World's biggest watch fair floored by Coronavirus, but it will be back in 2021 in a perfect date slot at the end of January.
EXHIBITIONS
Well before Coronavirus struck, the sad reality is that most changes to Baselworld and Watches & Wonders Geneva in the past two years have made a difficult situation worse.
Watches & Wonders Geneva took the only sensible decision in shuttering this year's show. Baselworld has to follow.
With Watches & Wonders cancelling today, and Baselworld hanging by a thread because of the Coronavirus outbreak, it would be easy to conclude that the industry would rather they simply never happened again. Not so, according to exclusive research by WatchPro, which surveyed 127 owners and buyers from the UK’s largest independent and multiple retail businesses, and found an overwhelming desire for the fairs to get their act together and return to their former strength.
Frédéric Arnault and Jean-Claude Biver from LVMH and François-Henry Bennahmias, CEO of Audemars Piguet, will be the star speakers at a series of presentations at this year's Baselworld.
None of the Japanese watchmaking giants will be present this year as Coronovirus health scare continues to decimate the global events industry.
“Baselworld 2020 is on track; we are planning the coming show as intended,” says Baselworld managing director Michel Loris-Melikoff, Managing Director of Baselworld.
WatchPro surveyed the cream of British retailers for their views on this year's trade fairs. The results were not pretty.