At noon on March 26, 2019 (Swiss time), the Basel Messe's Hall 1.2, or the Japanese-style third floor, featured a newly installed stage. The Baselworld 2019 closing press conference began in front of over 100 journalists filling the area in front of the main stage. Michel Loris-Melikoff, who took up the post of Managing Director of Baselworld at the end of May 2018, stood alone on the stage.
On stage, Melikoff began by sharing "Key Facts" - the actual numbers: visitor numbers were down 22% from last year to 81,200, the number of exhibiting brands was down 20% to 520, and the number of media representatives was down 12% to 3300. He then mentioned that the number of accesses via the Internet and social media had increased. He then began to explain the extensive improvement measures he had put together into 10 points called "Baselworld 2000+."
As I listened to this ambitious reform plan, which Mr. Sugawara, who is also a lawyer, passionately explain, I was reminded of the first time I visited the Basel Fair in 1995 with my mentor as a watch writer, Shigeru Sugawara.
The Basel Fair at that time had a stately entrance, but it wasn't fully air-conditioned and was an old-fashioned building with a tin roof. Perhaps because of the carpet on the floor, the venue was dusty, and I vividly remember my nose and throat getting sore from the dry air after running around all day. The booths of major brands were just as impressive as they are now, but on both sides of Hall 1, in what are now the corridors, small watch brands like Armin Strom, which specializes in skeleton watches, had their own quiet booths. Furthermore, back then there was an area where manufacturers of watch tools, parts, and manufacturing machinery exhibited, and there was a different kind of energy there than that of the watch brands.
The day after I moved from Geneva to Basel, I was walking down an aisle in the venue when suddenly, I felt someone tap me on the shoulder from behind, an unforgettable memory. I turned around and saw none other than Franck Muller, whom I had just interviewed at SIHH in Geneva. At the time, he was a friendly young man wearing a crimson jacket and a constant smile, walking alone through the Basel venue. He was probably visiting the booth of the Académie (Association of Independent Watchmakers), where his fellow independent watchmakers were based.
Over the years, he rose to become a Hollywood celebrity amid the global watch boom, and with the aura of a master watchmaker, he went on to host his own WPHH. However, at the time, he was just one of the young and energetic watchmakers in Basel.
The Basel Fair was a once-a-year gathering place for everyone involved with watches. That was the Basel Fair back then. The only place where you could sense the same sense of luxury as you would find at SIHH in Geneva was inside the booths of the major watch brands. From high jewelry brands to private brands set up by solo watchmakers, casual watch brands, movement manufacturers, watch cases, tools and machine tools, and even booths selling jewelry and jewelry materials. Everything was cluttered and chaotic. But everywhere was overflowing with energy.
In 2003, although the entrance remained the same, the main hall of the Basel Messe was remodeled into a modern glass building, and the number of exhibiting brands continued to increase. The cluttered atmosphere continued in Hall 5, which became a very limited area lined with independent watchmakers' associations, small watch brands, and movement manufacturers. The aim was to make the booths and space more luxurious.
Then, in 2013, Baselworld's atmosphere underwent a complete transformation, becoming more modern and luxurious. The redesign was handled by Herzog & Meuron, a local Basel-based architectural duo. However, the hospitality and service provided to visitors remained the same. Only the space gained a luxurious atmosphere, and the exhibition fees became even more expensive. Nixon, Daniel Wellington, and Swarovski had the largest booths ever. Furthermore, huge tents were set up in the plaza next to the multi-story car park, where many independent, up-and-coming brands exhibited.
It may seem trivial, but this complete renovation made the press center brighter and more comfortable. Looking back, however, it's clear that this was around the time Baselworld began to lose its way. While some new brands were exhibiting, I also heard stories of many mid-sized brands canceling their participation. They moved their exhibition booths away from Baselworld to the adjacent Ramada Hotel (now the Hyperion Hotel), nearby hotels, and restaurants. They all agreed that the exhibit fees were too high. I also heard complaints that the Baselworld secretariat seemed to be prioritizing the depreciation of the high construction costs and thus inflating the fees. The renovations added a third floor to the main hall, but the place was sparsely populated. Where had the chaotic energy of the past gone? This expansion was simply excessive, or so I thought.
Looking back, I think that for the Baselworld Secretariat, which runs the fair, and its parent company, the MCH Group, the success of the fair from the 1990s to around 2014 must have far exceeded their expectations.
I started out as a magazine editor and watch journalist, but due to work needs I began writing analytical articles and commentary on trends in the watch industry. When I explain the Swiss watch industry, the first thing I tell them is that "Swiss watch exports have quadrupled in value in the quarter century from the 1990s to the present," and Baselworld is undoubtedly one of the companies outside of the watch industry that has benefited the most from this success.
As the luxury watch boom that began in Europe spread to Japan, America, and Asia, and the market expanded globally, exhibiting at Baselworld meant a "global debut" for watch brands. Even if the exhibition fee was high, there was no other stage to replace it at the time. If they could make a global impact, they would recoup their investment. Many watch brands must have decided to exhibit with this in mind. And the boom continued almost exactly as planned until the early 2010s.
But all things must come to an end. The total value of Swiss watch exports overseas hit an all-time high in 2014, but has since been in the red. There is no longer a market where a dramatic increase in demand can be expected. Watch brands have decided to lay off employees. The dream is over. This is the widespread perception.
In this situation, were the rising exhibition fees really worth it? Such debates must have taken place within the watch industry. And so the "withdrawal" quietly began.
There's no way the Baselworld secretariat couldn't have failed to notice these moves by the exhibiting brands. However, having basked in their success up until now and taken this for granted, they turned a blind eye to the crisis and tried to cover it up. Like the government of a certain country that created a false economic boom by changing the companies included in its statistics, they stopped announcing the exact number of exhibiting brands and instead filled their press releases and interviews with the heads of exhibiting brands with flowery rhetoric to postpone the issues that were now at stake. The current situation is the natural, no, inevitable, result of this. I'm sure most veteran journalists here would agree with this view.
(Continued in Vol. 2)
