Editor’s Note
The 2025 edition of Watches & Wonders Geneva has set a new benchmark, welcoming a record 60 exhibiting brands and over 55,000 visitors. This report highlights the fair’s continued growth and its pivotal role in shaping the global watch industry.
The phrase ‘record-breaking’ is used for times like this. The world’s largest watch fair, ‘Watches & Wonders Geneva 2025’, was held from April 1st to 7th. It was a festival that satisfied both the organizers and the visitors. With seven new brands joining, including Bulgari, a total of 60 brands plunged into the ‘watch war’.
According to the organizers, the fair attracted a total of 55,000 visitors, including 1,600 media personnel, a 5% increase from the previous year. During the three days open to the public, 23,000 tickets were sold, a 21% increase year-on-year. The sheer interest in the watch festival can be gauged from the 43,000 hotel bookings in the Geneva region alone. Social media response was also fervent. As influencers, YouTubers, participating brands, and the press shared content in real-time, the reach of the hashtag #watchesandwonders2025 reached approximately 700 million people before the fair ended, a 17% increase from the previous year.
According to the annual report for 2024 released by the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FH) on January 30th, last year was a generally difficult one, marked by significant disparities in performance across markets and between brands.
Total export value decreased by 2.8% year-on-year to 26 billion Swiss francs (approximately 43.57 trillion KRW), halting a three-year growth trend and showing signs of an economic slowdown. Total export volume fell by 9.4% to about 15.3 million pieces. Intensified competition, particularly in the entry and mid-price segments, led the decline. Sales of watches priced below 3,000 Swiss francs (about 5.02 million KRW) decreased by 15.6%. Watches priced above that saw a slight 1% increase, but it was insufficient to offset the overall decline. There were also changes in exports by material. Steel watches decreased by 9.8%, while precious metal watches increased by 2.2%. However, on a volume basis, they decreased by 5.1%, leading to analysis that this is an illusion caused by price increases.
Regionally, the Americas emerged as the most dynamic market with 5.4% growth. The United States, in particular, grew by 5%, continuing its upward trend for the fourth consecutive year. In contrast, Asia showed a clear downturn at -7.6%. The impact of China (-25.8%) and Hong Kong (-18.7%) was significant. Japan grew by 7.8%, buoyed by tourist demand, while South Korea rebounded by 8.7%, partly due to the significant decline it experienced in 2023. The European market showed a stable flow, largely unchanged from the previous year.
The Federation predicted that the recovery of the Swiss watch market would largely depend on China’s economic outlook. While a major rebound is not expected, the decline is forecast to ease somewhat. Additionally, the gap between brands is expected to continue widening.
The most significant characteristic of the 2025 new releases is the ‘diversification of core models’. This is a strategy to further expand the influence of iconic products that are bestsellers and represent the brand. It is also the most certain method to overcome the poor performance of 2024. As a strategy that allows for relatively quick and simple new product launches, it involves changing materials or dial colors and breaking down gender boundaries through size diversification. Almost all brands have joined this trend, making it difficult to mention a specific one. Therefore, Piaget’s activity stood out with its new women’s jewelry watch ‘Sixty’.
Watches from brands that engaged in head-on competition with technical prowess were also notable. Watches equipped with various functions beyond time information are called ‘complications’. Among these, repeater (or chime) watches that tell the time with sound are high complications presented by only a handful of brands. This year, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Chopard, and A. Lange & Söhne unveiled their own repeater watches, while Vacheron Constantin, celebrating its 270th anniversary, presented a Grand Complication containing 41 functions, including a repeater. It is the most complex watch in wristwatch history.
Blue color is also a distinct trend. Zenith, celebrating its 160th anniversary, Chanel, marking the 25th anniversary of the J12, and Hublot, commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Big Bang, all unveiled watches dyed blue from case to bracelet. Montblanc’s Iced Sea and Chopard’s Alpine Eagle models applied ice-blue colors reminiscent of glaciers to their dials.
Finally, another major noticeable trend is size reduction. IWC released a 35mm Ingenieur, and A. Lange & Söhne unveiled a 34mm 1815 model. Montblanc reduced the size of its existing 41mm Iced Sea to 38mm, and Patek Philippe released a version of last year’s launched Cubitus reduced by 5mm. This is good news for those with slender wrists.