Watches and Wonders Geneva at all times makes me assume how fortunate the Swiss are to have a veritable legion of tourism officers within the type of watch fans. I’m speaking about people like us at World of Watches (WOW) Singapore and LUXUO, but in addition you, expensive reader. This has been true since method again earlier than there was such a factor as this specific honest in Geneva. To be honest (no pun supposed), there’s something magical and mysterious about Swiss time, and the reply at all times appears to be simply past the closely protected doorways of the worldwide watch honest held now in Geneva.
It now appears sure that Watches and Wonders Geneva has taken the place of BaselWorld as the principle worldwide watch honest and can solely get greater because the years march on. Already, there are a number of showcases taking place across the metropolis throughout what’s being hailed as Geneva Watch Week, unofficially. On the similar time, Geneva Watch Days remains to be scheduled to run later this 12 months — town has emerged as the correct worldwide capital of watchmaking. For these of you who know something about Geneva’s current standing and its historical past, this would possibly solely appear becoming.
Identical to final 12 months, WOW Singapore was absolutely sponsored by all taking part manufacturers exhibiting at Watches and Wonders Geneva — although there are not any particular protection payback tales. Usually talking, as a watch specialist journal, nothing will get us psyched up like a watch honest, so we’re solely too completely satisfied to cowl Watches and Wonders Geneva. In truth, we now have been doing simply that on-line because the honest began and have not likely stopped. This story can also be considered one of a number of in our summer season difficulty overlaying the watch novelty exhibition in addition to the novelty debutants themselves.
Battling Time
This specific story is a primer for individuals who need some details and figures in regards to the Geneva honest and the opposite exhibits on the town. It additionally covers some primary data that we realise is sorely missing, contemplating a few of the nonsensical protection on YouTube and social media. Provided that our staff was on the bottom and doing our personal stuff, we realise that watch gala’s do entice new individuals too, a few of whom could not have the slightest concept of the way it all works. For all of you, let me say this: the scrum to get into the exhibition space is just not regular, however discovering a method to eat lunch with out stressing out is. That battle may be very actual.
As for the safety measures which induced airport-gate fashion snaking strains, these have at all times been a function of the watch honest held on the PalExpo. Within the days of the Salon Worldwide de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH, a reputation we’ll come again to), the metallic detectors had been very a lot customary. Additional, nobody had ever requested if we had been bringing liquids into the exhibition space. This was new and completely egregious. The Asian contingent wants its cup noodles, and a thermos with sizzling water is de rigueur. It’s merely unimaginable to search out sizzling water outdoors of the employees canteen.
Talking of sizzling water, with reference to social media, there have been greater than 1.8 million posts mentioning #watchesandwonders which reached an estimated 600 million individuals (supply: WWG 2023). This quantity, launched April 3, has probably grown considerably and doesn’t embrace the amount of fabric on YouTube or TikTok. For some purpose, Watches and Wonders privileges Instagram unfairly, as evidenced by the utilization of the hashtag as definitive of social media.
Standard Pondering
official attendance and participation by watchmaking manufacturers, the improved efficiency of the Geneva honest over final 12 months’s version is apparent. However, it must be remembered that BaselWorld drew one thing like 3 times the general attendance and hosted nearly each model, from the smallest to the most important. Simply as BaselWorld didn’t function Richemont manufacturers, Watches and Wonders Geneva has a Swatch Group-shaped gap in its record of manufacturers. The Swiss press didn’t miss the prospect to comment on this and we too miss the presence of crucial Swiss watchmaking group which doesn’t present at any sort of world honest. It’s our understanding that the Group’s administration has no plans to alter the established order, however we urge them to rethink. Watches and Wonders president Jean-Frederic Dufour, who can also be Rolex’s CEO, publicly prolonged an invite to Swatch Group by way of Le Temps, so we’ll see how that goes.
Watches and Wonders Geneva can also be lacking the likes of Citizen (although Citizen-owned Frederique Fixed did debut this 12 months ), the Seiko Watch Company (Grand Seiko nonetheless confirmed as much as the get together after its debut final 12 months) and Casio. On that notice, the German and French pavilions are completely absent too, although this simply underscores the purpose that Watches and Wonders Geneva is just not BaselWorld 2.0. It’s actually extra inclusive than the previous SIHH, with manufacturers similar to U-Boat and Charriol additionally discovering areas for themselves. If the principle stage of the Geneva honest goes to absorb extra such manufacturers, it might be higher to open extra halls and take into account permitting these manufacturers to create their very own stands. This was BaselWorld’s answer to maintain from wanting like a conference, which it undeniably is.
Regardless, Watches and Wonders Geneva remains to be a conference the place individuals come for work and to do enterprise. It’d appear like a luxurious mall of some type, however it’s undoubtedly not. To be clear, meaning retailers are right here to purchase watches – this can be a simplification however it is going to do – and press are right here to search out tales. In case you are not with the manufacturers, then you might be right here to fulfill with both the model’s business staff or the advertising and marketing and communications staff. Completely nobody is right here to fall in lust with a watch in a show case, after which attempt to get worth on simply that one watch to put on it strolling across the PalExpo. At this watchmaker’s market, nobody is promoting direct-to-consumer.
