This week has proven to be somewhat of a tumultuous one for Baselworld, one of the world’s foremost watch and jewellery trade shows with over 100 years of history. The Basel Mustermesse was first founded in 1917, with the first recognised “Swiss Watch Fair” taking place in 1931. From 1973, exhibitors were invited to join the fair from around Europe. The show became independent from the Basel Mustermesse in 1984, when it changed its name to BASEL, and within two years it had opened its doors to brands from all over the world, in so doing becoming the most important international show for watches and jewellery.
This growth continued steadily, and in 2003 the show renamed to Baselworld.
What happened to Baselworld?
However, in the last couple of years, things have soured drastically; the Swatch Group pulled out their 17 exhibiting brands ahead of the 2019 fair, including industry stalwarts such as Omega, Breguet, Blancpain, Longines, Hamilton and Tissot. Breitling pulled out of the 2020 fair soon after the 2019 fair. And, following the Covid-19 pandemic at the beginning of 2020, with the announcement that the fair would be postponed until early 2021, two more hammerblows befell the fair only a few days apart from one another.
Firstly, on Tuesday 14th April 2020 an announcement which sent shockwaves through the world of horology – Rolex, Patek Philippe, Chopard, Chanel and Tudor all announced together that they would be leaving the Baselworld fair. And then, on Friday 17th April, a further announcement from the LVMH Group (TAG Heuer, Hublot, Zenith and Bvlgari) that they, too, would be leaving the Baselworld fair to join a new watch fair organised by Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie (FHH), alongside Watches & Wonders in Geneva (formerly SIHH).
There appears to be a common theme in and amongst the furore, with brands and groups citing frustrations with the management of Baselworld, MCH Group. In 2018, Nick Hayek said at the time that he felt the show’s management was resistant to much needed change, speaking to CNBC, Hayek said “When you look at these old traditional watch fairs, it doesn’t make any sense anymore… We are present in the whole world with our brands, close to the consumer and the retailer. It especially doesn’t make sense when you have a management of such a trade fair who thinks the brands exhibiting there are just people [who] pay and have nothing to say.”
With Breitling, the issue was more about timing of the fair – CEO Georges Kern was keen at the time to stress the improvements that the fair was making towards reinvigorating itself for the digital era.
However, with the joint announcement from Patek Philippe, Rolex, Chopard, Chanel and Tudor, the explanations again seemed to pertain to the fair management who had reportedly postponed the fair until January 2021 owing to the Covid-19 pandemic without asking exhibitors, with controversial financial reimbursement offers made which were not well received: Option A saw 85% of the exhibitors’ fees retained to cover costs for 2021, with 15% retained by the organisers to cover their costs; and Option B saw 40% of the exhibitors’ fees retained to cover costs for 2021, 30% retained by the organisers to cover their costs, and 30% reimbursed to exhibitors.
The huge costs associated with exhibiting at Baselworld have often been mentioned, too. This, combined with the surge in costs of things like hotels and restaurants in the city of Basel around each fair, led many to feel as though they were not getting value for their money, especially in today’s world.
An artistic watch movement installation at Baselworld
Personally, I cannot claim for one moment to be an expert in answering what happened to Baselworld, but I did attend the fair in 2018 and can share my experience. Firstly, and perhaps unsurprisingly, when first looking at the trip I did find hotel rooms impossible to come by for a reasonable price, and so as a result we made our visit into a day-trip, flying from London to Basel and back in the same day. This was a very long day, but I enjoyed it, nonetheless. I was blown away by the fair itself, the opportunity to see so many incredible timepieces in one place was fantastic, and I learned a lot from attending.
It occurred to me at the time that there appeared to be a huge number of end users and collectors browsing the fair, and whilst it was great to be able to see the pieces it was somewhat of a downer that unless you’re in the industry with a meeting scheduled, that was as close as you could get. I do understand however that trying to cater for the masses on this scale would be a logistical and security nightmare!
With respect to the city of Basel raising their prices, having not stayed I cannot really comment, but I will certainly never forget being handed a bill of almost £80 for two microwaved salmon and pasta dishes with two soft drinks. I genuinely nearly fell out of my seat!
It was a great experience for me personally and should this week’s announcements really prove to be the final nails in the coffin for this hallowed fair it would of course be a real shame. However, it is exciting to look towards the future and see what other formats might come to the fold.
I recently read a book of interviews with Jean-Claude Biver, describing his philosophies and how to be a success you need to be first, different and unique. He also made the observation in a recent discussion with Wei Koh of Revolution (check it out here) that a big problem in the 21st Century is that we are still applying 20th Century rules to it. Mix these things together and it will certainly be interesting to see what happens in 2021 and onwards.
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