{"id":96618,"date":"2022-12-23T09:47:43","date_gmt":"2022-12-23T09:47:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/?p=96618"},"modified":"2022-12-23T09:48:19","modified_gmt":"2022-12-23T09:48:19","slug":"how-important-is-the-grand-prix-dhorlogerie-de-geneve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/how-important-is-the-grand-prix-dhorlogerie-de-geneve\/","title":{"rendered":"How important is the Grand Prix d\u2019Horlogerie de Gen\u00e8ve?"},"content":{"rendered":"
After his stint on the jury of this year\u2019s Grand Prix d\u2019Horlogerie de Gen\u00e8ve, Robin Swithinbank asks whether there is still a place in today\u2019s watch industry for insider back-slapping.<\/strong><\/p>\n Not a single brown envelope. No winks, no nudges, no promises of all-expenses-paid trips to desert islands. Nothing.<\/p>\n Despite my best efforts to publicise my appointment to the jury of this year\u2019s Grand Prix d\u2019Horlogerie de Gen\u00e8ve (GPHG), not one of the nominated brands attempted to buy my vote. I mean, hello? Is this thing on?<\/p>\n The GPHG attracts all sorts of criticism. Apex predators generally do. That it\u2019s somehow on the make is usually right up there, this being the easiest accusation you can level at anything or anyone if you\u2019re looking to undermine their authority in double-quick time.<\/p>\n Yes, money does change hands. Brands pay thousands of francs to enter and for the privilege of being shortlisted, and the CHF 5,000 it costs to become a \u2018friend\u2019 of the GPHG looks a bit washy.<\/p>\n But is that not the price of funding a non-profit and its catalog of international activities created to serve an industry\u2019s purposes (as well as its own)?<\/p>\n I\u2019m not really sure, but if there is dirty money sloshing around, not a penny of it came my way.<\/p>\n Jury membership was offered with a fee of precisely zero, although for full disclosure the GPHG did pay for me to get to Geneva and back and put me up while I was there.<\/p>\n All I got beyond that were a few emails and LinkedIn messages from shortlisted brands offering to explain their contraptions in a bit more detail, should I need it, which I might have done, but chose to ignore.<\/p>\n