Editor’s Note
As plans advance for a new global watchmaking hub in Geneva, we look back at the last major event that united the industry—the Montres et Bijoux exhibition—through our archival images.
The groundwork for a new global watchmaking rendezvous in Geneva has been laid. Behind-the-scenes discussions are in full swing to structure it. As nature abhors a vacuum, initiatives are sure to flourish to accommodate those who will not be part of the official event. In the meantime, let’s take a look back in pictures, via our archives, at what was the last event to bring “all” of watchmaking together in Geneva: the Montres et Bijoux exhibition!
It is during times of major crisis that some of the watch industry’s boldest initiatives have blossomed. This is no surprise: industrial solidarity is never stronger than when facing a common existential enemy. The Basel Fair (the “Muba”), for example, was born in 1917, during the First World War, to support the threatened Swiss industrial fabric.
The world’s leading watchmakers have now decided to present a united front in Geneva, to the detriment of the Basel exhibition. This is reminiscent of the birth of another watchmaking event during a major crisis, precisely in Geneva: in 1942, in the midst of the Second World War, the “Montres et Bijoux” exhibition began. Its first edition coincided with the bimillennium of the ancient “Genava” crossed by Julius Caesar in 58 BC.
Focused on jeweled watches, the event was created to support an activity once again threatened by world events, in order to “maintain and strengthen the prestige attached everywhere to watch products originating from our country,” as recalled by the page of the Geneva Museums of Art and History dedicated to this event. Initially open only to Geneva watchmakers, the event expanded from the 1950s onwards to include brands from other cantons, and then other countries.
The exhibition enjoyed growing success and internationalization: it was held alternately in Geneva (at the Rath Museum or the Museum of Art and History) and other locations in Switzerland (in Lausanne during the 1964 national exhibition, as well as in Zurich), and then worldwide (Paris, Berlin, New York, Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Singapore).
The event became an international ambassador for the “best of Swiss watchmaking”: Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Rolex, Vacheron Constantin, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Longines, Omega, Eterna, Corum, Universal, and Girard-Perregaux were its pillars, year after year.
The hub currently being formed in Geneva is reminiscent precisely of the Montres et Bijoux exhibition, which was not so much a trade fair as a prestigious showcase “placed under the patronage of the arts.” It presented the art of watchmaking, the highest mastery of a centuries-old tradition.
The Zenith El Primero, newly created at the time, was displayed at the Geneva exhibition. The LVMH group, which now owns the brand, has announced its intention to join the new event next year.
