days overlapped with Watches and Wonders Shanghai, a sibling of what is now the world’s only major watch fair, Watches and Wonders Geneva. (This past spring, the annual Swiss fair drew 54 brands and 49,000 visitors from 125 countries.)
“The dates were chosen according to the availability of the West Bund Art Center and the calendar of the exhibiting maisons,” Matthieu Humair, the chief executive of the Watches and Wonders Geneva Foundation, which organizes the Swiss and Chinese events, wrote in an email.
Georges Kern, the chief executive of Breitling, who attended Geneva Watch Days, said the events had different audiences. “That’s life,” he said about the date clash. “The retailers aren’t flying to Shanghai, which is very much for China. Ours is focused on Europe, the U.S.A. and Middle East.”
The organizers of the Shanghai event hoped it would stimulate the shrinking Chinese market. According to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, exports to China in the first seven months of 2024 fell 23.2 percent from the same period in 2023.
The organizers reported that despite offering just nine exhibiting brands (down from 14 in 2023), the show had drawn more than 10,000 visitors over its five-day run (three days were open to the public, one more than last year).
Cartier, Vacheron Constantin and Piaget were among the Shanghai exhibitors, while Ulysse Nardin, which previously exhibited at Geneva Watch Days and Watches and Wonders Shanghai, skipped both events this year.
“Our strategy involves alternating participation in various international fairs, which enhances our global presence,” Matthieu Haverlan, Ulysse Nardin’s managing director, wrote in an email. He noted the brand intended to be involved in two events in October: IAmWatch, a new fair in Singapore organized by the Hour Glass, a retailer headquartered there, and WatchTime New York, an event sponsored by the online and print magazine WatchTime.
Significant Costs
Brands do incur major costs for such events: registration and space rental fees, the creation and execution of displays, insurance, security, hospitality and the expense of staff travel and accommodations.
Industry insiders say leading brands such as Rolex, Cartier and Patek Philippe spend millions of Swiss francs on their multistory stands for Watches and Wonders Geneva.
By contrast, Mr. Kern of Breitling — which does not participate in that event — said Geneva Watch Days was very “cost-efficient” for exhibitors because many use their own Geneva boutiques for events. Breitling, he said, makes a “small six-figure investment.”
Mr. Babin said that Bulgari, which also does not participate in Watches and Wonders Geneva, spent “less than a million” Swiss francs on Geneva Watch Days. Renting space at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel de la Paix in Geneva accounts for most of that cost, but brands also must contribute to the rental of two headquarters tents and to marketing expenses for the fair itself.
Thibaud Guittard, the founder of the startup watch company Alto, said he had paid the organizers 20,000 Swiss francs ($23,572) to take part in Geneva Watch Days, where he presented his new watch, the Art A01. “It’s a key event now,” said Mr. Guittard, a former Audemars Piguet employee, adding that he had already sold his 25 debut models at 19,450 Swiss francs each. “Even if it’s expensive, you cannot miss it.”
One sign of renewed interest in large watch events was that some Swatch Group brands showed at Geneva Watch Days for the first time, and have registered for WatchTime New York. Breguet, Blancpain and Glashütte Original had not been seen at a watch fair since the group pulled its 18 brands, including Omega, Longines and Tissot, from the 2019 Baselworld fair (then a dominant fair, but now defunct). At the time, it was widely reported the move would save the group $50 million a year.
In July, Swatch Group reported a 14.3 percent drop in its net sales during the first half of the year. The group declined to comment on why it would return to watch events, but Mr. Haagen, the watch industry commentator, said that the company had no choice.
“Swatch Group has to battle with Rolex and so they’re trying something new,” he said. “I could definitely see Swatch Group becoming more visible when it comes to future watch shows.”
A Sign of the Future?
Industry insiders are now asking whether the current environment will inspire brands that have not previously participated in Watches and Wonders Geneva to exhibit in April 2025.
In June, the fair’s foundation announced that Hermès, Chanel and LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the French giant that owns Bulgari, had joined its board, a move Mr. Humair described as “a long-term commitment to support the industry together.”
Previously, Mr. Babin of Bulgari had criticized the board, which had represented only Rolex, Patek Philippe and Richemont, the Swiss luxury group that includes Vacheron Constantin, IWC and Panerai, but he said his perspective on the fair had changed. “We haven’t excluded going back,” he said of Watches and Wonders Geneva. “The pros are we would meet with more people and ease logistics, but the cons are the costs are much higher. We will make a decision in the next few weeks.”
Mr. Kern of Breitling agreed. “The board totally changed, so it’s not dominated by one group, which opens the whole debate,” he said. “We’re in constant contact with Watches and Wonders Geneva and we can imagine being back there.”
Is the event calendar now full? Even if a conflict-free period could be found, Mr. Humair, of the Watches and Wonders foundation, said he had no plans to revive its Miami fair, last held in 2019.
Mr. Kern said that Baselworld, which collapsed because of spiraling prices for its organizer and participants alike, should serve as a warning to event organizers and host cities.
“We’re talking to the hotels to calm down,” he said, referring to the likelihood that they would increase rates during a future Geneva Watch Days. “What I don’t want is hotels and restaurants exploding in price. Smaller brands can’t afford it. We could imagine to have the event in Basel, Zurich or even Miami.”
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