Baselworld is fighting for its life, but new management under Michel Loris-Melikoff unveiled ambitious plans for the future that Elizabeth Doerr shares with us here.
Over these last five years – and indeed since Elizabeth Doerr has been writing about watches – the large fairs and exhibitions have played central roles in seeing the year’s new pieces. At the moment, the position of the fairs seems to be in some jeopardy, but for now it’s business as usual. Here are a few highlights from the last five years of the world’s largest watch fair, Baselworld.
As I arrive home exhausted from the extravaganza that was Baselworld 2018, but still running on enough residual adrenaline to get words out, I jot down a few of my thoughts from the fair while they are still fresh.
Business news: Baselworld 2018 is set to have only 600 to 700 exhibitors, which represents a decrease of around half of the last known exhibitor number.
If you’ve attended Baselworld over the last few years, you’ve likely heard tell of an “Eric Singer sighting” – catching a quick glimpse of the watch-crazy rock drummer who plays with Kiss as he hurries from booth to booth checking out the new watch offerings. I had a chance to catch up with the horophile musician after Baselworld 2017 to get his personal list of the top ten watches he saw at the fair.
A century of history of the world’s biggest and most comprehensive watch fair is impossible to sum up in just a few lines. However, that is exactly what I am attempting to do here as the centenary edition of Baselworld approaches in 2017.
Please join our Quill & Pad round table discussion on Baselworld 2016. This time we take on some of the same topics that GaryG and his collector group use to the discuss their impressions of a watch fair: best of show, worst of show, watch you would buy with your own money, watch you would buy if money were no object, investment watch, patronage watch, fun watch, and a fantasy money no object watch.
I have been involved in the watch world for 26 years; my first visit to Baselworld was in 1991. The massive fair halls have undergone two major reconstructive changes during this long period, in addition to several smaller updates. The last major reconstruction was finished in 2013. In no way, though, was I prepared for how the complex looks and feels when Art Basel is on compared to how I know it during the hustle and bustle of Baselworld.
Please join our Quill & Pad round table discussion on Baselworld 2015 as we discuss mood, trends, and timepieces we liked and didn’t like so much. The participants of this discussion are: Ian Skellern, Elizabeth Doerr, Boris Pjanic, Nancy Olson, Louis Nardin (editor-in-chief The Watches TV), and Benjamin Clymer (executive editor Hodinkee).
By now you may have noticed that our post-fair round table discussions will become somewhat of a tradition. So without further ado, we present you the opportunity to hear a few well-known journalists in the world of horology share their impressions of Baselworld 2014.