Sound the trumpets: it’s time to Baselworld 2016, the leading trade fair for watches and jewelery. The envoys of Gioiellis.com will tell you the news (we have already started, in fact). As for the jewelry, the world market continues to believe that a diamond (or a ring, a necklace, a pair of earrings) is forever, provided it is of good quality. The watches, however, suffer, but not for DST fault. The Swiss watch industry saw exports declined by 3.3% to 21.5 billion Swiss francs in 2015. And although we must remember that from 2010 to 2015, sales have increased by 20%, the smartwatch today, as AppleWatch, attract many customers at the expense of traditional watches. The jewelry, instead, are loved because they keep their traditional physical characteristics, if not aesthetic ones.
In any case, the MCH Group (which organizes Baselworld) today celebrates the hundredth anniversary of his first salon, Mustermesse Basel (Muba) and the CEO, René Kamm has claimed direct descent. Sylvie Ritter, managing director of Baselworld, in front of some 3,000 journalists who have followed live the press conference, claimed responsibility for the uniqueness of the event: “For eight days the Baselworld year become the world’s watchmaking industry hub and jewelry, which is to take the pulse of his activities.” The manager also admitted that, as stated in the official statement, Baselworld had sensed the uncertainty of some exhibitors, mainly among small and medium-sized businesses, the less prepared to cope with a drop in demand in the medium term. The result is that “almost all” of the previous year’s exhibitors are present at this new edition. Among the defections it is hard not to notice a group like LVMH, for example. Of course, the slowdown of the Chinese economy, the fall in oil prices and stagnation in Europe and Japan do not help to increase spending. Moreover, since Baselworld always focuses more on luxury, it was also increased the cost to get a space in the fair. And that has cut off, or at least discouraged many exhibitors, especially the jewelry. So if in 2010 the companies present were about 2,000, brands now have dropped to 1500. But the descent, according to the organization, is a planned selection. After all, Switzerland is a paradise of organization. Monica Battistoni
