Even before the trade wars began and COVID-19 confined us all to our homes, watchmaking was already confronting multiple crises. BaselWorld is now history, but the world’s biggest and most important trade fair is not simply retiring gracefully. Swatch Group struck a mortal blow when it pulled out, staging its own show last year, then a few other brands pulled the plug. Although the fair plodded along last year, the decision by the world’s largest watchmaking group deserves credit for getting pundits, journalists, and brand executives to ask if we really need BaselWorld.
The answer is yes we do, but we deserve a better fair. That is an answer everyone can get behind. Historically, multiple WOW editors have extolled the virtues of BaselWorld, giving it its due as the biggest and grandest watch fair. I have now done so twice in the span of two scant paragraphs. Since 2013 though, calls for a “better” fair began to gain traction.
Of course, “better” is open to interpretation and there are certainly outliers who feel watch fairs are irrelevant in the digital age. For the purposes of this story, we will focus here on what “better” means, as far as the brands, the Foundation Haute Horlogerie (FHH) and BaselWorld organiser MCH Group are concerned.
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Denne historien er fra Issue 57-utgaven av WOW Singapore.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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NEW FRONTIERS
The outgoing CEO of TAG Heuer Julien Tornare shares his management style and values. No doubt these will remain consistent in his new role as Hublot CEO, just as they were in his Zenith tenure
STRUCTURAL STYLE
Parmigiani Fleurier CEO Guido Terreni explains the logic of the new Toric collection and takes us through his thoughts on style and elegance
THE CONVERSATION: APROPOS COMPLICATIONS
A watch with complications appeals to different sorts of collectors, and is quite different to a complex watch. The editors of Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand discuss the virtues of all sorts of complications and consider when more is really better...
EUREKA MOMENTS
Our extended look at gold in watchmaking comes to a close in this third and final part, with a look at five proprietary gold alloys. Of course, there are certainly more than five so we will leave the door ajar on going even further
MACHINE LEARNING
The mechanical calendar has been perfected over the last 100 years; it remains a challenge that invites multiple watchmaking and engineering approaches. We get into the nuts and bolts of how the perpetual calendar gets the job done
CULTURAL SENSE
The story of our calendar and why it is rife with anomalies
QUANTA OF TIME
Just as hours, minutes and seconds are quanta of time, so too are days, weeks, months and years. We finally explore the story of the perpetual calendar in particular, in a year that invites such ruminations
PURPLE REIGN
H. Moser Cie brings a brand new dial to the party with the Pioneer Perpetual Calendar Concept MD Purple Enamel Sincere Platinum Jubilee Edition
AUTUMN HUE
Grand Seiko continues its celebration of the 20th anniversary of Calibre 9R with the limited edition SBGA499
TWICE UPON A TIME
The world's greatest double tourbillon wristwatch, the Breguet Classique 5345 Quai de L'horloge is back, with new hand-finishing touches