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Baselworld: Weibo and WeChat’s digital boost offers hope to ailing luxury event

Baselworld made changes to its format to enhance its appeal to visitors. Photo: Xinhua

Despite the withdrawal of manufacturers Swatch – whose brands include Omega, Longines and Blancpain – Corum and Raymond Weil, citing higher costs, Baselworld 2019 finished with measured excitement. As the curtain came down on the luxury event, there was much to ponder, even as new additions were made to the format to entice visitors.

Fashion shows and augmented reality

A snazzy stage called Show Plaza, framed by large screens, played host to fashion shows every hour around the clock with new collections by jewellery brands Picchiotti, Gellner, Leo Pizzo, Hans D. Krieger, Tirisi, Stenzhorn, Nanis, Kimberlite Diamond, Al Coro and Niessing presented by slick models.

A new press lounge greeted journalists and allowed luxury bloggers and influencers to upload their impressions instantly on social media.

Some luxury jewellers even offered an augmented reality (AR) experience for visitors to try on their sparkling new offerings using their smartphones.

In tune with the digitisation tone adapted at the fair, the Baselworld app started offering AR-related experiences this year. An enhanced chatbot provided updated information about exhibitors every two hours, in addition to providing services such as a personal concierge.

Monochrome

Brands treated Baselworld with the seriousness it deserved with exciting new releases and product announcements. With two new complications and 50 new and unique limited-edition timepieces, Patek Philippe’s pavilion thronged with patrons admiring the new designs.

For brands such as Patek Philippe, Baselworld is the solitary annual rendezvous with retailers from around the world. Rolex was a major drawcard with seven new watches, including a different look for the much-admired Oyster Perpetual Yacht-Master 42 sailing watch.

While refined lines combined distinctive originality with Chopard, Kari Voutilainen, Frederique Constant, Breitling and TAG Heuer some brands personified playfulness and added an extra splash of colour to their creations.

Hublot’s eye-catching Big Bang yellow sapphire is designed to be a collector’s edition, with only 100 watches being produced. Danish watchmaker Bering brought its red series to the fair, inspired by Arctic sunsets. However, monochrome was the order of the day for Groupe Achor / Yunik, Zenith and Chanel.

 

Jewellery makers Gellner, Ruppenthal, Picchiotti, Scheffel, Sutra and Gucci shunned the shine and went monochromatic with their bracelets, earrings, pendants and rings.

There were enough diamonds to go around too. Bvlgari’s ultra-thin Diva’s Dream Finissima Minute Repeater came encrusted with diamonds on its bezel and on the subsidiary dials.

So was Marie-Olga’s timepiece which was set with diamonds on PVD yellow gold and mother-of-pearl dial. Gucci’s G-Timeless collection featured gorgeous golden bees on its exotic hard stone dial.

 

Sustainability

Sustainability and the environment were key themes among many watchmakers. Czapek & CIE’s new Faubourg Cracovie Faubourg Cracovie salmon collection watches were named after the famous salmon species from the Pacific Ocean. With five endangered species – elephant, tiger, panda, rhino and a gorilla – in its GyroGraff collection debuted at the event, Graff showed its care for the environment.

For its limited-edition Clean Ocean series (only 2,000 watches), Oris collected ocean plastic, shredded it and compressed it into chromatic medallion for the back case of the watch. The medallion is 100 per cent recyclable.

Smaller fair

Despite the dwindling market, luxury watchmakers and jewellery manufacturers have not lost hope in Baselworld. There was a 20 per cent drop in visitors and 22 per cent drop in brands.

Following a decline in exhibitors, from 2,000 a few years ago to 520 this year, visitors complained that it took only half a day to cover the exhibition halls this year. The decline was reflected in a 12 per cent fall in media representatives.

 

The only respite may have been a 12 per cent increase in media outreach. “What we lost in physical presence, we managed in digital presence,” said Michel Loris-Melikoff, managing director of Baselworld, adding that the show received a significant digital media boost from Weibo and WeChat in Chinese social media.

Despite the Chinese fondness for luxury Swiss watches, they have been more cautious of late in splurging on their favourites and this has led to reduced demand for the timepieces. Loris-Melikoff said he was unsure whether Patek Philippe and Rolex would return next year.

Baselworld 2019 was much smaller, but with the 2020 event scheduled closer to SIHH and with innovations such as retailer summits and virtual reality experience zones planned, next year promises much hope.

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Baselworld

Interest from Chinese social media giants cited for 12 per cent increase in media outreach at annual event for luxury watchmakers and jewellery manufacturers