he fifth edition of Geneva Watch Days has ended on a high note, having attracted 52 participating brands and nearly 1,500 watchmaking professionals, including 650 media and 250 retailers from all over the world, to the shores of Lake Geneva. Open to the public, the Pavilion received 13,800 visitors – more than 70% up on last year’s figure. Having begun as a simple idea to offset the cancellation of the watch fairs during Covid, the event is in the process of becoming a key watchmaking rendezvous right in Geneva’s city centre.

The man behind the idea is Jean-Christophe Babin, CEO of Bvlgari and current president of Geneva Watch Days. In 2020, he brought together five founding brands – Bvlgari, Breitling, Ulysse Nardin, MB&F and De Bethune – with one and the same idea: to create a watch fair despite the constraints of Covid. To get round the restrictions, his idea was to set up a decentralised event with an ultra-light structure, leaving it up to the participating brands to present their products in hotel suites, or their own workshops or boutiques. And the wager paid off.

We met Jean-Christophe Babin during the presentations to look back at how the event came about and what the future holds.

Jean-Christophe Babin with the Geneva state councillor Delphine Bachmann at Geneva Watch Days

Europa Star: How did the idea of creating Geneva Watch Days come about?

Jean-Christophe Babin: It came about after the cancellation in 2020 of the Baselworld and SIHH fairs due to Covid. On cancelling them, their respective managements had said that the next editions would be held in 2021. So that meant two years without any new presentations. I said to myself that Covid or no Covid, watchmakers had a crucial need of visibility, that we couldn’t do without a watch fair and we had to try to hold one while taking the constraints of Covid into account, which, as we subsequently saw, had extremely positive consequences.

What positive consequences were those?

Covid forced us to present our watches elsewhere than in a closed, dense space. We had to invent a decentralised model. And it was this decentralisation alone that allowed us to be flexible about dates as Covid dictated. If we decide to hold a show at Palexpo, for example, we have to stick to a predetermined date. When we sign agreements with hotels, as we do at Geneva Watch Days, if the date has to be postponed due to external reasons we’re not penalised, because it’s a “win-win” event for everybody. For those who choose to show their products in their own workshop or boutique, this flexible formula is extremely advantageous, because it’s easy to change the date at the last minute.

How did you rally the other brands around your idea?

During Covid, we had to think up a model that would be extremely low-cost, because with the epidemic everybody had lost a lot of business and needed to economise. The format needed to be decentralised but self-managed to avoid administrative costs. One Saturday morning, I called my CEO colleagues – Patrick Pruniaux at Ulysse Nardin, Georges Kern at Breitling, Max Büsser at MB&F and Pierre Jacques at De Bethune – and set out my idea. They said they were up for it. Since they represented independent brands, they were able to make the decision without asking anybody else. Bvlgari belongs to a group, but we’ve always been free to make our own choices.

On Monday morning, I called the health and economic authorities of the City and Canton of Geneva to tell them we wanted to hold a watch fair at the Rotonde du Mont-Blanc, because we were thinking of a structure that could be assembled and dismantled and would allow us to be agile. They were extremely receptive. They discussed it at the Grand Council and four days later they came back to me and said it was ok.

Once you’d got the agreement of the City and Canton of Geneva, how did you bring the whole thing to life?

We created an association and teams to take care of the security, development, website and logistics, and to contact other brands that might be interested. There were 12 brands to start with. We wanted the event to be open to the public and above all that costs should be kept to a minimum. We postponed it three times: it was supposed to take place at the end of May 2020 in the end we held it at the end of August. In Swiss and Europe, Covid had reached acceptable levels again and public meetings were authorised again. We took every possible health and security precaution when organising the fair. The postponements didn’t entail any extra costs, because from the outset we made a deal with the hotels and caterers: we won together and we lost together. We all adapted to the constraints of Covid.

The feedback was positive, since this is your fifth edition...

A few months later, we’d had extraordinary feedback from the participating brands and decided to hold it again the next year. Other brands called us: in 2021, we were up to twenty brands. It was a huge success: there were more and more retailers and journalists and the event was taking on an international dimension. One thing led to another, things snowballed and this year we’ve got 52 brands taking part, all complying with the same fundamental rules we fixed from the start: a self-managed event, open to the public, accessible to all brands and with rates in line with the possibilities of each and every one.

Phillips held a charity auction during the event.

Which are?

There are five price categories for participation: 10,000, 20,000, 30,000, 50,000 and 90,000 Swiss francs. The lowest category is applied to small brands which don’t yet have much in the way of resources, whereas the highest is for large brands, like Bvlgari or Breitling. But whatever price they pay, each participant has the same rights: access to common areas and all the activities in the marquee, the product show, press conferences, symposiums, cocktails and to the restaurant in the evening.

