Independence, informality...and a touch of tradition: Watchmaking's easygoing get-together

A major summer rendezvous for watchmakers got underway in timely Swiss fashion in a nautically themed pavilion. Boasting a brand new format and varied programme, Geneva Watch Days is a recent addition to the industry calendar determined to stay fresh and forward-looking.

Founded as a one-off antidote to the economic blues of the Covid-19 pandemic, the fair is now in its sixth edition and hosting a record 66 brands.

"It's a very convivial, collective celebration of an art." says Geneva Watch Days President and Bulgari CEO Jean-Christophe Babin. "It's a celebration...because it's not transactional, it's cultural, educational. It's meant to attract people...to become watchmakers."

Organisers pride themselves on an open, eclectic atmosphere which sets the fair apart from its contemporaries. It sees established brands rub shoulders with some of today's most innovative independents and brings professionals together with collectors and the wider public.

"Geneva Watch Days is the sort of watch fair I was hoping for for many years," says Maximilian Büsser, CEO of leading independent MB&F. "It's humans who love watches talking to humans who love watches."

Büsser's enthusiasm reflects the changing fortunes of a sector whose wares are now among the most sought-after on the market.

"What you have to understand is that us independents, we have never had any means to advertise."

"For twenty years it was horribly difficult for us because nobody was paying attention. But the work which artisanal independents have been doing for decades now is suddenly being recognised."

Geneva Watch Days' commitment to diversity is borne out in an open access exhibition amid the revamped venue's striped deck chairs and canopy of sails.

The 150 timepieces on display range from the unfamiliar to the classic. Behrens and Konstantin Chaykin's face-shaped Ace of Hearts features eyeballs filled with hours and minutes. It lines up alongside TAG Heuer's square-faced 1969 Monaco, made famous by actor Steve McQueen in the film Le Mans.

Elsewhere on the bill is the world's first ever timing adjustment competition. Open to professionals and amateurs alike, the latter are offered free coaching from students at the Geneva Watchmaking School.

Daily debates and symposia see industry leaders and outsiders exchange ideas on shared challenges, from sustainability and customer experience to Gen Z engagement and attracting young people into the sector.

The event comes as the luxury business, like many, has one eye on an unpredictable geopolitical situation.

"We are in a context which is unprecedented, which is made of conflicts...it's made of economic instability. The other point is also the political uncertainty...for the clients this uncertainty is creating some caution," says Jean-Christophe Babin.

But Geneva Watch Days' founder is bullish about the prospects for a trade that's been around longer than most.

"Luxury...is something which is very visceral because you don't go across a journey of 15,000 years, growing century after century, millennium after millennium, if there's not something which is virtually genetic. That's why I remain very optimistic."(AFP)