by Ian Skellern
Outside the Saatchi Gallery on Sloan Square in London: SalonQP takes place on the other side of the wall
SalonQP, London’s premier watch exhibition ran from the 6th through the 8th of November at the prestigious Saatchi Art Gallery in central London. This year’s edition was bigger and better than ever in terms of both size and visitor numbers.
Guests heading toward SalonQP 2014 at the Saatchi Gallery in London
Team Urwerk just before the doors opened to SalonQP 2014
SalonQP is my favorite watch exhibition because . . .
The Location
* London is a one of the world’s greatest cities.
* Sloan Square is very central and boasts easy transport.
* The Saatchi Art Gallery is a superlative setting for high-end timepieces.
SalonQP 2014
Arnold & Son stand at SalonQP 2014
The People
* SalonQP is large enough to attract serious brands and quite a few CEOs as well as independent watchmakers, but small enough that you can talk to everyone without needing a minute-to-minute appointment schedule.
* The Saatchi Gallery is set just off the busy main street, though despite this you don’t get passersby just dropping in. Those who visit are there for the watches, and are generally very well-informed and knowledgeable.
SalonQP 2014
The MB&F stand at SalonQP 2014
The Seminars
* SalonQP has a full program of interesting seminars on all manner of subjects and these are worth the visit on their own.
* I had the honor this year to give a seminar entitled “Why Watches Cost so Much” (Curious? You should have been there!) and to moderate a discussion panel on how to launch a watch brand. The other participants were Benoît Mintiens, founder of Ressence; Bradley Price, founder Autodromo; and Alexandre Meerson, founder of the recently launched Alexandre Meerson.
Emmanuel Bouchet (creator of the Opus 12 for Harry Winston) launched his new watch and eponymous brand at SalonQP 2014
MB&F’s HM6 on its first public display at SalonQP 2014 since launching in early November
For more on the MB&F HM6 (above), please check out Heartbeat: Horological Machine No. 6 By MB&F.
The Urwerk EMC Black flanked by the two prizes it recently won at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève
For more on the double award winning Urwerk EMC, please see Back In Black: First Live Photos Of The ‘Smart’ Urwerk EMC Black and The Difference Between Urwerk’s EMC And A Toyota Prius (Not As Obvious As You May Think).
The Watches
* SalonQP has a wide range of brands, from the largest to the smallest and everything in between. The incredible variety of brands and watches is fantastic.
* And quite a few brands either launched new watches at SalonQP or were showing recently launched watches to the public for the first time.
* A highlight for me was seeing all of the prize winners from the recent Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG).
Emmanuel Bouchet (left) and his team at SalonQP 2014
SalonQP 2014
SalonQP 2014
There is always something interesting to see outside of the exhibition as well: I paid a visit to the nearby Richard Mille Boutique in Mayfair and bespoke tailor Timothy Everest’s unassuming atelier in East London, where Urwerk discreetly presented the last of the UR-110 variations. More on that very soon, so please stay tuned.
The last model in Urwerk’s UR-110 collection has a sartorial bent; it will be presented in January, but here is a quick peek
A few of the AHCI exhibitors (and fans) at SalonQP 2014
I was particularly pleased to see quite a contingent of independent watchmakers exhibiting with the AHCI this year.
Here are a list of the 86 brands that exhibited at the 2014 edition of SalonQP: Akriva, Alexandre Meerson, Andersen Genève, Andreas Strehler, Antoine Preziuso, Armin Strom, Arnold & Son, Autodromo, Backes & Strauss, Ludovic Ballouard, Bell & Ross, Bexei, Bonhams (auctions), Bonhoff, Bremont, Breva, Buben & Zorweg (winders), Burberry, Cartier, Chopard, Christopher Ward, De Beers, Be Bethune, Dubois et Fils, Emmanuel Bouchet, Fellows (auctions), Fortis, Frédéric Jouvenot, Paul Gerber, Graham, Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève, H. Moser & Cie, Halda, Harry Winston, Hermès, Hoptroff, HYT, Jaeger-LeCoultre, JeanRichard, Junghans, Kari Voutilainen, Konstantin Chaykin, Lang & Heyne, Laurent Ferrier, LIC (straps), Manufacture Royale, Marc Jenni, Matthias Naeschke, MB&F, Miki Eleta, Montblanc, Moritz Grossman, Mühle Glashütte, Nomos, Orolog, Page & Cooper, Pangbourne London, Pequignet, Piaget, Pinion, Pita Barcelona, Raidillon, Rapport London (winders), Raymond Weil, Ressence, Sarpaneva, Savoy (safes), Schofield, SevenFriday, Sicis, Sinclair Harding, Sinn, Squale, Struthers, Tag Heuer, Thomas Mercer, Tudor, Urwerk, Valour, Vianney Halter, Victorinox, Visconti, Watches of Knightsbridge (retailer), Watchfinder (retailer), Wolf (winders) and Zenith.
If you have heard of all those brands, I say congratulations to you because before SalonQP there were quite a few that were new to me.
Captivating Hermès display case at SalonQP 2014
Watchmaking demonstration at the Zenith stand at SalonQP 2014
This was the first SalonQP fully organized under The Telegraph‘s ownership and it went very well. I’m already looking forward to next year and hope to see you there.
For more information, please visit http://www.salonqp.com.
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Awasome .. outstanding event