Perpetually Topped
However sufficient about our personal gripes about what the honest is or not, save for only one extra — and solely as a result of we need to convey our protection of the honest throughout LUXUO and social media collectively. Watches and Wonders Geneva doesn’t give out “best-in-show” awards — it isn’t that sort of occasion both. It falls to trade observers and journalists to make such pronouncements. Right here is our take: Rolex has received the annual watch honest, if such a factor is feasible, and reminded us why it deserves its crown. We started our watch honest protection with Rolex on-line, the place the thrill over what the model will do in 2023 was palpable.
As Watches and Wonders Geneva bought underway, the massive information was that titanium is lastly a part of the usual assortment as foreshadowed by the Deepsea mannequin final 12 months. This 12 months, the Oyster Perpetual Yacht-Grasp 42 bought the RLX titanium therapy which was one more signal that titanium was lastly taking centre stage at Rolex. After everybody bought performed patting themselves on the again — a few of you could have harm yourselves (you already know who you might be) — even probably the most blinkered of observers realised that this was not the story.
The true information was on the traditional facet of issues — the dressier little bit of the Rolex story. In case you could have been residing in a time-free zone or a black gap, right here is the deal: it appears the Cellini assortment has been reworked into one thing fairly totally different, known as the Perpetual 1908. We initially thought this was only one watch that will add extra flavour, however a fast scan of the Rolex web site confirmed that the Cellini fashions of latest occasions had been nowhere to be discovered. One would possibly assume this a storm in a teacup, however this new assortment arrives with a full set of fabric variants and exhibition casebacks (which showcase calibres with Syloxi hairsprings). The exhibition caseback on the Cosmograph Daytona actually broke the Web, however solely time will inform if the Perpetual 1908 can change into an actual star.
Certainly, there are tonnes of little developments and main ones at that for the world’s most essential luxurious watch model and this isn’t the story to get into all of it. Nicely, one thing to look ahead to then, however do notice right here that the calibre 7140 powering the Perpetual 1908 is completely new and options the primary use of each the Syloxi hairspring and the Chronergy escapement.
Monitoring Elapsed Time
On the technical entrance, there was some disappointment this 12 months with a perceived lack of horological substance. There have been few new grand issues to talk of, if any. The phrase earlier than the honest was that teams are involved about financial contagion spreading and had been getting ready for the worst. The closest we bought to grand issues was new variants of the Patek Philippe Grand Grasp Chime (Ref. 6300) and an idea watch from Roger Dubuis, the Monovortex Cut up-Seconds Chronograph, which the model is just not promoting; that is the one true idea watch at Watches and Wonders Geneva which is kind of one thing. Even Van Cleef & Arpels shall be promoting its automatons (they’re all offered as we’re reliably if not formally knowledgeable). We’ll come again to the Roger Dubuis piece on the finish, however for now it serves as a pleasant lead-in to a hard-to-miss pattern: the dominance of the chronograph.
The chronograph complication obtained a variety of consideration this 12 months, with loads of fascinating examples together with the next: the primary new formed variant showing at Jaeger-LeCoultre since 1996 and now the one such watch from any main model on the planet; the Odysseus Cut up Seconds Chronograph redefining the consumer expertise and the show; the Montblanc 1858 Unveiled Timekeeper Minerva Restricted Version additionally taking part in with consumer expertise; and the Zenith Pilot Flyback Chronograph Huge Date for which the consumer expertise is as soon as once more paramount. The chronograph was additionally in focus at Hermes Horloger in addition to on the independents, with Gronefeld’s splendidly named Gronograaf being a standout. We are able to nearly hear you groan out loud at how this watch debuted final 12 months and received the Chronograph prize on the GPHG.
For this overview, we wished to supply what quantities to a teaser on a big new improvement at Grand Seiko, the place one more chronograph was on the up. Helpfully named the Tentagraph, the watch is after all identified by its reference quantity, SLGC001, as is regular for Grand Seiko. It’s recognisable by its tri-compax format, fairly customary for this type of complication. In all different methods, the Tentagraph is totally totally different, being considered one of solely a handful of chronographs on the planet regulated by one thing apart from the Swiss lever escapement. Right here, it’s the twin impulse escapement you would possibly recall from a few years in the past and most notably in calibre 9SA5, which is now applied within the chronograph calibre 9SC5. We perceive that this can be a chronograph module added to 9SA5. The Tentagraph is definitely the primary chronograph from Grand Seiko and is really an impressive begin.
