Watches and Wonders: Geneva watch fair opens to uncertain times

The watch industry is on a high, but the upswing is losing momentum KEYSTONE/WWGF/KEYSTONE/Valentin Flauraud

The world's largest watch trade show, Watches and Wonders, began in Geneva on Tuesday.

For one week, 54 brands will be presenting new products and bestsellers from the world of timepieces. The industry is on a high, but the upswing is losing momentum.  

There will be large crowds at the grandiose stands of brands such as Rolex, Cartier, IWC and Patek Philippe, with organisers expecting around 45,000 visitors, compared with last year’s 43,000.  

The fair in the Palexpo International Exhibition and Convention Centre at Geneva Airport is primarily aimed at invited watch retailers and journalists. However, a limited number of tickets will once again be sold to the public for the final three days.  

“On these public days, we have recently noticed a growing interest from young people,” said exhibition director Matthieu Humair in a statement. “That is encouraging.” 

Forecast clouding over 

Younger buyers were one of the reasons why the luxury goods industry enjoyed a strong revival in the wake of the Covid pandemic. Last year, Swiss watch exports climbed by 8% to a record CHF26.7 billion ($29.51 billion). 

Although export figures continued to creep upwards at the beginning of 2024, the market has recently become tougher for watch manufacturers, with geopolitical uncertainties, the rise in interest rates in recent years and economic concerns dampening consumer confidence around the world. In addition, the strong franc and higher prices of raw materials are eating into the profitability of companies manufacturing in Switzerland.  

Against this backdrop, it is becoming increasingly difficult for watch manufacturers to maintain or even increase their high sales. Although watch exports rose slightly in January, they fell back again in February for the first time in a long time, with the dwindling demand of Chinese consumers particularly noticeable.  

Return to normality  

For watch expert Olivier Müller, however, the somewhat gloomier outlook for the watch industry comes as no surprise. “2022 and 2023 were exceptionally good years for all brands. Now we are simply seeing a return to normality,” he said in an interview with news agency AWP.  

Watch expert Jean-Philippe Bertschy from investment firm Vontobel shared this opinion, saying that after Covid restrictions were lifted, people engaged in “revenge spending” – in other words, consumers spent more money than usual. “We are currently experiencing a normalisation of growth with sales above the 2019 level,” he told AWP.  

However, both experts also attributed slower growth in the watch industry to the dark clouds gathering on the global market, particularly the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East as well as inflation.  

Swatch Group remains absent  

This year is the 24^th Geneva watch exhibition, which Richemont launched with its brands Cartier, Piaget and IWC. After the last Baselworld Watch and Jewellery Show in 2019, industry leader Rolex and major players such as Patek Philippe and LVMH brands Hublot, Zenith and Tag Heuer moved to Geneva.

Noticeable absentees in Geneva are Swatch Group brands, including Omega, Tissot and Longines. Swatch has been focusing on its own launches and launching products digitally for several years, and its withdrawal from Baselworld was the beginning of the end for the event.  

“Even if brands are increasingly focusing on digital and social media, Watches and Wonders remains an important event for them to strengthen relationships with stakeholders and present themselves as a unified sector,” Bertschy said, while Müller added that it allowed visitors to see and touch products up close. 

Adapted from German by DeepL/kp 

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