Rethinking luxury watch fairs
Gulf Business|Gulf Business May 2020
A few of the world’s most venerable watch brands pulled out of Baselworld last month. We’re now set to see many of them exhibit alongside one another in Geneva next year. What will the traditional luxury watch fair, as we know it, look like come 2021?
VARUN GODINHO
Rethinking luxury watch fairs

Baselworld, the world’s biggest annual watch and jewellery fair held at the Messeplatz in the industrial Swiss city of Basel, has had its insular world upended in the matter of a week in April.

The trade show which sees hundreds of journalists, retailers, and industry professionals descend en masse every March/April for the week-long fair has long had systemic problems, a few of which extended to the city itself, that it has repeatedly swept under the rug.

For example, hotels in the city would markup their prices nearly three times as much during the fair, and some even demonstrated the audacity to ask guests to pay upfront for the following year’s booking before the current year’s fair even got underway.

Local restaurants and food retailers matched the arrogance by steep surcharges on food served during the fair.

To escape the extortion, many attendees would live in Zurich or Neuchâtel and catch the train or drive to Basel every day during the fair. Still, it seemed a worthy trade-off. Baselworld has been in existence since 1917 and counted a few of the most venerable names in the watch world including Rolex, Patek Philippe, Bvlgari, and Chopard among others, as its main exhibitors.

Many of these brands have been associated with the fair for decades – Rolex first began showing at the fair in 1939, four generations of the Patek Philippe family presented their novelties each year in Basel, and Chopard has been a regular fixture at the fair since 1964.

The only rival watch exhibition that matched in prestige, though not scale, was the Richemont-led Watches & Wonders (formerly Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie – SIHH) held annually at the Palexpo in Geneva.

Denne historien er fra Gulf Business May 2020-utgaven av Gulf Business.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra Gulf Business May 2020-utgaven av Gulf Business.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA GULF BUSINESSSe alt
Green lights
Gulf Business

Green lights

It hasn’t even been a full year that Stellantis, one of the world’s biggest auto companies, has been in existence. Still, its wheels are spinning furiously. Here’s what it has in store for the region

time-read
6 mins  |
December 2021
Purpose through corporate responsibility
Gulf Business

Purpose through corporate responsibility

Every organisation must deeply reflect about whether they are leaving behind a legacy or a liability, says Abdulaziz AlSowailim, EY MENA chairman and CEO

time-read
5 mins  |
December 2021
Analysing the layers of a coconut
Gulf Business

Analysing the layers of a coconut

When we have a sense of clarity as to our purpose in life, then we institute the correct practices and habits around us, and set realistic and achievable results

time-read
3 mins  |
December 2021
DUNES TO DOMINION
Gulf Business

DUNES TO DOMINION

FOR A COUNTRY RICH IN TRADITION AND DRIVEN BY AMBITION, THE UAE’S JOURNEY DURING THE PAST 50 YEARS HAS BEEN UNPRECEDENTED. WHAT’S IN STORE FOR THE NEXT 50?

time-read
9 mins  |
December 2021
Building strong
Gulf Business

Building strong

International investors are boosting Dubai’s residential property market, which has rebounded strongly from the Covid crisis, writes Aarti Nagraj

time-read
3 mins  |
December 2021
CHASING THE AMERCIAN DREAM
Gulf Business

CHASING THE AMERCIAN DREAM

FOR SHAI ZAMANIAN, THE US IS A LAND OF LIMITLESS POSSIBILITIES, AN AVENUE HE AIMS TO OPEN FOR FAMILIES WORLDWIDE VIA IMMIGRATION. HERE’S HOW HE IS BRINGING HIS GOAL TO FRUITION

time-read
6 mins  |
December 2021
OBITUARY: JOCELYN HENDERSON (1921-2021)
Gulf Business

OBITUARY: JOCELYN HENDERSON (1921-2021)

THE GRANDE DAME OF ABU DHABI – THE WIFE OF A FORMER DIPLOMAT – PASSED AWAY IN THE UAE CAPITAL AGED 100

time-read
3 mins  |
December 2021
THE DIGITAL DISRUPTORS
Gulf Business

THE DIGITAL DISRUPTORS

IN THE COMING YEARS, THE GCC IS EXPECTED TO PLAY A SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN SECTORS SUCH AS HEALTHCARE, MANUFACTURING, EDUCATION AND RETAIL, WHICH WILL HELP BOOST THE GROWTH OF ITS NON-OIL ECONOMY

time-read
7 mins  |
December 2021
Signed, sealed, delivered
Gulf Business

Signed, sealed, delivered

Nicolas Baretzki, CEO of Montblanc, partnered with one of the world’s most recognisable luxury brands, Ferrari, earlier this year. Here’s where the partnership, and the German company as well, is headed next

time-read
6 mins  |
December 2021
UP, UP AND AWAY
Gulf Business

UP, UP AND AWAY

AS THE FIRST IN-PERSON AIRSHOW TO TAKE PLACE SINCE THE OUTBREAK OF THE PANDEMIC, THE EVENT SAW SEVERAL DEALS ANNOUNCED

time-read
4 mins  |
December 2021