Watchmaker's Market

Watches and Wonders Geneva crowns itself as the world's preeminent global watch fair, with zealous security to match

- ASHOK SOMAN

Watches and Wonders Geneva always makes me think how lucky the Swiss are to have a veritable legion of tourism officers in the form of watch enthusiasts. I am talking about folks like us at WOW Singapore and Luxuo, but also you, dear reader, and this has been true since way back before there was such a thing as this particular fair in Geneva. To be fair here (no pun intended), there is something magical and mysterious about Swiss time, and the answer always seems to be just beyond the heavily protected doors of the global watch fair, held now in Geneva.

It now seems certain that Watches and Wonders Geneva has taken the place of BaselWorld as the main international watch fair, and will only get bigger as the years march on. Already, there are multiple showcases happening around the city, in what is being hailed as Geneva Watch Week, unofficially. At the same time, Geneva Watch Days is still scheduled to run later this year, so the city has emerged as the proper international capital of watchmaking. For those of you who know anything about Geneva's present status and its history, this might seem fitting.

Just like last year, WOW Singapore was fully sponsored by all participating brands exhibiting at Watches and Wonders Geneva - there are no special coverage payback stories though. Generally speaking, as a watch specialist magazine, nothing gets us psyched up like a watch fair, so we are only too happy to cover Watches and Wonders Geneva. In fact, we have been doing just that online since the fair started, and have not really stopped. This story is also one of several in this issue covering the watch novelty exhibition, as well as the novelty debuts themselves; the TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph on the cover is also a Watches and Wonders debut.

STRUGGLING WITH TIME