Watch Executives, Expecting a Tough Year, Bet on Women, Brand Expertise

GENEVA — After three sunny post-pandemic years, the watchmaking industry congregated for the latest edition of the Watches and Wonders fair as storm clouds continued to gather across the luxury sector.

Although high-end watches, the focus of the showcase which ran April 9 to 13 at the Palexpo exhibition center in Geneva, had until then defied turbulence thanks to sustained demand from the U.S. and the return of Chinese consumers, watchmakers braced for a bumpy year.

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The sector put on a brave face and showed up, with a 20 percent leap in attendance in the first two days open to professionals and guests of the brands, according to Matthieu Humair, chief executive officer of the Watches and Wonders Foundation that organizes the fair. The final tally came to 49,000 visitors, up 14 percent from last year.

And the organization’s chairman, Jean-Frédéric Dufour, who is also the CEO of Rolex, called out the recent free-trade deal — after 16 years of negotiation — between India and the European Free Trade Association, including Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

Although it is expected to ease the entry of luxury exports to the vast Indian market, which is currently close to being among the top 20 watch markets, the deal has yet to go through the Swiss parliamentary approval process — which won’t happen before 2025, the body said in its announcement.

“Hold your breath,” said Montblanc’s global managing director of watches Laurent Lecamp, talking about the 43-mm Iced Sea 0 Oxygen Deep 4810 deep-sea diving watch that could descend 4,810 meters under water — the same depth as the height of the brand’s namesake alpine peak.

But this motto could also serve as the throughline of an edition where brands big and small favored coherence with their heritage and deepening of their expertise over new case shapes, and reached for precious metals, in particular rose gold.

“Whatever happens in the world, we should focus clearly on something that is logical with our roots as [that’s how] we will keep on growing. If you’re just trying to find opportunities, it is the best way to fall down,” said Lecamp.

“What people expect from brands like ours is more consistency and a true commitment to maintaining an identity,” said Van Cleef & Arpels president and CEO Nicolas Bos. “So what we try to do year after year is find different expressions that form a continuity.”