Baselworld skips a ride: no jewelery and watch fair in Basel for 2020. The fair was scheduled from April 30 to May 5, but was postponed to January 28, 2021 and until February 2 for health security reasons and following the ban large-scale public and private events, explains a statement from Mch, the company that organizes Baselworld. Except that the ban by the Swiss authorities is currently limited to March 15, therefore a month and a half before the start of Baselworld. However, it is not malicious to assume that the decision was facilitated also by the lack of enthusiasm, to put it mildly, by many companies in the sector. Note also that the new date collides with VicenzaOro January 2021, already scheduled from 22 to 27 January. A nice mess.
As we have already written, the date moved to the beginning of May, to make it almost coincide with the Watches & Wonders Geneva (as Sihh is called ore) dedicated to haute horlogerie, has in fact irritated many brands, which had seen programming and seasonal sale of the collections. Brands like Bulgari, Gucci, Swatch and Jacob & co had decided to desert the event. In short, the Covid-19 epidemic resolves a thorny situation.
We deeply regret having had to postpone the event as planned due to the coronavirus, in full consideration of the needs of the watch and jewelery industry to be able to benefit from the platform to develop their business. This decision has been all the more difficult in view of all the positives that have been achieved through listening and dialogue over the last few months, which resulted in new concepts and new solutions, that have attracted exhibitors to return and new ones to sign on. We registered encouraging growth in all sectors; watchmaking, jewelery, the gemstone and pearl trade, as well as in the technical branch.
By postponing the show to January 2021, we have found a solution that enables the industry and all our customers to avoid losing a full year and at the same time reset their calendars for the beginning of the year, a period that is conductive to the presentation of their new products, new trends and order taking. This postponing will also allow Baselworld to continue developing and bringing new formats and solutions as well as improvements to the new concept we proposed.
Michel Loris-Melikoff, CEO of Baselworld
Although Baselworld, in any case, makes it known that it had no choice but to make a decision quickly, as all the preparations, in particular, the construction of the halls and stands was already scheduled for the first week of March. See you next year.
