With the diminishing of Baselworld, Watches & Wonders is now the biggest and one of the most important trade shows in the watch industry. It is a fantastic event that I look forward to every year, but I have the same feelings about Geneva Watch Days. This fair came to life in 2020, when the pandemic resulted in the cancellation of both Baselworld and Watches & Wonders, and has remained on the calendar ever since. By the time I write this, I am putting the finishing touches on my schedule, consisting of three jam-packed days.
Where Watches & Wonders is neatly organized, Geneva Watch Days is a bit looser. There is a central hub by the lake, where the public is also welcome, but the brands themselves reside mainly in the nearby hotels and in the downtown boutiques. This requires precise planning, as you don’t want to run around Geneva going back and forth, but once you got that covered, you are good to go. The participating brands are a pleasant mix of big players and niche brands, with an equal diversity in the price tags. Bulgari, Breitling, and Oris are present, but you also get the opportunity to see the latest watches from brands like Czapek, Claude Meylan, and Angelus.
While I can act that we watch journalists are all so professional when we are going to events like this, that is not exactly right. We prepare thoroughly with a meticulous schedule, a double check for photo equipment, extra battery packs, and plenty of note-taking supplies. When we go into that first appointment, though, our inner watch collector and connoisseur comes out, and we are nothing but kids in the candy store.
This feeling never gets old, and also never seems to fade as I have lost count of how many watch fairs I have been to over the years. It is also a feeling that I wish for collectors and connoisseurs who are not professionally involved in the watch industry to experience during a fair. I am therefore delighted that Watches & Wonders works very hard to include the general public, but Geneva Watch Days also have quite a few things to offer. You might want to keep that in mind when you plan for next year’s summer vacation.
