Italy’s long-standing love affair with the watch fairs

The Italians may well have been the first to discover en masse the magic of the spring watch fairs, thanks either to their love of beautiful watches or to the determination of specialist magazines to convert the country.

Paolo Gobbi

It has to be said: few things inspire such enthusiasm, such animosity, such hope, anguish or interest as Switzerland’s spring watch fairs. All those with a part to play - producers, designers, journalists, retailers and plain enthusiasts - pin their expectations and opinions on these two short weeks of presentations.

Perhaps we Italians were the first to discover en masse the magic of these fairs because of our nation’s love of beautiful watches, or after twenty years of relentless efforts by specialist publications to convert and indoctrinate us, or possibly as a result of the country’s 25,000 points of sale in the 1990s (and almost as many today)? Whatever the reason, the outcome is the same: in Italy at least, from January the air bristles with excitement about the fairs. Sales plummet in anticipation of new products, hints abound as to what these new models will be, eagerly awaited previews appear in the press while the Internet feeds rumours as to which models will be withdrawn (excellent for collectors) and which will be making their debut in store windows. All of which helps fuel the myth, the passion, the game, in a word keep up the momentum of a world which is, after all, the very basis of modern watchmaking.

But what exactly do we expect from the fairs and what are we looking for? The answer is by no means simple, and will be very different depending on whose shoes you’re in, retailer or dedicated collector.

True happiness

The retailer, the more reluctant of the two, makes the journey to Switzerland not so much in search of new brands but to hunt down, often in vain, the right people. With no hope of any exciting discoveries, devoid of any desire or even possibility of uncovering something truly original, maybe a niche manufacturer or new talent to offer their customers, more and more retailers fall in with the brands whose advertising campaigns make the most noise. Professionalism is left by the wayside, overcome by marketing strategies which often overlook them when it comes to the production chain. Not to mention the inevitable dilemma of when and how to go to Basel, and more importantly how to fit in Geneva at the same time. A dichotomy which, far from resolving itself, will become even more acute in 2009 when the Geneva fair moves forward to January while Basel keeps to its spring schedule. Should retailers visit both fairs, meaning two trips to Switzerland with all that this entails, or should they content themselves with just one?

The fairs elicit a very different response from those who are passionate about watches. Those who buy them, wear them, revel in them, take pride in them, show them off to colleagues and friends, or keep them under lock and key in the darkness of a safe. For them, the fairs aren’t distant dates in the calendar but very often the chance to acquire new knowledge, "straight from the horse’s mouth." In this sense, as the only fair open to the public at an admission price of CHF 45, Basel is without doubt a wonderland for the end customer. To be able to observe the latest models up-close, perhaps even feel them on their wrist, is a moment of true happiness and one that brings unique sensations and memories. Geneva, in contrast, is a dream beyond reach, the out-of-bounds room they can only squint at through the keyhole and whose secrets they must wait to see revealed in magazines then spend weeks dissecting them over the counter of their favourite watch store.

Year after year, the same ritual

A third category of visitor pours into these fairs and they are the journalists. They arrive in their thousands from all over the world, dozens from Italy alone. The greatest risk for them, as they swarm from one appointment to the next, is the "toy-shop effect", when tight schedules only leave time to admire the watches in the displays, much as a kid might press his nose against the toy-shop window. And because they never actually get to hold them, they risk describing only their appearance, skimming the surface without understanding the real differences and quality of each one.

Yet the ritual is always the same: we pour over the previews, we promise to devote our time to just a few carefully chosen brands, we swear we will be early to bed, early to rise, we even pray that the Basel car park won’t be in Germany and that the ID photo on our Geneva pass won’t make us look like a survivor of some nuclear disaster…

And each year we forget our resolutions. We marvel at the same feats of technicity, we try to understand what has changed and what will change, we waste precious time greeting friends and, most importantly, we discover something new and important to fasten around our wrist; something which, despite everyone and everything, fills us with joy. ■

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