Could Baselworld Come Back From the Dead?

Watch trade show Baselworld could be coming back from the dead if organisers are to be believed.

MCH Group has announced that a physical 2022 show will take place in “March/April” which would see it run alongside competing Geneva-based show, Watches & Wonders.

Organisers pledge that the new show “will be very different” from its previous incarnation, becoming a B2B platform for the “mid-range luxury” segment. The repositioning almost certainly means that it has been unable to convince many of the most famous Swiss watch brands to return.

The replacement “Hour Universe” concept that organisers had attempted to get off the ground twice before appears to have been dropped altogether.

“After the Corona Pandemic had stalled Baselworld over the last two years, we took a lot of time to talk to our partners and exhibitors,” says Michel Loris-Melikoff, Baselworld Managing Director. “One thing became very clear: the Baselworld brand must remain, but it must fundamentally change.” 

The physical event will supplement the year-round digital platform which is at the core of the new Baselworld concept and is set to launch in the fall with “tools for content creation” and the opportunity to “network and exchange information”.

“Everyone will meet on our platform. The brands, the manufacturers, the retailers, the fans and the media,” explains Michel Loris-Melikoff. “We will offer attractive conditions and prices for all brands that want to benefit from this unique platform.”

Before an exodus of brands saw organisers eventually throw in the towel in 2020, the trade show had run for more than a century and once dominated the watch industry’s entire calendar, essentially dictated how and when watches were released.

Elsewhere in watches, Grand Seiko drops a $79,000 USD engraved platinum Spring Drive.