Editor’s Note
This article chronicles the end of an era for the luxury industry with the closure of the iconic Baselworld fair, and examines the planned successor aiming to fill the void.
Once touted as a ‘must-do’ pilgrimage for anyone in the luxury industry, Baselworld was renowned as the world’s premier watch and jewellery show. However, following a protracted decline and the withdrawal of high-profile exhibitors, the 103-year-old show was officially put to rest in July 2020.
Organiser MCH Group announced a replacement show, HourUniverse, which was initially planned to launch in 2021 before being postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Then, miraculously, on 23 June 2021, managing director Michel Loris-Melikoff announced: “Baselworld is back.”
Below is a timeline of developments in the management of the show by organiser MCH Group.
A number of external market factors, in addition to complacent decision-making (some suggest, arrogant), ‘too little, too late’ initiatives, and a disregard for the changing nature of communication, all combined to weaken Baselworld over the past five years.
Notably, criticism has long centred on the inability of MCH Group to adapt to the needs of exhibitors – nor their budgets.
While MCH Group remained anchored to the city of Basel – which is also a 33 per cent shareholder in the Swiss stock exchange-listed company – and its ever-increasing costs, its smaller rival the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie pursued a global strategy.
Alongside the Geneva-based Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH), it held Watches & Wonders Hong Kong from 2013–2015 and launched Watches & Wonders Miami in 2018. It has held two Watches & Wonders Shanghai shows in September 2020 and April 2021.
Extensive renovations to the Baselworld venue were completed in 2013. The large losses in 2017 coincided with an exodus of exhibitors from the show; their numbers dropped from 1,300 to less than 700. Further losses in 2018 were attributed to significant depreciation in the value of the venue building.
It also developed a comprehensive watch retail app and had an ongoing presence at regional events including Dubai Watch Week.
In contrast, former Baselworld managing director Sylvie Ritter dismissed the idea of expanding the Baselworld brand worldwide in 2015 despite strong support from long-term exhibitors such as former TAG Heuer CEO Jean-Claude Biver.
In the ensuing years, several exhibitors – including Ulysse Nardin, Movado Group, and Breitling – left Baselworld for SIHH, or held independent product launch events in their local markets.
New management came too late to save the show; Baselworld managing director Michel Loris-Melikoff began his tenure on 1 July 2018, while Bernd Stadlwieser assumed the role of MCH Group CEO on 12 June 2019.
Yet despite encouraging announcements and initiatives, the cancellation of the 2020 show due to the coronavirus pandemic appeared to be final nail in the coffin.
Below is a cited timeline charting the course of Baselworld since 2007, when it reached a milestone 100,000 visitors. As is so often the case, the good times could not last.
But, with the show’s resurrection, can those good times come around again?
1917
The Swiss Design Fair Basel is established. The fair, organised by Mustermesse Basel (MUBA), showcases products across various industries. Of its 831 exhibitors, 29 belong to the watches and jewellery category; among them are watch brands Tissot, Longines, and Ulysse Nardin.
1931
Watch exhibitors set up separate pavilion at Design Fair. To cater to growing demand, watch manufacturers establish their own section at the Swiss Design Fair Basel, which they name the Swiss Watch Fair.