Incremental Advances
Whereas it isn’t a chronograph in any method, the Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Minute Rattrapante additionally makes a present of doing one thing no watch has ever performed. Patek Philippe additionally chimes in withan unusually offbeat Ref. 5224. In truth, this might need actually been the honest of idiosyncrasy, given the tide of very odd watches that succeeded in shocking everybody. To record them, these are after all the Puzzle and Bubble watches from Rolex; the Oris ProPilot X “Kermit”; the Ulysse Nardin Freak One; the Chanel Lion Astro Clock (Chanel by no means fails to convey the quirk, so this is only one of them); and the Hublot Huge Bang Built-in Tourbillon Full Blue Sapphire which nonetheless has a tough time escaping the shadow of the lately launched Neon Yellow SAXEM Huge Bang and the persevering with Murakami collaboration.
Hublot introduced a brand new watch to the get together that we’re reserving area for right here, the MP-13. The bi-axis tourbillon with double retrograde time show seems prefer it was at all times a part of the Hublot catalogue regardless of being completely new. The mixture of the multi-axis tourbillon and retrograde motion is a primary in watchmaking, and the case is definitely new right here too (though it would put in thoughts the visage of earlier MP fashions). Whereas we’ll get into the small print of the MP-13 in one other story, it’s suffice to say that this watch spoke loudest to positive watchmaking’s new emphasis on fit-and-feel, which is a little bit of an obsession at WOW. If there may be one factor you would possibly recall in regards to the MP collection, it’s that the circumstances defy easy explanations and are sometimes difficult on most wrists. This one is an enchancment, whereas nonetheless providing a variety of attraction and horological leisure worth each.
Sadly, there was little else in the way in which of enjoyable with time at Watches and Wonders 2023, with even the LAB exhibition being largely a showcase for the hits (and a repeat of final 12 months’s highlights, which we perceive given how a lot greater the viewers is that this 12 months). It’s a minor grievance however however, having a robotic canine steal the present as a result of the watchmaking innovation is a rehash of final 12 months’s is just not nice. Maybe accidentally, it additionally revealed that conventional watchmaking advances incrementally, not by nice leaps ahead. That’s after all for the very best. For an instance of such an amazing leap, look no additional than quartz within the Seventies.
This brings us to the ultimate level, the place that Roger Dubuis idea watch comes again to serenade us on our method out. Watchmaking manufacturers promote desires about what it means to grasp your personal time, whether or not that’s within the type of time-only watches constructed principally by hand as Ferdinand Berthoud does, or of “hyper horology” as Roger Dubuis does. Many of the substance is between these extremes, however this could not obscure the truth that it’s all nonetheless about desires. We’d like excessive ends to make highly effective statements. In any other case, probably the most thrilling concept about time is one which has to do with greenback indicators. To place it one other method, your wine fridge, shelf or cellar solely actually pays for itself for those who assume wine is a tasty beverage. If it is just about worth, then style is irrelevant, and that could be a disgrace for each winemakers and wine lovers alike.
Fantastic Outcomes
Watches and Wonders Geneva is now more likely to be the most important watch honest on the planet, if the numbers launched by the organisers are something to go by. When it comes to materials area, the organisers mentioned nothing and a lot of the stories don’t give attention to this. For some context, it’s most likely the scale of Corridor One at BaselWorld, and twice the scale of the previous SIHH on the PalExpo (estimates are our personal so ship brickbats my method please). There are 48 taking part manufacturers at Watches and Wonders Geneva this 12 months, up from 35 final 12 months by our rely with supposedly 10 new manufacturers in 2023 and a pair having dropped out.
Held over the course of seven days, the honest attracted 43,000 guests (an enchancment over the 22,000 in 2022), together with 5,400 retailers and 1,400 journalists. These enterprise guests had been joined over the weekend by 12,000 ticket-holders (these had been offered at CHF70), which is spectacular in a metropolis that generally feels a bit of ambivalent in regards to the watchmaking festivities going down inside its area. Watches and Wonders says that 25% of the tickets offered went to individuals underneath 25, with ticket-holder ages averaging out at a really hip 35. Provided that watchmaking has been making an enormous deal of talking to new generations, that is essential and can go an extended method to confirming that Watches and Wonders Geneva is heading in the right direction. For some context, BaselWorld was criticised for being out-of-touch with the younger whereas the SIHH was just for insiders who tended to be a lot older.
In a doable preview of future occasions, the motion prolonged from the PalExpo, which is subsequent to the airport, to town correct. There have been actions organised at boutiques and different centrally situated areas that had been a part of the official agenda for Watches and Wonders Geneva. To be clear, these didn’t embrace the adjoining showcases by particular person manufacturers, nor different exhibitions that had been half of what’s now referred to as Geneva Watch Week.
For the broader world, the honest organisers mentioned that protection of Watches and Wonders Geneva reached greater than 600 million, which is roughly double what it achieved final 12 months. It must be famous right here that 2,600 journalists had been tuning into the motion on the official digital platform which undoubtedly helps in rising the attain of the unique occasion.
This text was initially revealed in print in World Of Watches‘ 2023 Summer season particular, difficulty #69.
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