It’s left to the brands to decide where they exhibit their products and receive their clients. If an enterprise chooses to do it in their own workshop or boutique, the event costs them virtually nothing. If, like Bvlgari, they choose to show their products in a grand hotel, the costs are much higher. That’s a question of our position as a major watch and jewellery brand; we want to maintain a certain standing and we believe we can permit ourselves that. So that’s how a watch fair, born of the contingencies due to the pandemic, has grown into a truly innovative concept. To the point that this year, Geneva Watch Days has 52 participating brands ranging from legendary houses like Breguet and Blancpain to institutional companies like Bvlgari and Breitling, right through to emblematic names like Daniel Roth as well as some really young brands.

It’s an event that offers both diversity, conviviality and a reciprocity that’s absolutely unique in the watchmaking world, also in the fact that all the evenings are multi-brand. The journalists, invitees and collectors can meet all the brand bosses they want in a convivial and informal context. We’ve also added activities such as an auction in support of the Geneva Watchmaking School, as well as symposiums and so on.

The main marquee at Geneva Watch Days. New this year: an adjoining Glassbox, where round tables, forums and talks were held.

It’s much more than a watch fair...

Yes, it’s a watchmaking event with pedagogical and cultural slots, visits to watchmaking workshops and much more besides. We welcome collectors, the public at large and, of course, we exhibit and sell watches. With so many activities scheduled, it’s difficult to take part in everything. The original support of the City and Canton has now grown to include the Chamber of Commerce, the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie, the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève and the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry. This event is turning more and more into a key rendezvous, complementary to Watches and Wonders. The participating brands are mostly different, the dates too. There are no constraints of space: next year, we could have as many as 80 brands if we wanted. It’s an extremely light, flexible structure that gives every brand plenty of freedom while generating great collegiality, without the influence of major brands or groups.

Pascal Ravessoud (FHH), Patrick Pruniaux (Girard-Perregaux, Ulysse Nardin), Jean-Christophe Babin (Bvlgari), Aurélie Streit (FHH)

With the departure from Bvlgari of Antoine Pin, who is now CEO at TAG Heuer but was also president of Geneva Watch Days, who is assuming the role of president now?

I’ve taken over as president of the event, but the important decisions were taken in 2020. The fundamental principles are there and they’re good. Originally, they were made to suit an exceptional sanitary situation. Over time, we realised that the concept had real potential. So we decided to consolidate it and to innovate and enrich it every year. Our goal is to attract more and more brands, collectors, retailers and journalists.

You talk about the advantages of this structure compared with a fair that’s held in one venue, but are there downsides?

There is one small downside, which is potentially weather-related: since you have to walk from brand to another, it’s better if the weather is fine. But we’ve been blessed, because the weather has been beautiful every time for the past five years. But most people see it as an advantage, because when they come out of Bvlgari, they walk 200 metres and they’re at Breitling. They enjoy the fresh air. We look out over the Jet d’eau and the Mont Blanc: the setting is fantastic! In the evening, the Pavilion is magical. We’re in the most beautiful part of Geneva and from the logistics perspective, all Geneva’s big hotels are here. You don’t have to go somewhere in the morning and come back in the evening. There is virtually no downside.

For a small brand, this event is an invaluable opportunity to gain the visibility, credibility and name recognition they’d find it difficult to get on their own with only modest investment. This watch fair enriches the watch sector by offering a diversity and creativity that increase the desirability of its products. The large brands continue to innovate, which is an excellent thing, but it’s also fantastic to see new brands emerging every year, with completely novel ideas. It galvanises the market and rekindles people’s interest in mechanical watchmaking, transforming what could be a casual purchase into a lasting passion, and that is crucial for the development of the sector.

The press conference at Geneva Watch Days

You held a preview of the event at Zurich this year. What is the future of the concept: is it going to be exported to Paris and New York for example, like Art Basel?

We held a preview in Zurich because German-speaking Switzerland is more dominant both demographically and economically, whereas apart from in Schaffhausen watchmaking is considered typical of French-speaking Switzerland. It’s a pity, because it’s one of the most important sectors of the Swiss economy. So its involvement was very important. We had great feedback, but it was a small-scale event. If we were to export it, to Shanghai for example, we’d have to do it on quite another scale and that would demand much more organisation. It’s feasible, but it would require more structure. But do we want more structure?

As president, I’d have to appoint five or six other people to take care of the organisation on a continuous basis. That would entail higher participation fees, which might exclude the small brands who might be more in need of a presence in Shanghai, but can’t manage it financially. So we prefer consolidating what we’ve built in Geneva, and now in Zurich, before considering any development that would demand a new structure. The advantage of the current organisation is that it’s ultra-light, with fast decision-making and a convivial atmosphere. I’m not sure we could maintain that spirit with a more permanent structure.